YOUNG GERMANY

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20267, 9 August 1937, Page 14

YOUNG GERMANY

TRAINING OF YOUTH. BODILY DEVELOPMENT FIRST. MENTAL CAPACITY SECOND. (By Air Mail.) LONDON, July 3. Physical fitness at all costs, the desire to develop the body at, the expense of the mind, and to regard It as a mere machine, to be kept constantly tuned up to the highest possible pitch of efficiency rather than as the habitation of the mind and the temple of the soul, appears to be Germany’s aim in the training of its youth. This, at least, is the opinion formed by a delegation consisting of senior officials of the Board of Education and the Scottish Education Department and other experienced observers who visited Germany in November at the invitation of the German Government to study method.* of physical education in that country. The Natural Swing. The Germans say that what is happening is the natural swing of the pendulum away from the excessive preoccupation with the affairs of the mind that was the prime source of the [ weakness of Germany In the past “Modern Germany has no use for a horde of young men and women carrying too much Intellectual tophamper—neurasthenics, pessimists-, cranks, and rainbow-chasers, a pre> to ‘Weltsohmerz’ and and defeatism.” According to tho report, the Hitler Youth Is the most efficiently organised youth movement in the world. There seems little doubt that the entire German youth is to bo con scripted into the movement and educated physically, morally an 1 politic ally through it. No boy Is actually forced to join the HI tier-Youth, but he Is a rash lad who ventures to say that he proposes to stay out of it. “There is no doubt,” the report continues, “that, the Hitler-Youth has caught the admiration of the young people, and no pains are spared to ensure that it shall make the strongest possible appeal to their emotions and adventurous instincts, and to invest it with an aura of high romance.” Commenting on Kraft durch Freude. the report says that it is “for the foreigner certainly the most agreeable, and possibly the most instruc tive, phenomenon of the Third Reich, and one cannot withhold one's admiration for the excellent work that it is doing. The idea i» lo teach the Ger man worker sensible ways of occupy ing his leisure ” A Pertinent Question. In its concluding chapter the ”f-port asks the pertment question whether bodily development in Germany is not being concentrated on to the exclusion of mental efficiency. The dele - gates were also impressed by the tenseness and seriousness of expression among the young people seen at work in the schools and the HitlerYouth. It was obvious to tlierri that the young people of Germany are being subjected to intense nervous strain. The delegation admit that there was a grain of truth in that argument, for German intelleetualism had showij a tendency “to go bad in the bottle.” “ Whether the strain will be relaxed when Germany is satisfied that she is at last out of her difficulties, the event alone will prove. Meanwhile, can the young people stand the pace? Probably, yes—for a long time to come.” The report describes education In the schools, universities, and various national associations, Including the Hitler-Youth organisation and the Kraft durch Freude, and it also attempts lo assess values and to compare German with English methods. Of the “Napoli” schools (National Political Educational Establishments) the report says—“The aim of these schools is to train boys with a natural capacity for leadership for political, military and other posts of special importance and responsibility. The first aim is the cultivation of health’y, hard bodies. Next cornea the development of mental capacity, the formation of character, schooling in the exercise of willpower, and determination, and training in responsibility and leadership. The last—and avowedly the least Important—aim Is to give the pupils proficiency in book-knowledge and a grounding in academic subjects.” Compulsory Training. Physical training departments have been established in all the universities in Germany, the roprt states, and by ministerial decree every member of the student body is obliged to undergo 18 months’ elementary training In gymnastics. Physical training ’ has now taken as important a place In the university course as academic subjects. The officials also state that they were not, convinced “that as regards performance, technique and methodology physical training in Germany is superior to that in Great Britain.” They agree that the developments in the sphere of physical education in Germany are novel. far-reaching, highly interesting, and often very instructive. “Physical training In Germany," states the report, “is bound up with National Socialism, and all the new social and political institutions that have sprung up in the country within the last few years stress Its Importance and seek to foster it, whatever their other aims may be." \ ~^=