No More " Ober-Prima " It is interesting though painful
to watch in Germany the working out of the conflict between the totalitarian State and the claims of religion, culture and education. Week by week, in the Church, the arts, the schools, the universities, the Press, something is sacrificed to the demands of the Army or the Party. A 'fortnight ago Dr. Goebbels abolished art-criticism ; this week Dr.
Rust, the Minister of • Education, has abolished the Ober-prinza, or sixth - form, in the secondary schools.
In future boys will leave after the Unter-prima, or fifth form, in order that the Army may have a sufficient supply of recruits ; the period of army-service has been raised from one to two years and the Army comes before education. The decree still leaves Germany one of the most highly-developed educational systems, in which boys will leave the secondary school at 18 instead of 19; but the system is an inheritance from former Governments, and National-Socialism has de- creased the quality as well as the quantity of teaching. The details of Germany's determined retreat from progress accumulate daily.
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