In 1527 he was asked by the Elector of Saxony to head a commission of three to travel over the kingdom and report on its needs as to schools. In his _Report, or Book of Visitation_, which was probably the first school survey report in history, he outlined in detail plans for school organization for the State (R. 161), of which the following is an abstract: Each school was to consist of three classes. In the first class there was to be taught the beginnings of reading and writing, in both the vernacular and in Latin, Latin grammar (Donatus), the Creed, the Lord's prayer, and the prayers and hymns of the church service. In the second class Latin became the language of instruction, and Latin grammar was thoroughly learned. Latin authors were read, and religious instruction was continued. In the third class more advanced work in reading Latin (Livy, Sallust, Vergil, Horace, and Cicero) was given, and rhetoric and dialectic were studied. These were essentially humanistic schools with but a little preparatory work in the vernacular, and their purpose was to prepare those likely to become the future leaders of the State for entrance to the universities. How different was Melanchthon's conception as to the needs for education from the conceptions of Luther and Bugenhagen may easily be seen. Yet, so great were his services in organizing and advising, and so well did such schools meet the great demand of the time for educational leaders that he has, very properly, been called "the Preceptor of Germany." His work was copied by other leaders, and the result was the organization of a large number of humanistic _gymnasia_ throughout northern Germany, in which the new learning and the Protestant faith were combined. Sturm's school at Strassburg (p. 272) was one of the more important and better organized of this type, many of which have had a continuous existence up to the present. By 1540 the process was begun of endowing such schools from the proceeds of old monasteries, confiscated by the State, and many German _gymnasia_ of to-day trace their origin back to some old monastic foundation, altered by state authority to meet modern needs and purposes. EARLY GERMAN STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS. Melanchthon's Saxony plan was put into partial operation as a Lutheran Church school system, but the first German State to organize a complete system of schools was Würtemberg (R. 162), in southwestern Germany, in 1559. This marks the real beginning of the German state school systems. Three classes of schools were provided for: (1) Elementary schools, for both sexes, in which were to be taught reading, writing, reckoning, singing, and religion, all in the vernacular. These were to be provided in every village in the Duchy.