The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-10-10
BY WILHELM HoHENzoLLERN

AS was natural; had close and last |
ing relations IN the regular course OF
events with the Minister of Public
Worship and Instruction. Herr Won
Gossler and Herr Won Trott may sure
ly be considered the most important
and prominent occupants of this post.
In this ministry a co-worker almos.
without equal arose in the person OF
Ministry Director Althoff, man of
genius.
had been made acquainted with
the dark side of the high school sys-
TEN of education by my own school
experiences The predominantly phllo-
logical character of the training led,
in the whole educational system as
well, to a certain one-sidedness.
When 1 was at the Cassel high
school in. 1874-1877 / had observed
that, although there was great enthu-
siasm for 1S7G-1S71 and the new en-
pire among the boys, there was, never
theless. a distinct lack of the right
conception of the German idea, of the
feeling 'civis Gcrmanus sum" Il am
a German citizen)-which l impressed
later upon my people at the laying of
the foundation-stone of the Saalburg.
To create such sentiments and awak-
en- them in the rising generation and
to lay the foundations for them firmly
in the young hearts was task some
what beyond the powers of the teach
ing staff, in view of the fossilized,
ANTICIPATED pathological curriculum
There was great neglect in the de-
partment Of German history, which Is
exactly the study through which
young hearts may be made to glow,
through which the love of ones ma
tive country, its future and greatness,
may be aroused. But little was taught
of more recent history. covering the
years since 1915. Young philologists
were produced, but no German citi
zens qualified for practical co-opera
ton toward building up the flourish,
ing young empire.
In other words, no youths who were
consciously Germans were being turn
ed out. In a small reading club com
posed of my classmates l often tried
to inculcate the idea of the Greater
Germany, in order to eliminate paroch
iaI and similar conceptions which
hampered the German idea. Admlra
Warmers Book of the German Fleet
was one of the few works by mean;
Of which the living feeling for thu
German Empire could be famed int
flame.
New Goal of German Youth
Another thing that struck me, II
addition to the one-sidedne5s OF tht
education in the schools, was the tend
ency among youths planning their ca
reers in those days to turn their at
tention to becoming government Off
cials, and always to consider the pro
fession of lawyer or judge the mos
worthy goal.
This was doubtless due to the fac
that the conditions obtaining in tn
Prussia of olden days still had thei
effect in the youthful German En-
pire AS long as the state consisted
so to speak, of government and &C
ministration, this tendency anon
German youths in the shaping of thei
lives was understandable and just
fled; since we were living in couI
try of officials, the right road for
young man to select was the serVlc
of the state. British youths of tina
time, self-reliant and made robust b
sports, were already talking, to
sure, of colonial conquests, of eXped
tons to explore new regions of tn
earth, of extending British commerce
and they were trying, in the guise {
Great Britain still stronger and grea
er, by practical, free action, not q
paid hirelings of the state. But En-
land had long been a world empil
when we We're still land of official:
therefore, the youth of Britain coul
seek more remote and important goa
than the German.
Now that Germany had entered I'M
world economies and world polite
however, as a by no means negligib
factor. the aspirations of Germa
youth should have undergone mo-
prompt transformation. For this re
son it was that l, during the lat
years of my reign, used to compaT
with q heavy heart, the proud your
Britons, who had learned much lie
Latin and Greek than was requir'
among us. with the children of &c