Figure 1.--This still shows boys in their school uniforms sitting on an outdoor step wearing the short trousers, argyle knee socks, and blazers. The socks are Argyle knee socks, which is of very doubtful authenticity for German boarding schools of the 1950s. A reader writes, "The short trousers with clip-on suspenders are historically correct, but the Argyle knee socks are not. Most German schoolboys of the 1950s wore plain colored knee socks." HBC is not sure about this, we have noted German boys in the 1950s wearing patterened knee socks.

The German documentary TV documentary film, "Die Harte Schule", depict the experiences of modern German boys and girls recreate the experiences and dress of a 1950s boarding school. "Die harte Schule" was identical to the British channel 4 documentary entitled "That'll Teach Them". A reader writes, "'Die Harte Schule' was made in 2006 and was similar but better as the the boys wear grey shorts and knee socks throughout and look very smart even though alot of them are at least 6 foot tall. The best way to view it is with Video.Google.com. and see the episodes in order. The uniforms look more English than German except for the Argyle knee socks.

TV-ology

This German documentary was apparently enspired by the British channel 4 documentary entitled "That'll Teach Them".

Premise

The German documentary TV documentary film,"Die Harte Schule", depict the experiences of modern German boys and girls in a 1950s boarding school. We are not entirely sure how likely this would have been. There may have been coed boarding schools in the 1950s, but we suspect that many of them were still single gender.

German Education

This documentary was based on a British program, but it should be pointed out that there were major differences between British and Germazn education and that the schools involved would not not have been precisely comparable. Both countries had boarding schools, but the history and role of boarding schools was different. The British state system developed after the system of public (private boarding) schools had been established for several centuries. The standards and image of the public schools was such that they generally set the standard for the grammar schools which tried to emulate them. In Germany, the state schools were established long before the state system in England. The German state schools maintained very high academic standards, higher than either the private schools in Germany or for that matter the public schools in England. Thus even affluent Germans commonly sent their children to the state schools. In many cases, the children who went to the private schools in Germany were children from wealthy families who could not compete well or were unwilling to do the swork demanded in the state system. The German private schools were also different from their British counterparts in that they did not have the historical tradition. And they did not place the emphasis on sport (games) that was part of the public school tradition. Also there were far fewer German boarding schools than in England.

Clothing

A German reader writes, "'Die Harte Schule' was made in 2006 and was similar but better as the the boys wear grey shorts and knee socks throughout and look very smart even though alot of them are at least 6 foot tall. The best way to view it is with Video.Google.com. and see the episodes in order. The uniforms look more English than German except for the Argyl knee socks. The teenage boys (about 16-17 years old) have to exchange their modern clothes for a school uniform, which consists of grey woolen short trousers held up by clip-on suspenders. They wear white collared shirts with a black and white striped school tie. On top of this they wear black blazers with a school emblem on the pocket. They wear black and white argyle knee socks and black leather Oxford shoes. The girls wear a matching uniform with skirts and the same knee socks (or white tights). Images from the program show a group of boys learning how to tie the school ties. A second still shows two boys helping each other to adjust the length of their elastic clip-on suspenders so that their short trousers will hand properly. A third shot shows boys sitting on an outdoor step wearing the short trousers, argyle knee socks, and blazers. The socks are Argyle knee socks, which is of very doubtful authenticity for German boarding schools of the 1950s. A reader writes, "The short trousers with clip-on suspenders are historically correct, but the Argyle knee socks are not. Most German schoolboys of the 1950s wore plain colored knee socks." HBC is not sure about this, we have noted German boys in the 1950s wearing patterened knee socks. Younger boys might wear long stockings with a Strumpfhaltergurtel (during the chilly winter season). We are, however, somewhat doubtful about the accuracy of the uniform depictions. Is it true that German boys un the 1950s commonly wore short pants, but most boys by about age 15 were wearing long pants. German boarding schools as far as I know did not have the often strict uniform codes that English boarding schools had. There may have been some, but I am not aware of German schools that made older teenafers like the ones here wear short pants and knee socks. German boarding schools may have required the boys to wear suits, but the style of the suits and the type of trousers probably would have been left to the boy and his parents.

Created: 10:33 PM 1/30/2008
Last updated: 10:33 PM 1/30/2008