Education
Spring Awakening shows a school system “designed to produce a proportion of failures, to encourage competition, to classify children for their future economic role and to inculcate respect for authority and conventional morality. Schooling was compulsory, giving teachers considerable power over their charges.” (Boa) |
The education system in Germany during the late nineteenth-century was "internationally admired and even imitated" but, it "tended to teach "the facts of German history, but not the facts of life” (Modern 261 and Fishman 170). While at school, children were expected to uphold an unquestioning respect for authority, and when they failed to do so, teachers were free to discipline students in any way they deemed necessary. In fact, one popular phrase of the time stated, "A boy has a back, when you hit it he understands" (Ham 50). Not only were the children expected to succeed under the thumb of dictatorial teachers, but massive amounts of information and homework were thrown at the students day after day without any thought of their emotional or physical health. “Boys become physically emaciated and near-sighted, while girls develop crooked backbones and bad eyes" (Fishman 175). Just as Frau Gabor observed that "health is more important than Ancient Greek," educational reformers felt the same way. One said, "Let the body not pay for the progress of the mind! Provide space for the happy child’s play and bodily exercise in the air and sunshine so that the children’s world will not be crushed by intellectual burdens” (Fishman 175). However, many teachers and administrators believed that perfection could be attained "through the pursuit of worthy ideals," and because of this, students were not treated as human beings, but as objects that could be shaped and molded into identical toy soldiers (Ham 49). Ludwig Gurlitt, who wrote a pamphlet on student suicide said:
Every administrator, teacher, and student becomes part of a vast, impersonal apparatus. Each day students are herded into pedagogical barracks and disciplined by state pedants. No attempt is made to understand the nature and needs of young people. Administrators and teachers deal with students, parents, and colleagues in cold, official tones. Even student suicides are reported in the same heartless manner. (Fishman 177)
The schools could be heartless and cruel, and unfortunately for many students, memories of school are "'the most miserable’ of all childhood recollections (Eley 149).
In 1763, schooling became compulsory for children for at least seven to eight years. Attendance policies were very strict, and in the cities, police escorts to school were utilized in extreme cases. Children attended school not only to learn about academic subjects, but about discipline, authority, and their place in the world as well. On May 1, 1889, Kaiser Wilheim II issued the Royal Decree on Reformed School Instruction as a Means to Combat Social Democracy. Basically, the decree said that in order to combat Socialist and Communist thinking, children must be instilled with the "fear of God and love of the fatherland." This was accomplished by teaching children that the German monarchy protected the people and their freedoms, as well as made daily life easier. Students were conditioned to believe this unquestioningly, hopefully creating a generation of Germans whom consistently obeyed authority and never wondered if life could be any other way. To read part of the decree, go to http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1807. Due to the large amounts of information and opinions that students were forced to ingest, “Nietzsche diagnosed modern man as suffering from a weakened personality, whose creativity has been paralyzed by an education over-saturated with historical models and received ideas” (Ham 55). He urged that
students "need to recover from this artificial educative process, to practice a kind of ‘unlearning,’ to return to their natural ‘uncivilized’ selves” (Ham 55).
Male Education
Throughout the nineteenth-century, the German education system grew to be more standardized and regulated; it's aim was to provide students with a "humanistic" education. In the secondary schools, compulsory subjects were settled upon, and were set into six or nine year sequences. There were various kinds of secondary schooling, but the most prestigious was referred to as Gymnasien. At the end of Gymnasien, students were required to take a standardized test, the Abitur. Upon passing the examination, boys received a certificate that allowed them into university if they chose to pursue higher education. Early in the nineteenth-century, boys who completed their secondary education were granted "partial exemption from compulsory military service," which meant they were only required to serve in the military for one year (Müller 18). Gymnasien was expensive, and placed a financial burden on middle class families. Gymnasien grew more expensive in the last few years, so many boys left school after only a couple years. Although these boys would not be eligible to attend university, they were able to enter into careers in "lower, intermediate and higher white-collar positions in banking, commerce and industry" (Muller 21). In 1882, regulations on schooling changed, and "early leaving was excluded in principle" (Müller 35).
