The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-05-21
HOW WAR AFFECTS
The SCHOOLS OF
GERMAN PEOPLE

In response to requests for inform
alton on present educational condi-
tons in Germany, the Bureau of Ed
ucation, Department of the Interior,
has made public the following trans
lations from an article by DR.. Paul
Hildebrandt in the Vossische Zeitung,
Berlin, January %, 1918. After the
early enthusiasm of German youth for
the war, and their activities in behalf
of war measures, the article contin-
ues:
The sixth grade pupils of 1914 are
row about to be promoted to the up
per third. They have become accus-
toned to the war. Who can wonder
then that now in the fourth year of
war our children exhibit signs of
change? Too many of the restraints
have been removed which should
shape their development;-the loose
ming Of family ties, the father at the
front, the mother employed away
from home, and in the lower ranks
of society doing the work of men, the
omission, of school discipline. Of the
teachers of the Berlin public schools
for instance, tWo-thirds have gone in
to the army. The remainder are
overworked. Dropping class periods,
or combining classes together are the
order of the day. In the higher
schools half of the teachers are in the
army. furthermore, standards in the
higher institutions of learning have
gradually been lowered until the final
examination has been pushed back
fully two classes All these conditions
have influenced our students and
have weakened their persistence, since
they see that they can attain a schol-
astic standing without effort that for
merly demanded the severest appIi-
cation.
Young people follow the low of their
nature. They are guided by the i'm
pressions of the moment and they
cannot permanently resist them. In
addition, as time went on, especially
in case of the students of higher in
situations, and Particularly in the
| towns, the hardship of inadequate
nourishment appeared. 1t is the I'M
animous judgment of medical special
| lists that the children of the middle
classes suffered most in this respect.
| General attention was attracted to the
fact that the children were less SEN
sitive to reproof, that they paid no
more attention to threats, because the
! school authorities had directed that
| they should be treated with every len
iency, and since promotions no longer
represented any definite standard of
accomplishment. This special con-
sideration for the children was most
obvious in the schools of the large
cities. Was not harvest work and the
country vacation necessary to main
tain the health Of the coming gener-
alton, and was it not necessary for a
great many to be set back in their
studies SO that they required repeated
concessions to maintain their rank
and thereby continually lower schol-
astic standards of their classes?
That spirit of voluntary service
(which at the beginning of the war re-
Ivealed itself in it's fairest aspect has
now disappeared. Everywhere we
hear lamentations over the increas-
ing distaste shown for military service.
Pupils collect articles now for reward,
not from patriotism, and the older
pupils have their struggles. Shall they
take advantage of the opportunity to
leave school with a half-completed
education, or. shall they avoid placing
themselves in a position where they
will have to enlist for their country ?
What an unhappy indecision even for
the best of them, those who really
think about the matter.
Furthermore, in those ranks of So
ciety which are less influenced by
tradition, discipline and education, we
find increasing violations of the law.
At the first this manifested itsself
merely in an increase of theft More
recently 1t has taken a decided turn
toward personal assaults. 1t is true,
the latter are still negligible in pro-
portion to the total number of juv-
emile offences, but they are increasing
ever year. Already the number of
violent crimes committed by youths in