New-York tribune., 1912-04-28
SCH0OLBOY SUICIDES
Some Reasons Why German
Lads Take Their Lives.

The sad crop Of suicides among desperst.
, lttle German schoolboys because they hss
done badly in the Easter examination p,,.
suggests that the Germans have by NJ
means all the right on their side Ia thai,
methods OF education. In England We A..
often inclined to admire the rigorous I'm.
cheney" OF the German educational systsr,
and to compare unfsvorably own lively
and careless schoolboys with the closalx
packed repositories OF learning who gsz.
seriously through their spectaces at ths
I Herr Professor In the German schoolroom.
But in our usual careless way It seem. th,,
we have got lot. II not most. OF the rieh,
! on our side. after all.
Sir J. II. Yoxall, NJ p. thinks so. at anv
rate and a general secretary Of the M.
tional Union Of Teachers there Is little th,,
he docs not know about elementary and
secondary education in this country.
We are getting further and further away
from anything bearing the remotest resenn.
hlancc to the ironbound system of Ger.
many." ne said to a representative Oh.
other day The whole movement In Emf
/ land is TO make school attractive and "a
leave pupils with y desire for study In after
! life. II YOU treat hoy like machine and
try TO stuff him with knowledge, without
taking any account Of his capacity for a..
sanitation. you disgust him with the idea
of learning anything. and the dIstaste most
likely remains with him forever. But it
YOU go into a tea shop now and see what
,he Young clerk is reading, YOU will gen.
orally find that it is something pretty good.
The taste for reading remains after school,
and the production Of heap classics has
b. lped enormously in this direction.
! Not nan" ycars ago the visit NJ the IN
sre~tor for the periodical examination was
y great ordeal for the youngsters. an ordeal
which sometimes approached sheer terror.
\oy that has been done away with. The
individual examination has been relaxed
AND the INSPECTORS come not to examine, but
10 inspect. The teachers are thus left more
FREQ 20 develop the intellectual side Of their
nupils and 10 differentate, instead Of try.
ing 10 bring them all up TO one level stand.
ard And the consequence is that the ele-
,rentary schools have now become pleasant
nlaces. The children, boys and girls. too.
like 10 he there. The German system seems
% develop n WEAKNESS Of life, and morbid
ideas Green IN with the brain fag that comes
,cf prolonged studying. In our secondary
schools there has been no relaxation Ex-
aninations are as stiff as ever they were,
bu, tbou thev have never been anything Ike
so nard as they are in Germany. The Ger.
mans are oyersystematized, but / am IN.
cIined to think our fault is that we are
little under systomati2ed.
"Bi,t no doubt the method suits Us. The
,ndividualitv Of the English boy makes him
want n strike out on q line Of his own. and
his training helps this. The German boy. On
tho o;hsr hand. is PrussianiZed even In his
school day.. and has 10 do his lessons With
all tho earnestness and severity Of military
drill. And then. With ALI his fierce com
r.,,,iyo education. there are comparatively
fow rrizes al the end Of 1t, and with the eS-
aminations tragic disappointmenH arc
bound 20 come. and. rs We see, suicides AZ
sixteen And there is q TREMENDOUS oihcr'
.pce IN IN. character Of the Enslsh ooy ana
Its Teu,on cousin. which has mucn 10 40
with this question OF suicides. Win ths
German hoy amatorv symptoms Tor in'
s,arce. develop very early, snd the coInoins'
,i,r ~ q serious pa s.ion and hard study IN
-. ,.outb ,rsv p-ove too much for HIN.
, ctocl =. on examination IL sufficient to
100 tho catastrophe. With the English
,oy his healthy open air games save MIN
.ro,c morbid or amorous fanctes. The GER
ma, bov has his 6. mnastlcs out tnese ~
not COMPARE With football, cricket ana psp''
chasing
After all this there I. no need t. LOOK any
further for the reasons which make Eng.
land the premier coionizins nation sn'
Germany one of tho most backward. s.'
a,pipations and degrees help comparadSely
,,,le in openine up Canada or Rhodes'a'
HYt irdi, ,iduality, cheerfIlnes. ana ~
.,our,a are essential. and Il IL IN thes9
ouaIlti.s tina, the happy athletic and h.''.'
learned English schoolboy may be said "
excel + onion Standard