Once this change in policy occurred, "the completion of a lower or intermediate secondary grade became worthless" (Müller 38). Essentially, boys who entered secondary school either had to complete Gymnasien or lose their standing in society. "Educational qualifications thus became the primary goals of secondary education schooling, and levels of education became the primary criteria of social differentiation in the bureaucracy and in society as a whole" (Müller 23) In fact, a son's level of education reflected on the social position of the entire family. Thus, Moritz's inability to continue on to the next grade level has detrimental affects on his prospects for his future career and his and his parents' social standing. Completing Gymnasien ensured "higher incomes and more secure social positions", however secondary school students who completes all but the last three grades typically either went into a career in the military or worked as "post office assistants, senior assistants, or postmasters" (Müller 22 and 36). One six-year Gymnasien laid out what each grade at their institution prepared students for. After two years, students were prepared for "the lower trades," after the next two grades for "the higher occupations of merchants, farmers, artists, etc," and after the last two grades, students were prepared for "the academic professions" (Muller 27). The problem that began in the 1880s was a lack of intermediate civil service positions available to boys who left school early. Most positions in existence were filled by men who would likely continue working for 30 to 40 more years, making it impossible for young men to find work. Additionally, the educational requirements for many jobs was increased as more and more boys received Gymanien educations. There was a high possibility that partially-schooled boys would remain unemployed, forced to remain living in shame in their parents' homes.
While at Gymnasien, boys studied a wide range of subjects including: Greek, Latin, math, science, theology, and handwriting, and some schools also taught French and English. In 1825, the typical gymnasium student "had thirty-two contact class hours each week; two were in religion, six in mathematics, three in geography, and twelve to nineteen in classical languages" (Groh 72-3). Physical education was also part of the curriculum, as it was thought to help curb sexual desire.
Here are two boys' reflections on their school experience:
Later on, there was endless Latin, and even later, Greek. German and gymnastics were equally valued minor subjects. We had two hours of each per week; only in the higher grades was instruction in German allotted somewhat more time. I wrote many Latin verses – about peace, war, the swimming pool, the lyre, the piano - but I wouldn't have known whether any poets lived in Germany or what kind, if I did not figure out from the books that my father put on my mother's desk. I was capable of calculating the surface area of an ellipse, but I did not have even a rough concept of a square kilometer or the salary of a full professor at university. We wrote Greek exams in the form of translations from German originals without a dictionary, which really constituted a particular waste of both Greek and German, because we did not have what it took for such work – basically we could not read Homer. We learned from Caesar’s De Bello Gallico about the construction of the bridge that Caesar had built for his legions over the Rhine and could name every brace and fret, but we did not know what the structure of the German Reich looked like according to the constitution. We were more familiar with the Second Messenian War than with the Second Silesian War or the Wars of Liberation [from Napoleon], because our history lessons did not include these late events. The historical and political foundations of our lives remained completely unknown to us.However, this was by no means the teachers’ fault; it had to do with the times, and I knew of no Gymnasium where the situation would have been any different. (Rudolf)
To call the town’s high school “humanistic” must have been a misunderstanding, if one understood this to mean instruction with the goal of free and independent thinking and the attainment of a basic education. The “humanistic” element of this school consisted more or less in the instruction of Latin and Greek grammar. We hadn’t the slightest clue of the vitality of these languages, of language as an expression of an intellectual attitude, its logic, its poetic power, and beauty. And so Ovid, Virgil, Cicero, and Homer were nothing more than bothersome schoolwork, sentence constructions that we had to prepare laboriously with a dictionary for the next day, and which passed over us without a trace. With modern languages the situation was quite pathetic. The teachers assigned to instruct them were incapable of speaking them themselves. Hardly any of these stiff, old gentlemen had ever seen France or England, not to mention having any knowledge of French or English literature, or being able to convey to us an image of our neighboring countries. Obviously, for this remote province of Upper Silesia, these teacher-caricatures, who contented themselves each day by covering the prescribed dosage of instruction and then rushing off to their patriotic discussions in the local pub, were just good enough. If we, a small group, moved by our natural, youthful urge towards knowledge, had not taken it upon ourselves to expand our own horizons, we would have grown up like barbarians. Certainly there were better schools elsewhere in Germany. What we heard about the French high school in Berlin, about high schools in Frankfurt, Breslau, and a few other cities, aroused our envy and admiration. But I am afraid that the majority of the schools in small towns, particularly those in the eastern provinces, were more or less like ours. (Secondary)
Reformatories
Instead of punishing criminal children by throwing them in the adult penitentiary, "a system of compulsory correctional education was established as the primary instrument for educating and disciplining wayward, criminal, and demoralized young people" (Harder 12-3). If fact, juvenile delinquency was seen as a "social problem" that overruled the "private interest of the parent" (Elder 67). Reformatories were typically run by the government or religious groups; Melchior was likely in a Protestant run reformatory. Reformatories of all types "attempted to transmit their views on family structure, the importance of a strong work ethic, and an emotionally controlled way of life to the children" (Harder 14). The curriculum of reform included "military drills, physical exercise, labor, training for industrial and agricultural careers, and instruction in morality and religion" (Reformatory). However, children who were believed to be past the point of help or who were clearly not intelligent enough to succeed in school were labeled as "recalcitrant or ineducable" and were segregated from the other kids or even placed in psychiatric institutions (Harder 15).
