LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
EDUCATING A FIFTH COLUMN
SIR; It is generally recognised that the education of British youth is the most important task next to our direct war-effort. But while a great deal of discussion is going on about the future of education, very little is done about the present state of affairs in education. I mentioned incidentally in a letter to The Spectator of February 28th the very dangerous German " readers " which are still in use today. The many letters I received and the reproductions of my letter, which appeared in the British and even overseas Press, have shown me that I stand by no means alone in severely con- demning these books. But if the facts then disclosed could hardly be believed, something far worse and far more incredible came to my knowledge today. I read the list of books prescribed for the Oxford and Cambridge Higher Certificate for 1942. This is the highest school-examination in the country, taken only by senior pupils. One of the few German texts prescribed for " General Reading " by the examining board is Das Neue Deutschland, by Meyer and Nauck.
Already the "Preface by the Editors " of this book struck me as somewhat odd, to say the least. " . Special thanks are due to the North German Lloyd, the German Imperial Airways, the Dornier Works at Friedrichshafen, and the Junkers Works at Dessau for the trouble they took in supplying suitable material." The suitable material consists on the first pages of a long extract, without any comment whatsoever, from the official Nazi publication Hitlerjugend Neue 7ugend, descriptions that the Hitler Youth has exactly the same tasks as the English Scouts, elaborating why the Hitler Youth is even superior to our Scouts.
The Oxford and Cambridge eXatniners went even so far as to specify the pages which the students have to read: 116-182. The greatest part of these pages is taken by the chapter on Das Politische Deutschland (The Political Germany). In the middle (page 165) the student finds a most attractive photo of the Fiihrer taken by the Fiihrer's personal photographer. Hitler's genius is described in great detail in the most flattering terms; it is stated how much " Hitler stressed the love of peace of his party," the "Friedensreden" (peace- speeches) of the Fiihrer are mentioned, practical examples of Hitler's love for peace are given, the Allies are blamed that they could " never rise to a generous policy of peace, a policy of confidence in the New Germany," the drawbacks of democracy are elaborated, &c., &c.
If I could never understand why books of this kind have ever been published, if it was more than surprising that these books have not been withdrawn from the market since the outbreak of war, it seems to me a scandal and an insult to pupils and masters alike to prescribe books of this kind for an examination in 1942. No doubt all respon- sible teachers will refuse to use these books, but is it not high time that some general measure is taken to prevent instances of this kind?—
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