Education and Culture - FRG Flashcards
What happened in terms of literature/press/media under the FRG?
- Establishment of a free press
* This was done easily
Why did the different zones influence culture?
The nation in charge of each zone implemented culture from its country eg Shakespeare became prominent in the British zone, Hollywood and American culture became popular in the US zone
What happened to traditional German culture?
Hard to retain due to Nazi love of it and association and the year zero policy
What happened to traditional German culture?
- Anti-nuclear weapon movement
- Ecological/alternate lifestyle movements
- Anti American attitudes
- Anti consumerism
What issue divided generations in the FRG
Year Zero - youth felt they were denied their history and demanded the truth. Older generations saw Nazism as a disease that had no long-term effect with it now irradicated
How was education structured in the FRG?
- Lander had control of education and cultural policy, led to fewer secular schools in south compared to the north
- Lander control made it harder for federal government controlling education
• Free education up until end of secondary school
- Initially different zones struggled to teach uniform education with each favouring their home system
- The Dusseldorf Agreement 1955 regulated term dates, exam standards and subjects across nation
What happened to the number of students at gymnasiums (secondary schools)?
- Went from 853,400 in 1960 to 2,019,000 in 1980
- Also more went to uni from 239,000 to 749,000 - partially due to the Federal Education Promotion Act 1971 that promoted working-class students going into higher education due to proving a combination of state funding/loans to student
What happened to the role of teachers in the FRG?
- Nazis were weeded out of unis but by 1947, 95% of teachers in Bravaria were ones who had previously been purged out of roles under the Year Zero policy
- Had to work a lot harder, average of 1 teacher to 85 students
Describe students and the curriculum in the FRG
- Educational crisis after the war meant facilities were poor, lectures overcrowded
- Curriculum varied between lander
• History was an issue due to Year Zero, people wanted to remove the history of the Nazis and their propaganda - led to it being dry and factual with a focus on Europe over Germany
- After Mitcherlich’s “The Inability to Mourn’ was published in 1971 some lander began to teach Nazi history
- Nazi textbooks removed
- Tried to teach idea of democracy (buy only 1/3 believed in it in 1961)
What did students do outside of school in the FRG?
Students were particularly prominent in groups protesting the government in the FRG
What were the aims of education policy in the FRG
- Comprehensive education
- De-Nazification of the system
- No religious education
- Teach democracy to a new generation
