T H E P R I M A R Y S O U R C E A R T I C L E S

Mr. Pendola is a senior who is majoring

in German Studies, and Economics.
NATIONAL
e Prussian system in America.
T
oday we live in a society where it is
diIfcult to imagine liIe without a gov-
ernment monopoly on education; the gov-
ernment heavily regulates charter schools,
private schools, and homeschooling to fash-
ion the curriculum and benchmarks exactly
like public schools. The undermining of
alternative education is no accident. Politi-
cians have been developing the system since
the 18th century with well-documented in-
tentions to socialize their constituencies into
obedient workers and unquestioning sol-
diers. The story begins in the Holy Roman
Empire.
In the mid 18th century, Holy Roman
Empress Maria Theresa sought to expand
the authority of the nearly 500-year-old
House of Habsburg. Citing a model from
The Republic by Plato, Maria Theresa be-
lieved she could create a stronger army
and achieve total autonomy using manda-
tory state-sponsored education. Manda-
tory public education had already demon-
strated Iavorable results to policy makers:
Martin Luther used it to convert Catholics;
John Calvin used it to arrest dissenters of
Calvinism. Starting out with several mili-
tary academies, Maria Theresa created the
framework of the system we know today.
By 1775, Maria Theresa had codifed a
Prussian Model of Education. The system
was not widely adopted; however, until the
aristocracy capitalized on wartime national-
ism to expand the program.
Following Napoleons 1806 victory in
the War of the Fourth Coalition, Prussian
King Friederich Wilhelm II determined
their defeat was due to a lack of obedience
among Prussian soldiers. He reasoned that
the will of the people had to conform to the
militaristic aspiration of the nobles. The in-
tellectual and military elite resolved to train
a new obedient military by enforcing the
compulsory education law and using the
schools as means to indoctrinate foreign
policy goals into the Prussian culture.
The implementation of the propaganda
machine was quick. The following year,
philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte pro-
claimed, the state is a necessary instrument
in promoting moral and social progress.
Fichte reIers to John Locke`s 'children are a
blank slate postulation when he proposed:
The schools must fashion the person, and
fashion him in such a way that he simply
cannot will otherwise than what you wish
him to will. The nobility eagerly used the
intellectuals assertion as an excuse to defend
central planning with military force. Under
threat of arrest, the Prussian population was
expected to forfeit their current educational
institutions and utilize those from the state.
They also were expected to entirely pay for
the new system with federal taxes.
The masses were fully integrated by 1819
into a three-tiered model. The aristocratic
frst tier included 0.5 oI the population and
existed merely as a vehicle to arbitrarily in-
vent and meet qualifcations Ior degrees that
would justify their sovereignty. The second
tier represented 5.5% of the population who
would become doctors, lawyers, architects,
and engineers. The bottom tier amassed the
remaining 94% of Prussians in Volksschu-
len, or Peoples Schools. The Volksschule
was a mandatory 8-year primary school that
subjectively divided up a classical educa-
tion into random time-allotted subjects with
the curriculum completely controlled by
the frst tier. Volksschulen existed to teach
harmony, obedience, freedom from stress-
ful thinking, and how to follow orders (Jim
Keith, 1993). As the vast majority of citi-
zens were fed made up history and forced
to memorize books glorifying the nobility,
politicians worldwide began to take notice
oI the system`s eIfcacy.
In 1814 Edward Everett became the frst
American to receive a degree from Prussia.
Hoping to instill the Prussian Model of Edu-
cation in America, Everett spent the next 30
years, including his tenure as Massachusetts
Governor, staIfng American universities
by Aaron Pendola
e Disturbing Origins of
Modern Education
almost exclusively with Prussian scholars.
Among the Prussian-educated intellectual
elite invited by Everett to raise Americas
children was renowned phrenologist and
temperance activist, Horace Mann.
Having observed frst-hand Prussia`s
success in training an empire of obedient
soldiers, Mann worked the hardest to imple-
ment Volksschulen in America. On the verge
of an industrial revolution, Mann believed
America could beneft Irom a similarly
fashioned generation of obedient factory
workers. Mann lobbied for public education
vehemently under his famous principle the
public shall no longer remain ignorant and,
in 1852; the Prussian Volksschule was trans-
planted mostly unchanged into Massachu-
setts. 80% of Massachusettss residents op-
posed Manns reform, requiring him to use
the state militia to coerce families into sur-
rendering their children (Richman, 1994).
Over the next 150 years, Maria The-
resas brainchild became a building block
of American society. Through public edu-
cation, the central planners had the ability
to intrude on private lives in innumerable
ways. Immigrants were required to adopt
English. Catholics were converted to Prot-
estantism. Black Americans were not al-
lowed to study with white Americans. The
system continues to grow today, socializing
childrens behavior through non-academic
means as well. Politicians now control high-
ly personal issues such as sex education,
physical ftness, nutrition, and prescription
drug administration. Meanwhile, measures
of actual school effectiveness demonstrate a
downward trend. Literacy in Massachusetts
decreased from 98% in 1850 to 91% in the
1980s (Richman, 1993).
The bizarre development of our mod-
ern school system seems farfetched; a state
sponsored propaganda machine does not
seem American. Yet, we share these origins
with the indoctrination in the fascist dic-
tatorships of the 20th century. With every
democratically processed expansion of
state-sponsored education, the totalitarian
authority of the central planners increases
accordingly. Americans must reject the ab-
sence of choice. The coercive monopoly
must be turned over to the marketplace.
Educators must have the freedom to edu-
cate, and not let their good intentions be ex-
ploited by politicians regardless if theyre
from the Holy Roman Empire or the United
States of America
WE D N E S D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 2 9 , 2 0 1 2 1 4