The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-06-15
SUICIDES OF
SCHOOL BOYS
Anywhere From Thirty-fve to Fifty
Cases Each Year at the End
OF the Long
Term.
THE WORK IS TOO HARD
Boy Who Wasn't Cut Out for High
Brow Ends IT All by
Taking His Own
Life.
by Karl H. Won wiegan, Berlin col

ltDy Hdil n. Won W1eSau, Berlin cor
i respondent of the United Press.
BERLIN. June 1.-THE end Of the
school year in Germany with its dread
examinations, has again been marked
by suicides of school boys The so
Icalled epidemic OF school boy
suicides in Germany claims anywhere
from thirty-five to fifty victims a
year. This year there were less than
in 1912 while 1908 was the high wat
er mark, when twenty-eight pupils
killed themselves in Prussia alone.
| The dreaded report issued between
Easter and the end of school year
seldom fails to reveal a side to Ger
man educational efficiency not always
seen by those in the United States
who want to model our schools more
and more after the German system.
Statistics have been kept upon the
subject since 1880 when suicides of
children presumably due to overstudy
and failure to pass examinations, had
already reached the proportion of a
problem" which threatened to grow
into national evil. Since then con-
siderable literature dealing with the
subject. has arisen. Experts like Pro-
lfessors Gutenberg and Gerhardt have
specialized on the matter. They trace
8 steadily increasing tendency toward
suicide among school children in the
past decade. Professor Max Rein
hardt, Germans famous drama .ist
and theatrical manager, has even stag
ed the theme in Wedekind's gruesome
child tragedy The Awakening of
Spring.
The German educational methods
are essentially a forced draught"
system. In 1t, German thor
loughness is not infrequently driven to
a point where the society for the pre-
lyention of cruelty to children might
Istep in.
Education in Germany is compulsory
from the sixth year. Those of the mid
! die and better classes are sent to
higher or gymnasium schools
where it costs about i've dollars a
month for each pupil. The poorer
children attend "Gemeinde' or Com
munity'' schools which are free. Those
who go to Community schools are
barred from some of the higher edu-
cational institutions. There is social
gulf between the two kinds of schools.
1t is in the higher schools where
lchildren suicides take place.
There is school six days week,
from to / o'clock. In some places
In summer 1t begins as early as z
a. m. Thirty hours of work in school
per week is called for The school
year consists of roundly forty-three
weeks. There is little time to play
The curriculum calls for two hours
I"sport" week but this usually con
sists of exercises intended to famil
iarize boys with military drill.
From s o'clock to 1, looks easy. I,
is not as easy as 1t looks. Under
the German system the hours in schoo
are largely taken up with reciting
Study and preparation takes place al
home after school hours. So Hans
carries home knapsack of books
along. Unless he is unusually bright
and receptive to knowledge, he sits
UP at night until things dance before
his eyes.
At nine years he already begins te
wrestle with French. Latin, zoology
| higher mathematics besides othel
istudies. His teachers often drive hin
like drill sergeant. His head is full
of Cicero, Homer and Luther Amont
his literary heroes are Nietzsche
Schopenhauer, Tolstoi, Darwin, Hack
lei and Kant That is. If he is aiming
at professional career.
The German system finds connec
ton and relation between knowledge
and patriotism. The boy who attain!
a certain grade of efficiency. and 1t II
a high one, gets off with but one yea
military service 1t also gives him ;
place in the army considerably above
the common herd, who must serve
two years.
j At between the age of fifteen ant
sixteen, this dread zone year Ger
tificate" looms up before him. He Il
prodded along by his teachers ane
spurred ON at home. # he wins tht
coveted certificate. he has virtually
added a year to his life. If he fails
not only must he serve two years the
, same as those who went to the Com
: munity'' schools, but he has disgracee
himself and brought ignominy upof
his parents.
J. 1t is usually the boy who sees hi
ichances for the one year certificate
, fade away as he fails successfully t.
pass in the spring examinations to
higher class, whose mind becomes
lcbsessed with the uselessness of liy