The children who stayed at reformatories were mentored by people who were often not qualified to provide the kind of education and care that the inmates needed. A boy who attended reformatory in the 1900s believed that most mentors were hypocritical because they had "neither a personal Christianity nor the desire for it...At the same time, they constantly cite the Bible, recite pathetic prayers, and pass hours in religious devotion...though they give their low desires free run with the inmates" (Harder 17). The inmates did not find religion through these mentors, but repeated scriptures and prayers learned through rote memorization.
True examples of life in reformatories are rare as the institutions censored the boys correspondence. However, one teen was able to get a letter out that contained terrible stories of his life and that of his fellow inmates. One story went on as follows:
In spite of illness and cold weather, a boy was sent to dig peat dressed in completely insufficient clothing consisting of trousers, shirt, and wooden shoes without socks. While working, he was beaten by the warden because he asked if he could return to his bed in review of his illness. He was denied lunch and returned in the evening to the reformatory with a high fever. That night he died from complications caused by his illness. The boy's parents were not permitted to see him and were not informed of the true cause of his death and the circumstances surrounding it. (Harder 18)
The letter contained another story of a boy who also died from an illness and his mistreatment was covered up. Furthermore, a boy hung himself because of the "constant harassment and persecution to which he was subjected by his mentors" (Harder 18).
The teen who wrote the letter sought justice for his friends after he was released from the reformatory, but the Pastor in charged issued a statement that described the boy as:
A hopeless, psychopathic case. The boy has an ineradicable bent for constant lying, swindling, and theft. During his stay in our institution we have found his judgment abundantly confirmed...He is gifted with an excellent intelligence but almost completely lacks moral qualities. He is an unfortunate boy, full of yearning for deep inner peace and at the same time consumed by a craving for boundless sensual pleasure. (Harder 22)
It was feared that the boy would reveal the truth of reformatory life, so the boy was eventually placed in a psychiatric asylum and was shut up for good.
Every administrator, teacher, and student becomes part of a vast, impersonal apparatus. Each day students are herded into pedagogical barracks and disciplined by state pedants. No attempt is made to understand the nature and needs of young people. Administrators and teachers deal with students, parents, and colleagues in cold, official tones. Even student suicides are reported in the same heartless manner. (Fishman 177)
The schools could be heartless and cruel, and unfortunately for many students, memories of school are "'the most miserable’ of all childhood recollections (Eley 149).
In 1763, schooling became compulsory for children for at least seven to eight years. Attendance policies were very strict, and in the cities, police escorts to school were utilized in extreme cases. Children attended school not only to learn about academic subjects, but about discipline, authority, and their place in the world as well. On May 1, 1889, Kaiser Wilheim II issued the Royal Decree on Reformed School Instruction as a Means to Combat Social Democracy. Basically, the decree said that in order to combat Socialist and Communist thinking, children must be instilled with the "fear of God and love of the fatherland." This was accomplished by teaching children that the German monarchy protected the people and their freedoms, as well as made daily life easier. Students were conditioned to believe this unquestioningly, hopefully creating a generation of Germans whom consistently obeyed authority and never wondered if life could be any other way. To read part of the decree, go to http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1807. Due to the large amounts of information and opinions that students were forced to ingest, “Nietzsche diagnosed modern man as suffering from a weakened personality, whose creativity has been paralyzed by an education over-saturated with historical models and received ideas” (Ham 55). He urged that
students "need to recover from this artificial educative process, to practice a kind of ‘unlearning,’ to return to their natural ‘uncivilized’ selves” (Ham 55).
