inspection. [ . . . ] In our efforts, however, we face the same problem as the physician who wants to heal an open wound with internal medication alone. Our work on the children’s heads is useless. The heads are empty; the intellect has sunk down into the torso and limbs, whose sluggish posture is testimony to their state of repose. The children sit there in a dream-like state; their eyes are glassy, lacking shine. Mental freshness, liveliness, which is otherwise typical of children, has completely vanished. Neither math nor even singing class can awaken spirits. It almost drives one to despair. What to do? Can the children help themselves through preparation at home? Impossible. They lack the time, energy, and desire for that. Nothing is left for us but the awareness that our working children are becoming stupid little by little. [ . . . ] When I drew a landowner’s attention to the fact that turnip growing was a true disaster for our elementary school [Volksschule], that child labor caused so much harm, he made remarks along the following lines: “The demands made by our rural schools these days are simply too high. If the children learn religion, reading, writing, and a bit of math, perhaps a little history as well, they know enough. Geography, biology, drawing, and all of this nonsense constitute an incredible burden for the school. Children who learn something consider themselves clever when they are all grown up, and they become Social Democrats. People who have learned nothing are better workers. [ . . . ] What we need are basic elementary schools,” he went on to argue. “Discipline and order are imperative.”
Source: Teacher Gossow in Pommersche Blätter für die Schule und ihre Freunde [Pommeranian Gazette for the School and its Friends], Stettin, 11, 1887, pp. 102-6.
Original German text reprinted in Jens Flemming, Klaus Saul, and Peter-Christian Witt, eds., Quellen zur Alltagsgeschichte der Deutschen 1871-1914 [Source Materials on Everyday Life in Germany 1871-1914]. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1977, pp. 133-35.
Translation: Erwin Fink
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