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Show German Education Must Be Recast in Democratic Mold By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator. man elementary schools. It was his practice to ask the fourth grade j children: "What are you going to : be?" And without the slightest hesitation hes-itation they would answer: "Butcher, "Butch-er, baker, clock-maker, cobbler" or whatever it may have been, never dreaming that it could be anything else, because their way already had been chosen for them. This revelation, revela-tion, Dr. Zook said, was as heartbreaking heart-breaking to him as when again and again, four out of five of the children chil-dren answered "no" to the question: "Did you have any breakfast today?" to-day?" Contrast the life of these children with the American children who spend eight years together in the grade schools, many of them four more in high school, where all compete com-pete on equal terms, where ability can be assayed, where ambition can be estimated. School Plant Hit Hard by War This is only one facet of the problem prob-lem with which the educators who must guide German education will have to deal. There are a great many physical difficulties, too. In the first place, there is a dearth of buildings, of teachers, of equipment. Many of the school buildings are rubble. Many have been requisitioned for various uses by the military government. In the winter there is the question of heat this winter probably will be one of the worst and this is one of the most difficult problems to overcome because of the shortage of coal in the American zone. As to teachers, more than one-half one-half of the Germans were dismissed because of their participation in the i Nazi setup. There are few books. There is a paper shortage because there is no , machinery to make paper. There ' is no machinery because there is no ' steel. There is no steel because there is no coal. And so the vicious circle continues, affecting the whole question of supply and equipment. There are, on the other hand, some things on the credit side. For instance, the fact that the Germans have an inborn respect for learning and after a generation behind the "iron curtain" they are literally starving for information concerning concern-ing the rest of the world. I can testify to this from my own conversations con-versations with a number of the young people, as well as the older ones, who had had at least a glimmering glim-mering of the world before Goeb-bels. Goeb-bels. It is generally admitted that the first two objectives of the occupation occupa-tion forces have been realized more fully in the American zone than anywhere any-where else. I refer to denazification denazifica-tion and demilitarization. These are important but negative. On the positive posi-tive side, democratization lags. We know very little about what is happening hap-pening in the Russian zone but a nation na-tion that has progressed as far in moulding the minds of its own people, peo-ple, undoubtedly is not neglecting its efforts in Germany. The recommendations outlined out-lined in the mission's report include in-clude similar projects for the future, as well as various other steps extending beyond the schools themselves and operating operat-ing through the parents and teachers organizations and other groups. There is no intention to superimpose upon the Germans any system against their will. So far there has been excellent co-operation and educational circles cir-cles in Germany are enthusiastic enthusias-tic about the steps already taken. They hope that trained educators educa-tors will come to Germany; they would be only too glad to send their people to this country for instruction. They may not know what democracy is but there is plenty of evidence that they want to find out. Presumably the report as forwarded for-warded to the secretary of state will receive his approval, and congress will have the opportunity to pass upon the whole program but, as the report concludes: "The development of this program is not the responsibility responsi-bility of the government alone. Equally, if not more, important is the intelligent backing of the American people in the reorientation reorienta-tion of the German people. We have committed ourselves to a program in which education plays a critical role. There must therefore be no turning back in our support of that program so vital to the enduring peace of the world." WNU Service, 1616 Eye Street, N.W., Washington, D. C. WASHINGTON. Whether we are going to have two worlds or one, one of the battle grounds on which dft" 1 the issue will be . f ; a decided is Ger j many. Lines for . .. k :; 4 that battle are ,v forming now be " jV " g '-. tween one of the t. .; -3 1 i. most powerful J tj A forces for domoc- , ? A $ i racy, the Amer- ? f $ , j lean public K j school, and one V of the most anti t A democratic forces of old Germany. faAwJHWiiawAil the Prussian edu- Baukhage cational system. When congress meets it must consider con-sider the report of the mission of educators who were sent to the American zone by the state and war departments to study education in Germany. They came back with a careful and detailed study, including includ-ing a description of conditions and a set of recommendations which, if they can be carried out, will have a vital effect in building democracy in Germany. Perhaps an educational system based on the American model may not be sufficient to democratize Germany but I think it is no exaggeration ex-aggeration to state that without such a system, democracy never will be achieved in the Reich. I had the privilege of attending a conference presided over by William Benton, assistant secretary of sta:e in charge of public affairs, at which Chairman Zook and members of the educational mission were present. I came away deeply impressed, not only with the factual data presented present-ed (I was familiar with some of the data) but also with the importance impor-tance of the program as a means . of determining whether democracy or totalitarianism will dominate western Europe and perhaps the world. System Mixture of Master, Servant We know how Germany's history, her political and social institutions, have all tended to create a peculiar type of thinking which has resulted In a caste system with a strange mixture of super-ordination and sub-ordination on the part of the individual in-dividual German. The superficial superfi-cial and erroneous explanation is that the German is half dominating and half servile. There isn't space here to go into German psychology but there was one point in, the educational edu-cational mission's report which was emphasized by their chairman and echoed by Assistant Secretary of State Benton, which partially explains ex-plains this phenomenon. It reveals perhaps the greatest single factor that can block democratic evolution in Germany. This factor, the mission mis-sion says, "has cultivated attitudes of superiority in one small group and of inferiority in the majority of the members of German society, making possible the submission and lack of self determination upon which authoritarian leadership has thrived." The bars go down on the path of democracy for the German child in the fourth grade of elementary school. It is here that the fortunate 10 per cent who are to be the "superiors" "su-periors" leave the unfortunate 90 per cent, for at this point when the children are about 10 those who expect to attend the universities and prepare for a professional career are set aside in secondary schools. It is largely the financial or social position of the parents which forms the basis of selection for these secondary sec-ondary schools. The overwhelming majority of pupils, a large proportion pro-portion of whom deserve university education because of their ability, finish elementary school and then go on to vocational education. This makes a fundamentally "undemocratic "undem-ocratic division of the educational stream." Until they are 10 years old little Fritz and Johann have studied and played together in something approximating ap-proximating the comradeship of two American boys, though one's father owns the bank and tire other's runs a tailoring shop. But when they leave the fourth grade, their ways part and each year from then on, the wall between them grows higher. high-er. Dr. Zook's voice was filled with real emotion when he described one of the many experiences he h when the mission visited the Ger- BARBS . . . by u auk haze its time to quit making children study maps that they have to re-color re-color with their own blood. Someone says it's a fine commentary commen-tary on radio that its most successful success-ful comedians are the ones who kid the silly commercials. Well, remember re-member the Ford jokec they did streamline Lizzie eventually. "The Iceman Cometh" has made a great hit on Broadway. Now if you could get a plumber like that when you want one. The Monsanto Chemical company has invented a doodle-proof tablecloth. table-cloth. It has a plastic protection like the inside of unbreakable windshields. |