Male Education
Throughout the nineteenth-century, the German education system grew to be more standardized and regulated; it's aim was to provide students with a "humanistic" education. In the secondary schools, compulsory subjects were settled upon, and were set into six or nine year sequences. There were various kinds of secondary schooling, but the most prestigious was referred to as Gymnasien. At the end of Gymnasien, students were required to take a standardized test, the Abitur. Upon passing the examination, boys received a certificate that allowed them into university if they chose to pursue higher education. Early in the nineteenth-century, boys who completed their secondary education were granted "partial exemption from compulsory military service," which meant they were only required to serve in the military for one year (Müller 18). Gymnasien was expensive, and placed a financial burden on middle class families. Gymnasien grew more expensive in the last few years, so many boys left school after only a couple years. Although these boys would not be eligible to attend university, they were able to enter into careers in "lower, intermediate and higher white-collar positions in banking, commerce and industry" (Muller 21). In 1882, regulations on schooling changed, and "early leaving was excluded in principle" (Müller 35).
Once this change in policy occurred, "the completion of a lower or intermediate secondary grade became worthless" (Müller 38). Essentially, boys who entered secondary school either had to complete Gymnasien or lose their standing in society. "Educational qualifications thus became the primary goals of secondary education schooling, and levels of education became the primary criteria of social differentiation in the bureaucracy and in society as a whole" (Müller 23) In fact, a son's level of education reflected on the social position of the entire family. Thus, Moritz's inability to continue on to the next grade level has detrimental affects on his prospects for his future career and his and his parents' social standing. Completing Gymnasien ensured "higher incomes and more secure social positions", however secondary school students who completes all but the last three grades typically either went into a career in the military or worked as "post office assistants, senior assistants, or postmasters" (Müller 22 and 36). One six-year Gymnasien laid out what each grade at their institution prepared students for. After two years, students were prepared for "the lower trades," after the next two grades for "the higher occupations of merchants, farmers, artists, etc," and after the last two grades, students were prepared for "the academic professions" (Muller 27). The problem that began in the 1880s was a lack of intermediate civil service positions available to boys who left school early. Most positions in existence were filled by men who would likely continue working for 30 to 40 more years, making it impossible for young men to find work. Additionally, the educational requirements for many jobs was increased as more and more boys received Gymanien educations. There was a high possibility that partially-schooled boys would remain unemployed, forced to remain living in shame in their parents' homes.
While at Gymnasien, boys studied a wide range of subjects including: Greek, Latin, math, science, theology, and handwriting, and some schools also taught French and English. In 1825, the typical gymnasium student "had thirty-two contact class hours each week; two were in religion, six in mathematics, three in geography, and twelve to nineteen in classical languages" (Groh 72-3). Physical education was also part of the curriculum, as it was thought to help curb sexual desire.
- “All these boys will go to the trenches and die with the same obedience they learned at school and were rewarded for with exam passes. Education in that sort of society is a preparation not for life but quite literally for death” (Wedekind xxi).
- “Academic discipline is charged with maintaining order, morality, and honor” (Tarausch 288).
- “Instead of elevating the student to a quasi divine human state, humanistic education reduced pupils to the level of beasts of burden” (Ham 50).
- “To one extent or another, the story of the authoritarian, conservative, vindictive schoolteacher who kept order in the classroom through liberal use of the cane is the account of the majority of the male working-class autobiographers who passed through the German elementary schools before World War I” (Eley 149).
- “A strong connection between the depiction of boyhood first encounters with the state authority in the schools and the socialist critique of the repressive character of the state is certainly suggested” (Eley 155).
