El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-10-19
By PROFESSOR PAUL H HANUS.
History and Art of Teaching at Harvard University

CAMBRIDGE. Mass, Oct. 81 an
I, unfortunate enough to be born &
German-and a Prussian. at that
had. therefore. when I began life, the
worst possible blood in my veins
which the world can exhibit today. Il
is said. however. that ones physical
makeup changes every seven years
and as Z am considerably more than
seven years. I have had opportunity
TO change my physical makeup sew
eraI times. And I think I have do n,
so. I have visited Germany repeat ed
3 during the past 20 years. And so
both because Of my origin and. be.
cause I have kept in touch with Ger
many and the Germans, I have soml
personal knowledge Of the German
social structure. and paTticul hrly Of
the German school system
The masses Of the Germsln peO-
pIe are denseIy ignorant. 1t Is a
mistake to suppose that me Ger
man people rs n whole n re an in
tellIEent people, They are not.
The rue=ses of the GerTAan people
are stoIid. dOltish; ana they are
kept in that condition, in the in
1eresfs Of a relatively small self
fNh governing class
German society is shratffied social
" There are the masses and the
classes. There ARD a number OF
grades in the classes, but there are
really no grades among the masses
Whatever is done for the bulk of the
German people is. done in the interest
not Of those people, but Of the classes.
Dependence OF the masses on the
claSses-on the state is systemat-
ica1ly cultivated by the German social
and educational system.
Paralysis OF Independence.
The result is a paralysis of indie
pendence in thought and action
among the great majority Of the Ger
man people that not only permits the
exploitation Of the masses by the
classes. but prevents them from at
tanning any other conception Of So
ciety than the society they were
reared m A natural corollary IS alb
ject suhservience to the superior in
telligence and the authoritative con-
troll Of the classes
OF course, the classes look after
the physical welfare Of their depend
ents- The masses-are paid living
wages, that is wages or salaries iEst
large enough to maintain them in
their humble station and TO restrict
them to il; and they are provided for
But all this is done for them by their
official superiOrs- The mental and
moral welfare Of the masses. as con-
ceived by the classes, is similarly
safeguarded by the classes - once
more. in the interest Of the classes
y the public school system.
A good many people have visited
Germany and afterwards have writ
ten about the German school system.
I cannot help believing that many Of
~ 10
guaEe well enough to understand
what they hear and see. Above all
they don't catch the spirit OF what Is
-ranspiring- Let me give you an il
lustratiOn OF two:
] once attended class in Halle.
and learned in the course Of the
lesson that n German. by the name
of Gauss. had invented the cleo
trio telegraph at home we are
in TIE habit OF attribUtinE the In
TentiOn Of teIeEraphy to an Amer
lean by the name Of MOrse.s
oh, no. he said; Gauss was the
inventor
But" I said. "how does It happen
that your government bestowed hon
ors on Morse for his invention
oh" said the teacher. Morse
might have made some practical ap-
phcation Of telegraph, but Gauss in
vented IL"
Claimed Steamboat German Invention.
N0+ 4tlE aALEE mat was aLLenQllE
lesson elsewhere and learned that
a German had invented the steam boat
in the 18th century, too. a time
which happens TO be prior TO the in
vention OF the steam engine I called
the teachers attention to the fact of
the steamboats, having been invented
by Fulton, an American.
NO" he said, you are wrong, It
was invented by = German"
But" I said. the steam engine
wasn't invented as a practical ma
chine until the 18th century"
"Oh. no" said the teacher, at was
invented long before"
In both the cases cited the teachers
decision was authoritative and final
Il had been German would have
been convinced
Typical PrusSiau Official.
At this point ] want to tell you
something about the typical Prussian
official when he thinks he is dealing
with mere civilian or subordinate
without governmental influence.
IN Breslau an old line gymnasium and /
a socalled reform gymnasium" were