Figure 1.-- This class portrait was taken in 1918, the final year of Imperial Germany. The school was in Cologne. The noard indicated that this was class 2. I'm not sure, but I think this meant the second year of scecordary school. The boys would have been about 12 years old. Note the number of boys wearing sailor suits, a good indication that they were from middle class families. Click on the image for a fuller discussiion of the image. |
Academic standards were very high in Imperial Germany. Middle and upperclass Germans had access to superp schools. Almost all Germany children attended primary school. Working class Germans for the most part, however, did not advance beyond primary school. Here one factor was the academic standards. Working-class parents did not promote their children's education to the same extent as middle-class parents. Here there were three factors. First, working-class parents did not place the same value on education as middle-class oparents. Second, with less education themselves, working-class parents could not offer the same support as middle-class parents. Third, there were costs associated in continuing education beyond the primary level. Here middle-class parents could better afford and were more willing to bear those expenses. While some working-class children did enter secondary school, very few ever went on to university-level studies. There was no major effort in Imperial Germany to address these social inquities. Nor was the problem addressed by the weimar Republic. It was, however, addressed by the NAZIs.
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