Here are two boys' reflections on their school experience:
Later on, there was endless Latin, and even later, Greek. German and gymnastics were equally valued minor subjects. We had two hours of each per week; only in the higher grades was instruction in German allotted somewhat more time. I wrote many Latin verses – about peace, war, the swimming pool, the lyre, the piano - but I wouldn't have known whether any poets lived in Germany or what kind, if I did not figure out from the books that my father put on my mother's desk. I was capable of calculating the surface area of an ellipse, but I did not have even a rough concept of a square kilometer or the salary of a full professor at university. We wrote Greek exams in the form of translations from German originals without a dictionary, which really constituted a particular waste of both Greek and German, because we did not have what it took for such work – basically we could not read Homer. We learned from Caesar’s De Bello Gallico about the construction of the bridge that Caesar had built for his legions over the Rhine and could name every brace and fret, but we did not know what the structure of the German Reich looked like according to the constitution. We were more familiar with the Second Messenian War than with the Second Silesian War or the Wars of Liberation [from Napoleon], because our history lessons did not include these late events. The historical and political foundations of our lives remained completely unknown to us.However, this was by no means the teachers’ fault; it had to do with the times, and I knew of no Gymnasium where the situation would have been any different. (Rudolf)
To call the town’s high school “humanistic” must have been a misunderstanding, if one understood this to mean instruction with the goal of free and independent thinking and the attainment of a basic education. The “humanistic” element of this school consisted more or less in the instruction of Latin and Greek grammar. We hadn’t the slightest clue of the vitality of these languages, of language as an expression of an intellectual attitude, its logic, its poetic power, and beauty. And so Ovid, Virgil, Cicero, and Homer were nothing more than bothersome schoolwork, sentence constructions that we had to prepare laboriously with a dictionary for the next day, and which passed over us without a trace. With modern languages the situation was quite pathetic. The teachers assigned to instruct them were incapable of speaking them themselves. Hardly any of these stiff, old gentlemen had ever seen France or England, not to mention having any knowledge of French or English literature, or being able to convey to us an image of our neighboring countries. Obviously, for this remote province of Upper Silesia, these teacher-caricatures, who contented themselves each day by covering the prescribed dosage of instruction and then rushing off to their patriotic discussions in the local pub, were just good enough. If we, a small group, moved by our natural, youthful urge towards knowledge, had not taken it upon ourselves to expand our own horizons, we would have grown up like barbarians. Certainly there were better schools elsewhere in Germany. What we heard about the French high school in Berlin, about high schools in Frankfurt, Breslau, and a few other cities, aroused our envy and admiration. But I am afraid that the majority of the schools in small towns, particularly those in the eastern provinces, were more or less like ours. (Secondary)
Reformatories
Instead of punishing criminal children by throwing them in the adult penitentiary, "a system of compulsory correctional education was established as the primary instrument for educating and disciplining wayward, criminal, and demoralized young people" (Harder 12-3). If fact, juvenile delinquency was seen as a "social problem" that overruled the "private interest of the parent" (Elder 67). Reformatories were typically run by the government or religious groups; Melchior was likely in a Protestant run reformatory. Reformatories of all types "attempted to transmit their views on family structure, the importance of a strong work ethic, and an emotionally controlled way of life to the children" (Harder 14). The curriculum of reform included "military drills, physical exercise, labor, training for industrial and agricultural careers, and instruction in morality and religion" (Reformatory). However, children who were believed to be past the point of help or who were clearly not intelligent enough to succeed in school were labeled as "recalcitrant or ineducable" and were segregated from the other kids or even placed in psychiatric institutions (Harder 15).
The children who stayed at reformatories were mentored by people who were often not qualified to provide the kind of education and care that the inmates needed. A boy who attended reformatory in the 1900s believed that most mentors were hypocritical because they had "neither a personal Christianity nor the desire for it...At the same time, they constantly cite the Bible, recite pathetic prayers, and pass hours in religious devotion...though they give their low desires free run with the inmates" (Harder 17). The inmates did not find religion through these mentors, but repeated scriptures and prayers learned through rote memorization.
True examples of life in reformatories are rare as the institutions censored the boys correspondence. However, one teen was able to get a letter out that contained terrible stories of his life and that of his fellow inmates. One story went on as follows:
In spite of illness and cold weather, a boy was sent to dig peat dressed in completely insufficient clothing consisting of trousers, shirt, and wooden shoes without socks. While working, he was beaten by the warden because he asked if he could return to his bed in review of his illness. He was denied lunch and returned in the evening to the reformatory with a high fever. That night he died from complications caused by his illness. The boy's parents were not permitted to see him and were not informed of the true cause of his death and the circumstances surrounding it. (Harder 18)
The letter contained another story of a boy who also died from an illness and his mistreatment was covered up. Furthermore, a boy hung himself because of the "constant harassment and persecution to which he was subjected by his mentors" (Harder 18).
