Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1918-06-14
EFFECT OF THE WAR ON THE
SCHOOLS IN GERMANY.

In response to requests for infor-
nation on present educational condi-
tons in Germany, the Bureau of Ed
ucation, Department of the Interior,
has made public the following trans
lation from an article by Dir. Paul
liildebrandt in the Vossische Zeitung,
Berlin, January %, 1918. After re,
citing the early enthusiasm of Ger
man youth for the war, and their ac-
tivities in behalf of war measures, the
article continues:
The sixth grade pupils of 1914 are
now about to be promoted to the up
per third. They have been accustom-
cd to the war. Who can wonder then
that now in the fourth year of the
war our children exhibit signs Of the
change? Too many of the restraints
have been removed which SHOULD
shape thor dcvclopmcnt--thc losing
of family ties, the father at the front
The mother employed away from the
home, and in the lower ranks of So
ciety doing the work of men: the
omission of school discipline. or the
teachers of the Berlin Public schools.
for instance, two-thirds have gone in
to the army. Furthermore, standards
in the higher institutions of learning
nave gradually been lowered until the
final examination has been pushed
back fully two classes. All those con-
ditlons have influenced our students
and have weakened their persistence.
since they see that they can attain a
scholastic standing without effort
that formerly demanded the severcst
application
Young people follow the law of
their nature. They arc guided bv the
Impressions of the moment and thew
cannot permanently resist them. In
addition, as time went on, especially
IN ease OF the students of higher edu-
cation, and particularly in the towns.
the hrdship of inadequate nourish
mcnt appeared. 1t is the unanimous
Judgment of medical specialists that
me children OF. the middle classes suf-
Tered most IN this respect. General n
tehtion az attracted to the fact that
the children were less sensitive TO re-
proof, that they paid no more atten-
tion TO threats, because the school au-
thoritles had dircctdc that thev be
treated with every lcnicncy, and since
promotions no longer represented any
definite standard of accomplishment
rms special consideration for the chill
drcn was most obvious in the schools
OF the large cities. Was not harvest
work and country vacation necessary
10 maintain the health of the com.
ing generation, and was it not nc
cesSary Tor great many To be set
back IN their studies SO that they re
Tnired repeated concessions TO main-
tain their rank and thereby contin-
ually lower scholastic standards of
their classes?
That spirit of voluntary service
which at the beginning of the war re-
vealed itself i'll its faircst aspcct has
now disappeared. Everywhere we
hear lamentations over the increasing
distaste shown for military service.
Pupils collect articlsc now for the re-
ward, not from patriotism, and the
older pupils have their struggles
Shall they take advantage of the on
por;unity to leav school with a half
completed education, or shall thew
avoid placing themselves in position
where they will have to enlist for
their country? What an unhappy in
decision even for the best of them
those who really think about the mat,
ter. ''i'''-
furthermore, in these ranks of soci-
ETY. which are less influenced by ira
dition, discipline and education, we
ma increasing violations of the law.
AT the first this manifested itself
merely in an increase of the thelft
More recently it has taken decided
urn toward personal assaults. 1t is
True the latter are still negligible in
proportion to the total number of
juvenile offenscs, but they are in
creasing every year Already tho
number of violent crimes committed
~ youths in the city of Berlin is more
Than three times the number reported
in 1911.
Thus, dark shadows are falling ov-
er the brilliant picture of 1914. Ev-
cry disciplinary influence, every eff
fort of the still fundamentally sound
German nation must be exerted to
oppose this tendency, and to lead
the children back TO The path of rec
titude.