GERMAN EDUCATION
Snt,—Following the recent broadcast by Mr. Robert Birley, Adviser oxi, Education to the commander-in-Chief in Germany, may I ask for the courtesy of your columns to outline ways by which direct assistance can be rendered to the task of German education, and to appeal to „your
readers for help in this most important task? The' Educational "Inter- change Council is an association of most of the principal British Organisa- tions, institutions and committees concerned with educational and inter- natibnal affairs. Its purpose is to stimulate and to carry out the inter- change of persons between Britain and certain European countries for educational purposes. At the request of the British Government, the Educational Interchange Council is making arrangements to concentrate a considerable part of its activities on assisting the British education pro- gramme in Germany. In this connection we would welcome direct offers of help from British sources. In particular, such facilities as the accom- modation of German teachers in British schools for periods of a year— during which time they can act as assistant German teachers and gain a unique experience of British life, which'should affect their whole future as the educators of young Germans—would be most helpful. Places for German scholars in universities, extra-mural courses, residential colleges, schools and youth camps are urgently needed. There are other, and equally important, ways by which we in Britain can help in German education, such as the training of German apprentices, technicians and workers, or the extending of British hospitality to local government officers, persons in the legal profession, trade unionists and other men and women from differing spheres of the German national life.
The urgency of the need for this kind of assistance was emphasised by Mn Birley when, in the closing sentences of his broadcast, he pointed out that it may well be that only /the success of the education programme for Germany will stand between us and a state of virtual barbarism throughout the continent of Europe. The Educational Interchange Council would welcome, any enquiries (addressed to its office at 43 Parlia- ment Street, London, S.W. 1) as to the ways in which British institutions, organisations and local authorities can give practical assistance to the work of German education along the lines which I have mentioned. In addition, donations, large and small, will be welcomed by the Council's honorary treasurer, and will be of the utmost assistance in enabling the Council to carry out its work, which, in view of its relationships with the principal voluntary organisations and the British Government, it can claim to be undertaking for and on behalf of the country as a whole.- , Yours faithfully, Rictiaan S. ROWNTREE, Joint Secretary.
Educational Interchange Council, 43 Parliament Street, S.W. r.
Previous page
