Among the major European countries, Germany is a relatively latecomer. At first, "Germany" was more of a geographical and national concept than a concept of the state. The electors are independent of each other and have been divided for many years, which has seriously dragged down the process of modernization. Unlike Britain and France, which had political revolutions before and educational reforms after the industrial revolution, Germany did the opposite, and based on its own backward national conditions, embarked on the road of establishing a country through education, and finally achieved the goal of catching up later. So, how did education in modern Germany develop step by step?
University of Munich, 1900
The Reformation and the Secularization of Education
In the Middle Ages, the right to education and education was monopolized by the Catholic Church, and priests and bishops were almost the only cultural class at that time. In order to cultivate theological talents, the Catholic Church created the "university" model of higher education. Yet the Church itself became more and more corrupt, and Pope Leo X said: "Since God has arranged for us to enjoy, let us enjoy it!" "Since the Renaissance, the spread of humanism has led to a revolt against the authority of the Church in various fields, and in the universities, the power of separation has also been nurtured.
A fragmented Germany was the hardest hit by the Catholic Church's exploitation, and the "indulgence" provoked the anger of all segments of local society. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a professor at the University of Wittenberg, publicly boycotted indulgences and published the Ninety-Five Theses, which opened the prelude to the Reformation.
Martin Luther publicly boycotted indulgences and published the Ninety-Five Theses
Martin Luther started by "justification by faith" and opposed the Catholic Church's monopoly on education. He believed that education was not only to cultivate theological talents, but also to meet the needs of the secular state: "Even if there is no soul, no heaven and hell, only worldly things to consider, it is necessary to set up good and complete schools to cultivate men who are good at governing and women who are good at family management." To this end, he argued that the state should seize the right to education and that the people should be obliged to receive education: "Our rulers should demand that children be sent to school, not to take them away from their parents, but only for the benefit of them and all of us to be educated where they can receive education where they can receive full support." ”
Although Germany at that time did not have sufficient conditions to realize Luther's ideas, the spirit of the Reformation was already deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and a considerable number of princes openly supported the Reformation, and Luther was also hailed as "the theoretical pioneer of the modern Western national education and popularization of compulsory education".
The national crisis and the establishment of a compulsory education system
But the Reformation also brought about wars of religion, thirty years of civil war that caused great setbacks in Germany, in stark contrast to the flourishing capitalism of Western Europe. Serious backwardness has stimulated nationalist sentiments and stimulated the emphasis of the rulers on compulsory education. Because the development of the country needs to be served by talents in various fields, and the consolidation of power in the country also needs to be carried out by instilling the mainstream ideology in the people, education is clearly at the heart of this process.
At this time, a country with Lutheran religious doctrines gradually arose in Germany, namely Prussia. The first king, Frederick I, the "Soldier King", enacted the Compulsory Education Act in 1717, which required parents to send their children between the ages of 4 and 12 to school, to learn religion, reading, writing, counting, and "all kinds of courses sufficient to enhance their happiness and welfare", and those who violated them were severely punished.
In 1717, Frederick William I issued a decree requiring the implementation of compulsory primary education throughout Prussia, and a total of 1800 schools were built, realizing that "young people grow up in the darkness of abandoning faith and ignorance, and will lead to the suffering of this and the next" that he did not want to see.
When Frederick II succeeded to the throne, the Enlightenment swept throughout Europe, and the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers were partly adopted by enlightened monarchs. Frederick II was the representative of the enlightened monarchs, and in 1763 he promulgated the Statute of the Ordinary School, which continued and deepened his father's educational policy: forced education should begin at the age of 5 and end at the age of 13 or 14. Parents who do not send their children to school are fined and used as a fund for schools. Persons from poor families who are unable to pay tuition fees may apply for allowances from magistrates, sponsors or priests and religious courts. The third king, Frederick William, kept the right to education firmly in the hands of the state and forbade anyone to run schools without permission.
Extensive education of the third king Frederick William
However, at this time, Prussia lagged seriously behind Britain and France in terms of development. In the Battle of Jena in 1806, Prussia was defeated and could not compete with the French army that had undergone the baptism of revolution, and was forced to sign the humiliating Treaty of Tilsit. The peace treaty once again aroused the nationalist sentiment of the Prussians, and the philosopher Fichte delivered a speech to the German nation, exclaiming: "Only education can save us from all the calamities that oppress us." He believed that through education all the branches of finance would, without much effort, in a short period of time a prosperity which had never been seen in any epoch, and that if the state wanted to calculate, if it would probably have to know by then the true fundamental value of all things, its first expense would receive a thousand times the interest.
Prussia in a fractured Germany
The philosopher Fichte delivered a speech to the German nation.
Fichte's appeal was quickly met with a positive response from King William III. In March 1809, the linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt was appointed Director of the Department of Culture and Education of the Ministry of the Interior, and began to take charge of educational reform. Humboldt, with the idea of "comprehensive education", abolished the aristocratic prerogatives on education and introduced universal compulsory education, which he considered to be the obligation of the people: "Every man, even the poorest, must receive the education of the generally informed." It is also considered to be the duty of the state: "All schools, not schools in one place, but schools in the whole country, can only be aimed at the education of the generally literate." ”
If you don't want to go to school, you have to spank
Humboldt also designed a relatively complete educational system for Prussia – primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary schools aim to learn common sense and cultivate abilities; secondary schools aim to learn knowledge and master the ability to learn; universities participate in scientific research in a learning manner to achieve "the unity of teaching and scientific research". In particular, higher education, in 1810 Humboldt founded the first modern university, the University of Berlin. Humboldt's vision was: "In the university, people are able to understand the purest science on their own, from within themselves. Proceeding from the most basic understanding, freedom is useful for this autonomous act, loneliness is beneficial, and on the basis of these two points, the external organization of the university is formed. "Let the university become a place that is truly oriented to the whole society and a place where there is real freedom of research."
