The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1918-09-19
KING,
ABOVE DEITY IN
GERMAN TRINITY
Wisconsin Man Says Religion ~ Aid
To Atrocities.

~ htlVNiiCos
Madison, Wis.-"Germany's educa-
tional system is, to a great extent re-
sponsible for the present war and for
Germany's deeds in the war.
at is through her school system,
which has been craftily designed to
train into her school children blind
exaltation of their ruler and a docile
following of their commands-wheth-
err they require the wanton sacrifice
of thousands of individuals for the
glory of the state and its rulers or
the committing of savage atrocities to
terrorize the enemy-that Germany
has been able to prepare for and pre-
eipitate this world war and to wage
it without consideration of interna-
tional law, humanity, or mercy.
So declares Prof. M. V. O'Shea of
the department of education of the
University of Wisconsin, in a discus
sion of Germany's use of popular edu-
cation to bolster up autocracy and
militarism.
"This system of education which
Germany has had for more than
century has fixed the caste system
along rigid lines. 1t is designed to
train, first, few elite who will rule
and occupy all prominent and lucra-
tive positions, and second, the great
mass of the people who must work
and fight in order that the nation may
become all powerful. There is no
planning for the individual, as in
America; the average citizen belongs
to the nation and is personal inter-
ests are subordinate.
while in America our educational
system is based on a plan of contin-
uous education from the kindergarten
through the university. without dis
tinction as to sex or the economic or
social position of pupils, the German
plan is based on the principle that
most of the people should be laborers
doing manual work and re quiring
only an elementary education, while
the elite should follow intellectual
pursuits and rule the others.
For the training of about % per
per cent of the population-the work.
ers-there is only the "volksschule'
which leads only to trade after two
years compulsory service in the
army. There is no chance to go from
the volksschule to the professions or
government positions, or to higher
school, except an apprentice or trade
school-or, in fact, to anything that
takes the common man out OF his
class.
For the more fortunate 6 or per
cent-the upper class-there is an
other educational course set rigidly
apart from the volksschule and lead
ing to the university, the professions
and government positions, Only the
upper classes can enter these schools
and their military service is a one
year special training. The graduates
become officers in the army and so are
trained to be the political, social and
military rulers who govern the 92
per cent. of the people who must work
and fight
ITO an American, the strangest fea-
ture of the German schools is the
prominence of religious instruction
a feature introduced by Frederick the,
Great. Religious instruction in Ger
many has dwelt primarily upon obedi-
ence to the emperor, the king, and to
God. These three almighty beings are
practically regarded as a trinity in
Germany religious education. Thus
religion in German educationa is the
hand maid of autocracy and the in
strument of frightfulness since it puts
a queitus on the individuals con-
science and leads him to obey blind
ly. The pupils thus do not know how
to oppose the system that keeps them
in their places"