El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-10-19

carried on side by side in the same
lnstit' nion, and wanted 20 see how the
refor' A gymnasium prospered. I ar
tiVecf at the school house little be-
fore s in the morning. (School begins
IN Germany at in the winter and 2
IN the summary In the hall stood a
bi &. rather fine looking. fellow. who
1 knew at once must be the principal
As he paid no attention to me, I paid
none to him By the way. to be admit
I, ted to Prussian secondary schools as
a visitor. one must have permission
I from the minister Of instruction in
Berlin One must specify. too, the
schools which one wishes TO visit
Permission to visit the elementary
schools is obtainable from local au-
thOrities.
had my permission and other Gre
dentials in my pocket A bell rang
and the school settled down. The
principal went into his office at the
end of a long hall I followed him.
On the door was written, "Consulta-
ton HOurs-11-12"
knocked at the door. No response.
1 knocked somewhat more insistently.
No response. I knocked a third time.
The door opened.
What do you want?" he asked
gruffly.
I handed him my papers. I said
that I would not disturb him at that
hour had I known that his consulta-
ton hour came in the middle of the
day; that was a stranger; my time
was limited, etc. He turned and went
toward his desk; followed. He looked
around and said; Shut the door" To
this made no reply.
Arrogance Melted Into SubservIence.
He sat down at his desk and said,
Why don't You shut the door, I
said Won't you look at my creden-
tialsT'
Then he looked at my papers. HIS
manner had thus far been arrogant,
and repelent, even insolent. He
looked up from the papers and with
complete change Of manner, said.
Why, professor, how can I be of
service?"
This illustrates a distinguishing
characteristic Of official Germany. II
that man had known when appeared
that was university professor, his
attitude would have been quite diff
derent- As soon as he knew that
was in a position TO report him for
dlscourtesy, he was so eager TO give
me all the Information I wanted that
ne became almost subssrvient
II so happened that I wanted to see
MS gymnasium first We had to
cross the court; the day was cold He
Jumped up and helped me on with
my overcOat; he was most solicitous
Tor my comfort On the way to the
gymnasium he said very gently. PRO I
lessor will you please tell me why
you wouldn't shut the door2" I said. Z
Ny dear sir. I am an American
From that time he stopped posing and 4
became almost human.
Consider Selves Superior.
As l have intimated. these illus
trations Of the characteristic Of Ger
mans IN authority are typical AM
arrogant assumption Of superiority /
mas been systematically bred in the
upper class German for 40 years. ever
since the Franco-Prussian war. More
over, one dominant notion has been
lnculcated in all classes Of Germans. 1
namely the notion that the only peo- /
PIE IN the world worth considering
are the Germans. Other people who
In any way interfere with the az
grandizement Of Germany must sub
NIT TO Germany or be crushed.
The school system in Germany is
planned to keep the masses of the
people IN dependence on the classes
Inere Is no such thing as a German .
school system any more than there is
4 school system Of the United States
Every state in Germany, or in the
United states, has its own school sys-i
TEN, but the school systems of the
German states resemble each other
much more closely than the school
systems Of the United States do, par
ticularly in the upper branches OF
Elementary education is provided
by the Volksschule-the peoples
school-but not with any such mean
ing Of the word people" as with US.
Elementary education is free in Ger
many just as it is with US. But sec
ondary and higher education in Ger
many are not free.
Moreover there IS no articulation!
whatever, after the third year of
school, between what we usually CALI
secondary education and elementary
For example, the element
airy school covers eight years (some-
times seyen) from the pupils 9Th to-
his 18th year. The course Of study
consists of religion" the mother
tongue; geography, primarily Of Ger
many and Of German colonies and de-
tendencies; history, chiefly of Ger
many; arithmetic, with emphasis on
facility in the fundamental opera
ions: little drawing, and little else.
Reading, writing and arithmetic con-
!