Humboldt statue of the University of Berlin today Source. Pexels
At the stage of basic education, Prussia also carried out drastic reforms. Although basic education has been implemented for three generations, the real situation is very bad due to the weakness of the teaching staff. In the Brandenburg region, there are no fixed schools in the countryside, there is a shortage of professional teachers, and the content of teaching is still mostly religious doctrine. In response to this chaos, the Minister of Education, Altenstein, imposed strict restrictions on the qualifications of teachers, excluding craftsmen and veterans who used to be teachers, and from 1826 onwards, teaching examinations were conducted for teachers. In order to revitalize basic education, Prussia also actively "learned from the Swiss educator Pesterozzi". As early as 1808, Prussia sent a team of 17 young teachers to Switzerland to study, and three years later was responsible for the reform of the various regions, the establishment of normal schools, and the training of a large number of professional primary school teachers.
With the deepening of educational reforms, the wave of the Industrial Revolution also came to Prussia from Britain. The progress of the productive forces provides the material basis for the government to guarantee the enrolment rate in education. From 1833 onwards, primary school tuition fees were gradually waived, ameliorating the problem of poor people who could not afford to go to school. In 1839, Prussia promulgated the Factory and Mine Ordinance, which began to ban child labor and educate them.
After several generations of hard work, the Prussian compulsory education system was finally established. According to statistics, by 1846, Prussia's various primary schools reached 24,044, with 2.433 million students, and the enrollment rate was as high as 82%, which was the earliest country in the world to popularize compulsory education. Prussian educational reform provided countless scientific and technological talents for industrialization and achieved a take-off in national strength. In 1870, Prussia took revenge on the capture of The French Emperor Napoleon III at the Battle of Sedan, and after the war, Prussian Marshal Moltke said proudly: "Prussia's victory was decided on the podium of the primary school teacher." ”
After several generations of hard work, the Prussian compulsory education system ultimately benefited these children
German unification and the development of vocational education
Unified Germany soon spread prussian successes throughout the country. In addition to the original compulsory education system, in order to meet the needs of industrialization, the educational structure has also changed, and vocational education has received more and more attention.
The first is that liberal arts secondary schools no longer have the only qualifications for university entrance examinations, and practical secondary schools oriented to natural sciences and practical knowledge have acquired equal status. In 1900, Kaiser Wilhelm II approved the Kiel Decree, which recognized graduates of practical secondary schools as well as university entrance examinations. Under the wave of industrialization, the proportion of liberal arts students declined significantly, accounting for 60% in 1900, and plummeted to 39% in 1918, and practical secondary schools became the favorite places for the children of the emerging bourgeoisie.
Higher education has also been affected, teaching and scientific research, production has been closely integrated, commercial, technical and other colleges and universities have emerged. By 1918, of the 54 universities in Germany, there were 10 engineering universities, 9 agricultural and forestry veterinary universities, and 5 business universities.
Major universities in Germany are distributed
At the same time, secondary technical schools and vocational schools have flourished. Covering technical and commercial schools in various industrial sectors such as construction, machine building, mining, food processing, etc., 26 new vocational schools were built in Prussia in 1831 alone. After German reunification, by 1910 there were as many as 1.356 million students from secondary technical schools.
Germany has also developed a characteristic vocational education system - "dual system" according to its own tradition. The so-called dual system is to allow young people to receive vocational training in enterprises and to receive compulsory education in vocational schools. The "dual system" was transitioned from the traditional guild apprenticeship system, and under the wave of industrialization, the apprenticeship system could no longer adapt to the times, and workers needed to continue education. In 1849 and 1869, Prussia issued the Industrial and Commercial Ordinance, which stipulated that apprentices had the obligation to receive continuing education, and employers and masters were exempt from the apprentice's workload.
Apprenticeships, which had been based on personal attachment, were abolished in favour of vocational education
After the reunification of Germany, Keschenstein first proposed to transform the old-style continuing schools into vocational-oriented compulsory vocational continuing schools according to the division of specialties, and in 1906 took the lead in running schools in Munich. This reform was emulated by other regions and endorsed by the state. In 1938, vocational education was finally made compulsory. After the collapse of the Third Reich, compulsory vocational education was inherited by the Federal Republic of Germany, and on August 14, 1969, the Federal Government promulgated the Vocational Education Act, and the modern dual system was formally established, which became a major driving force for the German economy to take off.
In summary, the development of Germany's modern education system is inseparable from the strong support of the state, and developed education has also helped Germany successfully catch the express train of industrialization and catch up with the old countries such as Britain and France. Germany's historical experience also proves that it is a very suitable path for the late-developed countries to narrow the gap with the developed countries through universal education.
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References: Speeches to the German Nation. Anthology of Historical Sources on the Development of Foreign Education. Xia Zhilian; General History of Foreign Education. Teng Dachun; The Road to Universal Education in Modern Germany. William Humboldt's Concept of "Comprehensive Education": Goals, Institutions and Knowledge. Wang Shiyue chen hongjie: The development of education in the process of industrialization in modern Germany. Xing Laishun; A Review of Educational Reform in Modern Germany. A Study of compulsory education policy in the Kingdom of Prussia (1713-1871). Wu Kexuan