Adolf Hitler on The State, part 4 - Needed changes in education

FROM MEIN KAMPF, CONTINUING SUMMARY OF CHAPTER TWO OF VOLUME TWO, pages 89-117 of the dual-translation. (See here for series introduction.)

2.12 Between School and Military Age

The folkish State will have to regard post-school physical training as a public duty, one equal to intellectual training; these should be conducted through public insititutions. … [C]onfident in his own strength and in the basis of that commonly-experienced espit de corp, [the youth] must become convinced that he belongs to a people who are invincible. [...]

The folkish State will also have to direct the education of girls, analogously to that of boys. Here again, special importance must be given to physical training, and only later to spiritual and intellectual values. The final goal of female education should always be that she will one day be a mother.

2.13 Training in Secrecy

[T]he essential traits of the individual character are already inherent. ...But apart from those with distinct characters, there are millions who are indefinte and vague. …[P]eople who show only a certain tendency toward criminal acts may become useful members of the community, if rightly trained; whereas, unstable characters may easily become bad elements if the education is bad.

How often during the war did we hear that our people were incapable of silence? … But let's ask this question: What did the German educational system do in pre-war times to teach individuals about secrecy? Wasn't it true that, in school, the little tattle-tale was preferred to his silent companions? … Has any attempt ever been made to teach that secrecy is a precious and manly virtue? No, for such matters are trifles in the eyes of our educators. But these trifles cost our State innumerable millions in legal fees, because 90 percent of all defamation lawsuits arise only from a lack of discretion. … Secret preparations for our national defense are rendered illusory because our people have never learned to stay silent, but rather they repeat everything they hear. In wartimes, such talkativeness may even cause the loss of battles …

Here again, we may rest assured that adults cannot do what they haven't practiced in youth. A teacher shouldn't try to discover boys' silly tricks by encouraging loathsome tattle-tales. Youth have their own State, and they face adults with a certain solidarity—this is quite natural. … A boy who snitches on his friend commits an act of treason, and displays a character that is, bluntly speaking, the equivalent of treason to one's country. Such a boy must never be called 'good' or 'upstanding,' but rather as one of undesirable character. [...]

Loyalty, self-sacrifice, and discretion are virtues that a great nation must possess, and their teaching is a more important matter than many other things now included in the curriculum.

2.14 Joy in Responsibility

It has been often lamented that, in November and December 1918, all authorities failed and that, from the monarch on down to the last divisional commander, no one had the strength to make a decision of his own responsibility. That terrible fact constitutes a grave rebuke to our educational system because what was then revealed on a colossal scale, at that moment of catastrophe, recurs on a smaller scale. It's the lack of will-power, and not the lack of arms, that renders us incapable of resistance today. This defect is found everywhere among our people and prevents decisive action wherever risks are found—as if any great deed did not involve risk. ...[A] German general found a formula for this spinelessness when he said: “I act only when I can count on a 51 percent chance of success.” In that 51 percent we find the very root of the German collapse: The man who demands from Fate a guarantee of success deliberately denies the significance of the heroic act. […]

Just as the folkish State must one day give its attention to developing will-power and decisiveness among the youth, so too must it inculcate in their hearts a joy in responsibility and the courage of avowal. Only if it recognizes the full importance of this necessity, will it succeed in building up a nation that will no longer be subject to those weaknesses that have contributed so disastrously to our present decline.

2.15 to 2.20 Necessary changes to Education

Technical training, which constitutes the chief work of our educational system today, can be taken over by the folkish State with only a few changes. These changes lie in three areas.

      (1) First of all, the youthful brain must generally not be burdened with subjects that are 95 percent useless and therefore forgotten. … [For example] the subject matter of our historical teaching must be curtailed. … History must be studied not merely with a view to knowing the past but as a guide for the future, and for the preservation of our own people … the average man is not a history professor. ...The man who wants to become a history professor can devote himself to the details later on. [...]

To sum up: The folkish State must restrict our system of general instruction in order to embrace only the essentials. Beyond this, it must make possible a more advanced, specialized teaching. … This shortening of the curriculum would free up many hours for development of the body, character, will-power, and decisiveness.

      (2) The second change in curriculum that the folkish State must make is: Though our materialistic age is turning ever more towards practical subjects, such as mathematics, physics, chemisty, etc … the nation's general education should always be directed toward ideals … founded on humanistic subjects, and offer only the foundation for further education in a specialized field. Otherwise, we would sacrifice those forces that are more important for the preservation of the nation than any technical knowledge. … [W]e must not omit the study of ancient history; Roman history along general lines is and will remain the best teacher, not only for today, but also for all times. […]

Since the German revolution and the death of the monarchy, the purpose of teaching history has been nothing more than merely acquiring knowledge. The State has no use for patriotic enthusiasm … Actually, this [Weimar] Republic has been allowed to exist only by its willingness and promise to pay reparations and to sign every territorial renunciation. The rest of the world finds it sympathetic; just as a weakling is always more pleasing to those who need him than a tough man. But the fact that the enemy likes this form of government is the most destuctive criticism … they could find no better instrument for enslaving our people.

      (3) Therefore, the third point to be considered in our educational system is the following: The folkish State must realize that science too can be a means of promoting national pride. … the whole history of civilization must be taught from this standpoint. An inventor must appear great not only as an inventor but also, and even more so, as a member of the nation. … Out of the abundance of great names in German history, the greatest must be selected and presented to the youth in such a way as to become pillars of an unshakable national spirit. […]

In order to ensure that this national feeling be sincere … one iron principle should be hammered into the heads of those capable of learning: The man who loves his people can prove it only by a readiness to sacrifice for it. There's no such thing as a national sentiment that is directed towards personal gain. And there's no nationalism that embraces only certain classes … One can be proud of one's people only if we are unashamed of every class. … Only when a nation is healthy in all its members, in body and soul, can a joy of belonging be properly raised to the level of national pride. … Our present-day fear of chauvinism is a sign of impotence. […]

This world is certainly facing a great revolution. The only question is whether it will be to the benefit of Aryan humanity or to the profit of the eternal Jew. [We know, mainly because of American interference, it was the Jew -cy]

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The crowning task of the whole organization of education and training in the folkish State is to instill a racial instinct and a racial feeling into the hearts and brains of the youth entrusted to it. No boy or girl must leave school without attaining a clear insight into the necessity and essence of blood purity. This creates the groundwork for preserving the racial foundation of our nation, and it thereby secures the basis for future cultural development.

…

Finally, from a racial standpoint, this training also must find its culmination in military service … the final stage of the average Germans' normal training.

To be continued ...