English and German Education, as seen by an Austrian

and are used to duplicate the uneven stream bed. The gravel from the stream is sent down the sluice boxes in conjunction with water and the heavy gold sinks to the bottom and is caught by the riffle bars. This is done many times to get all the gold from the gravel. As may be seen this is a somewhat crude method and the stream has to be very rich to render it into " pay-dirt." It takes many centuries of erosion to put the gold into the river bed, but in past years the cream of the gold has been skimmed in such places as the Klondyke and California. So for many years the major part of the world's gold will be brought from mines proper. N. A. Chudleigh, Form V.

In every paper we open we find long articles about coming air bombardments, the destruction of London by the air, freezing gas and other horrors. Many believe that Germany possesses special bombs filled with germs and bacilli. If this is so there is no doubt that Hitler will employ them. But in none of these papers is the slightest doubt expressed that England will win this war. Why? Because neither bombs nor aeroplanes will decide this war, but the spirit of the population. If we have the will to see it through, we will do so, and if we see it through the victory is ours.

In 1918 the German army ceased fighting because the men wanted to see their wives and children, because the men could not any longer bear the thought that their wives and children were starving. So you see, we boys may be a deciding factor in this war. If we do our part in it, it will be to the advantage of the mother country, and if we make life easier for our fathers on the front they will see it through more easily than otherwise. The same thing applies also to the German youth, and therefore we have a spiritual war of our own with them, we have to show that our spirit is better than that of the German youth, and that the English principle of education—to make a gentleman and a sportsman out of a boy—triumphs over the German principle —to make a soldier and a (brainless) follower of the Fiihrer.

On the first glance you might think that the Germans are better trained for the present situation than we are. We must now try to show that this is not true.

At about the age of 12 or 13 at the latest the German boy is put into a uniform, learns songs about the invincibility of the German army, their right to be masters of 31

Central Europe, the criminality of the Jews and other such rot. He learns how to handle a rifle instead of learning Latin ; he reads Mein Kampf instead of reading the Bible; he studies the " Racetheory " instead of his Geography. It might be quite interesting if I give a short review of the German school system. The thing that would probably strike a British boy most of all is the age of the masters. Masters are at least 30-35 years of age, and a school with a good name will often employ none under 35. You might ask what do masters do until they are 35 ? Well, there is a type of school to which the poorer classes can send their children and at which the German equivalent of the School Certificate, the " Matura," cannot be taken. That is where masters start, and later on the Ministry for Education transfers them to the so-called gymnasiums, schools which you must have visited to be permitted to attend a university. The former are free, the latter cost 60 marks (about £3) per semester. Semester is the name for the German " term," which lasts for about 4.1 months. There are two semesters per year, and the holidays are as follows: 21 months in Summer, 10 days at Christmas, and 4-5 days at Easter.

Another striking difference is between the English and German system of elementary education. A German boy usually enters his prep. school at the age of six, and stays there for about four years. At the age of 10 he, or rather his parents, have to make up their mind as to whether or not he wants to attend a university. If not he is sent to an ordinary secondary school where he receives a general education and at the same time specialises in a foreign language. If he wants to attend a university later on, he goes to a university school. There he learns the usual subjects as well as either Latin and Greek or Latin and English (or French).

But above all he is taught that what the Fiihrer does is right and that he never fails. If Hitler says Russia must be annihilated, he is right; if he signs a pact of mutual assistance with her, he is right; if he says Germany's best friend is Poland, he is right; and if he invades Poland, he is right. Therefore it will be a difficult job to make the German boy believe the truth. But I think we will be able to live in peace with the coming German generation when we once succeed in telling the German youth the truth and in turning him into a decent citizen, if once his faith in the Fiihrer is destroyed and if he does not believe any longer in the invincibility of the German army, and if he sees that not all Jews are criminals and traitors, and if he sees that the truth is in the Bible and not in Mein Kampf. We know 32