It must be noted, also, that instead of being the most difficult, the most advanced instruction is the easiest of all, because imparted with the least departure from the way in which it was received. People are therefore mistaken when they assume that private tutors are capable of furnishing an equivalent only for the lowest classes in gymnasia. A far greater difficulty lies in the fact that even the most skilful and active tutor cannot give as many lessons as a school provides, and that accordingly more has to be left to the pupil’s own efforts. To be sure, this is exactly the mode of instruction which suits the bright student better than one that must accommodate itself to the many, and which on that account must progress but slowly. 336. But home education presupposes that sound pedagogical views have been arrived at in the home, and that their place is not occupied by absurd whims or half knowledge. (Niemeyer’s famous work, “The Principles of Education and of Instruction,” is intelligible to every educated person, and has been widely known for many years.) 337. The necessity of sound pedagogical knowledge in the home becomes all the more urgent where teachers, private or public, change frequently--whereby inequalities of instruction and treatment are introduced which need to be corrected. CHAPTER II =Concerning Schools= 338. The school system and its relations to local authorities, on the one hand, and to the general government, on the other, form a vast and difficult subject involving not merely pedagogical principles, but also such aims as the maintenance of higher learning, the dissemination of useful information, and the practice of indispensable arts. In university lectures a few words on such topics suffice, since young men who accept a school position assume, at the same time, obligations which for a long time to come prescribe for them the path they must follow. 339. They must, in the first place, consider the character of the school in which they are to instruct. The school programme provides them with information concerning the scope of the curriculum, the established relations of the branches of instruction to one another, and the various stages in each subject. The teachers’ conference affords them an insight into multiplex relations to authorities, parents, and guardians, and to the pupils, also relations leading to coöperation, more or less perfect, on the part of the teachers. The whole of the educational effort directed upon younger, intermediate, and older pupils is presented in one view; it is known also where the pupils come from, with what kind of preparation, and where as a rule they go upon leaving the school.