=The Elementary System.=--Prussia, like most of the principal states of Europe, as a result of their educational history, has its elementary and secondary systems quite separate and distinct from each other (Fig. 48). The universities continue the work of the gymnasiums and real-schools, but these two latter institutions parallel the work of the _Volksschulen_ (people’s schools), rather than supplement it. The course of the secondary school ordinarily occupies the pupil from nine to eighteen years of age, while that of the elementary school carries him from six to fourteen, and after the first three years it is practically impossible to transfer from the elementary to the secondary system. A pupil cannot enter a gymnasium or real-school after completing the people’s school, and the only further training he can obtain is that of the _Fortbildungschulen_, or ‘continuation schools,’ which supplement the system (see p. 420). The people’s schools are gratuitous and are attended mostly by the children of the lower classes, while the gymnasiums charge a tuition fee and are patronized by the professional classes and aristocracy. Hence the line between elementary and secondary education in Prussia is longitudinal and not latitudinal, as it is in the United States; the distinction is one of wealth and social status rather than of educational grade and advancement. There are also some _Mittelschulen_ (middle schools) for the middle classes of people, who cannot send their children to the secondary schools, and yet can afford some exclusiveness. They have one more class than the people’s schools, include a foreign language during the last three years, and require teachers with a better training. [Sidenote: _Gymnasien_ and _Realschulen_;] [Sidenote: _Realgymnasien_ and _Oberrealschulen_;] [Sidenote: six-year courses;]