Prussian Schooling

I learned something interesting a few weeks ago. In the 1880s Prussia had the highest literacy rate of any European country and thus the Prussian schools were used as a model for schools in the U.S.A. and likely Canada.

So now I’m sure one of three thoughts is going through your mind:

1, “You kinda just misspelled Russia there……”

2, “Yeah? So what?”

3, “I KNOW!”

Well if you’re thinking number 1, no, I did not misspell Russia, I spelled Prussia correctly. You see Prussia was a militaristic empire based in Germany from the 1500s through the early 1900s. And when I say militaristic I mean they ruled the roost with one of the most fearsome armies in Europe. So now you’re thinking “What on earth does this have to do with school?” Bear with me, I’m getting to that.

So into this militaristic country comes Napoleon Bonaparte. And he whips them. Big time. This humiliating defeat gets the Prussians looking at ways to improve their military. Ah hah! Mandatory School! So the Prussian school system is born, complete with standardized nationwide tests. But how is this going to improve the military? Well in a word; indoctrination. You see the perfect soldier never questions authority they just go in and get the job done. A mandatory, government run school was the perfect way to make sure all those potential soldiers got the pre-training (brainwashing, indoctrination, whatever) they ‘needed’. And all these mandatory schools meant that everyone learned to read, giving the Prussians some of the highest literacy rates in the world.

Now let me point out that if you’re running a country and you’re population can’t read, it makes you look bad. So seeing those Prussians with such a high literacy rate made every one think “Hey! They must be doing something right!” Which was how it came about that the Prussian model was used in the U.S.A.

And now we get to the important question. So What? Who cares if the Americans used the Prussian model? Why does it even matter? Here’s why; every government in every country around the world is insecure. People are awfully strong when they all get ticked off, and more than one or two governments have gone the way of the dodo bird when the people got fed up. So how do you keep the people satisfied? Well the method that most governments would like to say they follow is that they do what the people want, but that’s hard and people can be so demanding! One way that allows the government to pursue it’s own goals is to keep the people suppressed and ignorant for as long as possible and hope they get used to it. Another more peaceful method, used most notably by Hitler before and during WWII is to indoctrinate the people as much as you possibly can.

Now let me just say that no matter where you got your schooling you still got the indoctrination, all those ‘Adventures in Odyssey’ about war were about how heroic it is to be a soldier fighting for your country right? And all those history textbooks written in the USA had an awful lot to say about how wonderful the constitution was. And heck, even the fact that your parents shared their faith and opinions with you could be classified as indoctrination. And it wasn’t all bad was it? Because your parents gave you their ‘opinion’ that it was wrong to hit you don’t go out and clobber people, at least not where everyone can see. And because you’ve been trained to believe freedom of speech is important you like to share your opinions.

Proverbs 22:6 says that you should “Train a child up in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” So while you’re a child you absorb all the training people give you and when you grow up you will act on that training. All I’m saying that maybe there should be serious thought going into where that training will come from. And maybe it shouldn’t mostly come from the government.