Ritter-akademien.

Under the influence of France the perfect courtier became the ideal in
the German education of the upper classes of the 17th and 18th
centuries. A large number of aristocratic schools (_Ritter-Akademien_)
were founded, beginning with the Collegium Illustre of Tuebingen (1589)
and ending with the Hohe Karlschule of Stuttgart (1775). In these
schools the subjects of study included mathematics and natural sciences,
geography and history, and modern languages (especially French), with
riding, fencing and dancing; Latin assumed a subordinate place, and
classical composition in prose or verse was not considered a
sufficiently courtly accomplishment. The youthful aristocracy were thus
withdrawn from the old Latin schools of Germany, but the aristocratic
schools vanished with the dawn of the 19th century, and the ordinary
public schools were once more frequented by the young nobility.

The "new humanism."

Herder.

School reorganization.

(c) _The Modern Period._--In the last third of the 18th century two
important movements came into play, the "naturalism" of Rousseau and the
"new humanism." While Rousseau sought his ideal in a form of education
and of culture that was in close accord with nature, the German apostles
of the new humanism were convinced that they had found that ideal
completely realized in the old Greek world. Hence the aim of education
was to make young people thoroughly "Greek," to fill them with the
"Greek" spirit, with courage and keenness in the quest of truth, and
with a devotion to all that was beautiful. The link between the
naturalism of Rousseau and the new humanism is to be found in J.G.
Herder, whose passion for all that is Greek inspires him with almost a
hatred of Latin. The new humanism was a kind of revival of the
Renaissance, which had been retarded by the Reformation in Germany and
by the Counter-Reformation in Italy, or had at least been degraded to
the dull classicism of the schools. The new humanism agreed with the
Renaissance in its unreserved recognition of the old classical world as
a perfect pattern of culture. But, while the Renaissance aimed at
reproducing the Augustan age of _Rome_, the new humanism found its
golden age in _Athens_. The Latin Renaissance in Italy aimed at
recovering and verbally imitating the ancient literature; the Greek
Renaissance in Germany sought inspiration from the creative originality
of Greek literature with a view to prod