Evening star., 1946-12-01
Educators Hopeful in Task
Of Re-educating Germans
Investigators Find People Seeking Information
Withheld During Long Years of Intellectual
Imprisonment Under Totatarians
By Francis p. Douglas

By Francis
While we were at war with Germany
we faced with profound misgivings the
job of re-educating the German people.
We felt that was the only method by
which we might win some assurance we
could live at peace with the Germans in
the future. Nazi teachings would have
to be routed out and an appreciation of
the democratic way of life would have to
be substituted.
That, we conceded, was going to be
job.
Now we are in the midst of that job.
What are the conditions we face?
What is being done?
What are the hopes of success?
Some answers to these questions have
been supplied by a group of 10 distin-
guished educators sent to Germany last
August to look into the educational pro-
gram of the United States Military
Government and to report on its value.
The group, acting at the request of the
State and War Departments, spent about
a month in the American zone in Ger
many. It's members visited schools and
consulted members of the educational
staff of the military government, Ger
man officials, teachers and other civil
ians. They also talked with pupils in
the schools.
The American investigators concluded
our task is going to be long one, but
they expressed hope as to the outcome
Germans Eager to Learn.
The educators are aware of the diff
cllties in planting democracy in the
hearts as well as the minds of the Ger
man people, especially at this time. The
Germans, they say, appear dazed by the
completeness of their defeat.
Getting food and bare necessities OF
life occupies their minds. Political activ-
ity is at low ebb, partly because they
do not know what Germany is to be-"
the report says.
"Yet there is real hope in the situa-
ton. The Germans are starved for in
formation as to what has been going on
In other parts of the world during their
intellectual imprisonment. They are
eager to learn. Hence they have returned
to school and university with faith that
If anything can provide them with way
out of their dilemma it is education"
However, this education-or re-educa-
tion-can be effective only if it is an
integral part of comprehensive pro-
gram for the rehabilitation of the peo-
pie, the American group says. And, they
add, SO far as they could learn, there
does not now exist nor Is there in the
making an economy in which the demo-
| cratic spirit can develop and democratic
institutions be established"
The group which made the investiga-
ton and report was headed by George
F. Zook, president of the American
Council on Education, as chairman. 1t
| included Miss Bess Goodykooi1tz OF
washington. director Of the division OF
elementary education, United States Of
flee of Education. The report they drew
up was prepared in Berlin.
One of the most depressing sections
of the report is that on the background
of German education, and 1t illustrates
how long a road our program faces.
Old System Apparent.
The educators found the autocratic-
military tradition still apparent in the
German school system, where class
| distinctions are emphasized in the very
organization Of the school and authori-
| tartan inculcation of the subject matter
is still widely prevalent in teaching
| methods"
Further, under the German system,
when a child is 10 years old, or even
younger, he finds himself grouped or
| classified by factors over which he has
no control Ninety per cent are ticketed
for training for the everyday work OF
the nation, With little preparation or
| opportunity to get out of that class.
OF the rest, half, from the lower mid
die class, are prepared for the "lower
civil service positions and for trade,
| industry and commerce The other
| half, whose parents can afford the
tuition at the secondary schools for
preparation for the university, get edu-
cation to equip them for the best posi-
tions in life.
| Because of the tuition the vast major
| ity of German youth are excluded from
| the secondary schools. and there are
! few scholarships.
| In a section on the DEVELOPMENT OF
democracy the report treats of democ-
racy in relation to the home, to the
| church and to industry.
The American educators say that II
the home becomes "Prussian in its pat
tern" democracy is poisoned att Its
source and children reared in this
| atmosphere will look up to some, down
| on Others"
Democracy" the educators say,
"must depend upon its schools to culti-
vate reverence for every human being
simply because human, and thus it may
expect its schools slowly to depreciate
the prestige of family pattern that