The teen who wrote the letter sought justice for his friends after he was released from the reformatory, but the Pastor in charged issued a statement that described the boy as:
A hopeless, psychopathic case. The boy has an ineradicable bent for constant lying, swindling, and theft. During his stay in our institution we have found his judgment abundantly confirmed...He is gifted with an excellent intelligence but almost completely lacks moral qualities. He is an unfortunate boy, full of yearning for deep inner peace and at the same time consumed by a craving for boundless sensual pleasure. (Harder 22)
It was feared that the boy would reveal the truth of reformatory life, so the boy was eventually placed in a psychiatric asylum and was shut up for good.
Female Education
Boys and girls began schooling at co-ed facilities, however once secondary school began they were separated. The girls' secondary education did not last as long as the boys'; typically, girls only went to school until 15 or 16. Even girls who wanted to continue their education to the university level were not legally allowed to do so. Additionally, girls were not taught the same material the boys were, as German society feared that allowing girls to learn too much would cause them to stray from their destined path of becoming a housewife and mother. While there was no set curriculum for female education, girls usually studied German grammar, religion, needlework, sewing, singing, and drawing, as well as math as far as it was useful in the household, and science only as needed for the “proper understanding and judgement of everyday natural events and the suppression of superstition” (Albisetti 20). Girls often had physical education as well, again to help curb sexual desire nd exploration. Basically, girls were restricted to studying topics that would assist in the development of the “'special qualities of women’s nature,’ among them sensitivity of feelings, modesty, and charm” (Albisetti 18).
This a German girl's reflection on her education:
What I learned in my school years [at the girls’ upper school] was minimal, even though I was considered one of the best pupils. “Spatial theory is the theory of space” – that’s how each and every physics class started out. [ . . . ] In history class, I learned and experienced only two periods: the ancient Greeks and, in later grades, the era of Frederick the Great. We acquired no picture of the world or of culture whatsoever. Similarly, I only learned some geography later on in life, at the side of my educated husband, through travels with him. In German class, we had to write essays on “The Apple Tree” and “The Grape Harvest” – I can still see the childlike images before me that were put up in front of our class. In the upper grades, dissecting Schiller’s dramas was a requirement. The only thing I retained was some knowledge in German and French grammar. (Else)
Teachers
In order to become a teacher at Gymnasien, one had to attend university for at least three years of study and then pass a state examination (Muller 26). Although teachers doled out the discipline within their own classrooms, they were also under the authority of the administrators and the state. They felt the pressure to perform, just as the students did. That is why teachers and administrators were quick to deal with student suicides as they did not want the suicide to be blamed on the institution or to reflect badly on education system.
Sources:
Albisetti, James C. Schooling German Girls and Women. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988. Print.
Boa, Elizabeth. The Sexual Circus: Wedekind's Theatre of Subversion. New York: Basil Blackwell Inc, 1987. Print.
Elder, Sace. "A Right to Beat a Child? Corporal Punishment and the Law in Wilhelmine Germany." Central European History 47 (2014): 54-75. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Eley, Geoff, ed. Socitey, Culture, and the State in Germany, 1870-1930. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996. Print.
Else Strack, Ein Leben aus der Erinnerung erzählt für Familie und Freunde [A Life Story Told from Memory for Family and Friends]. Printed manuscript. Cologne, 1959, pp. 6-8.
Fishman, Sterling. "Suicide, Sex, and the Discovery of the German Adolescent." History of Education Quarterly 10.2 (1970): 170-88. Web. 18 Aug. 2014.
Groh, John E. Nineteenth Century Germany Protestantism, The Church as Social Model. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1982. Print.
Ham, Jennifer. "Unlearning the Lesson: Wedekind, Nietzsche, and Educational Reform at the Turn of the Century." Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association 40.1 (2007): 49-63. Print.
