Perhaps the most significant work of this character at the present time is in Germany. _Stadtschulrat_ Dr. Georg Kerschensteiner of Munich, realizing that both boys and girls were dropping out of the _Volksschulen_ at the first opportunity possible, planned a new and excellent course of practical study elective in the eighth school year. The work was begun in 1896. Many children remained in school to try it and so valuable did the experiment prove that the course was later made compulsory. Dr. Kerschensteiner felt that girls will eventually fall into one of the following classes: housewives who take charge of affairs at home, domestic servants, workers in commercial or industrial positions, governesses, teachers or companions. After the seventh grade each girl chooses the field for which she would like to prepare, and in the eighth grade the foundation is laid for future success in her chosen occupation. The eighth-grade work is not professional but is broadly vocational. The pupils take the entire course, after which they are given a “leaving certificate” and can go to work; but formal education is not yet over, for they must attend a continuation school for one year at hours allowed by their employers. Each one is thus prepared for future usefulness, and German life and industries reap the benefit. The curriculum of the eighth-grade class is as follows: Religion (always given in German schools) 2 hours weekly; household management and cookery, 8 hours; needlework, such as is needed in the household, 4 hours; German, in business correspondence, moral and ethical training, reading lessons, including domestic subjects, hygiene and German family life, 6 hours. Arithmetic, management of domestic accounts, elements of commercial arithmetic, cost of living and the maintenance of the home, 4 hours. Gymnastics and singing are also included in the curriculum. As a part of the training in household management there is instruction in clothing and housing which covers: _a._ Study of the body.--Its functions and its care, breathing, circulation of the blood and properties of heat radiation and evaporation, and the preservation and regulation of heat through clothing. _b._ The textile materials, raw and manufactured.--Their physical properties and use as clothing, hygienic rules, taste and suitability in dress, wet and dry cleansing of clothing, the bed and bedding. _c._ Housing.--The properties of building materials, the position of the house, heating, lighting, ventilation and disinfection, hygienic rules in the household, and furnishing.