Harder, Jurgen. "Youth Welfare and the Practice of German Reformatories in the Weimar Republic: Between Social Reintegration and the Exclusion of the "Behaviorly Maladjusted"." Social Justice Journal 38.4: 11-30. Print.
Müller, Detlef K., Fritz Ringer, and Brian Simon. Rise of the Modern Educational System. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1977. 15-52. Print.
"Reformatory." Encyclopedia Britannica. Print.
Royal Decree of May 1, 1889, Europäischer Geschichtskalender [European History Calendar], published by H. Schulthess, 1890, p. 166.
Rudolf Binding, Erlebtes Leben [A Life Lived]. Potsdam, 1937, pp. 75-76.
"Secondary Schooling for Boys: Memories of a High School Student in the Upper Silesian Town of Gleiwitz on the Eve of the First World War (Retrospective Account)." German History in Documents and Images. Web. 12 Sept. 2014.
Tarausch, Konrad H. "Students, Sex and Politics in Imperial Germany." Journal of Contemporary History 17.2 (1982): 285-303. JSTOR. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.
Wedekind, Frank. Spring Awakening. Trans. Edward Bond. London: Methuen Drama, 2009. Print.
Boys and girls began schooling at co-ed facilities, however once secondary school began they were separated. The girls' secondary education did not last as long as the boys'; typically, girls only went to school until 15 or 16. Even girls who wanted to continue their education to the university level were not legally allowed to do so. Additionally, girls were not taught the same material the boys were, as German society feared that allowing girls to learn too much would cause them to stray from their destined path of becoming a housewife and mother. While there was no set curriculum for female education, girls usually studied German grammar, religion, needlework, sewing, singing, and drawing, as well as math as far as it was useful in the household, and science only as needed for the “proper understanding and judgement of everyday natural events and the suppression of superstition” (Albisetti 20). Girls often had physical education as well, again to help curb sexual desire nd exploration. Basically, girls were restricted to studying topics that would assist in the development of the “'special qualities of women’s nature,’ among them sensitivity of feelings, modesty, and charm” (Albisetti 18).
- “Single-sex institutions as necessary not only because girls should be taught different subjects but also because girls required a different atmosphere for their education. Girls’ schools, they thought, should recreate as much as possible the atmosphere of the home, something not aimed at by the boys schools” (Albisetti 16).
- “Nothing demoralized young women more than too much reading” (Albisetti 12).
- Educators wanted women to be able to “improve their position” and “influence the future generation,” but not be led away from their future as housewives (Albisetti).
- The discipline at girls' schools was much less severe than at boys'.
This a German girl's reflection on her education:
What I learned in my school years [at the girls’ upper school] was minimal, even though I was considered one of the best pupils. “Spatial theory is the theory of space” – that’s how each and every physics class started out. [ . . . ] In history class, I learned and experienced only two periods: the ancient Greeks and, in later grades, the era of Frederick the Great. We acquired no picture of the world or of culture whatsoever. Similarly, I only learned some geography later on in life, at the side of my educated husband, through travels with him. In German class, we had to write essays on “The Apple Tree” and “The Grape Harvest” – I can still see the childlike images before me that were put up in front of our class. In the upper grades, dissecting Schiller’s dramas was a requirement. The only thing I retained was some knowledge in German and French grammar. (Else)
Teachers
In order to become a teacher at Gymnasien, one had to attend university for at least three years of study and then pass a state examination (Muller 26). Although teachers doled out the discipline within their own classrooms, they were also under the authority of the administrators and the state. They felt the pressure to perform, just as the students did. That is why teachers and administrators were quick to deal with student suicides as they did not want the suicide to be blamed on the institution or to reflect badly on education system.
- “From what I have said it is clear that this teacher was a typical ‘elementary school bully’” (Eley 155).
- See the Abuse tab for information on corporal punishment and the legality of teachers doling it out.
Sources:
Albisetti, James C. Schooling German Girls and Women. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988. Print.
Boa, Elizabeth. The Sexual Circus: Wedekind's Theatre of Subversion. New York: Basil Blackwell Inc, 1987. Print.
Elder, Sace. "A Right to Beat a Child? Corporal Punishment and the Law in Wilhelmine Germany." Central European History 47 (2014): 54-75. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Eley, Geoff, ed. Socitey, Culture, and the State in Germany, 1870-1930. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996. Print.
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