Zook Commission

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The Zook Commission (officially the United States Education Mission to Germany ) was a commission named after its head George F. Zook , which after 1946 had the task of examining the German education system and making recommendations for a change for the US American government to work out.

Commission

The commission was founded on July 13, 1946 on behalf of US President Harry S. Truman . The leadership was given to educator George F. Zook, previously President of the University of Akron and Chairman of the American Council on Education . The commission also included nine other people from the Allied States: Bess Goodykoontz , Henry Harrington Hill , Paul Moyer Limbert , Earl J. McGrath , Reinhold Niebuhr , Reverend Felix Newton Pitt , Lawrence Rogin , Thomas Vernor Smith , Helen C. White . These were accompanied by the renowned German reform pedagogues Erich Hylla and Franz Hilker .

After arriving in Germany on August 24th, the committee members spent four weeks informing themselves about the school system in Bavaria, Greater Hesse and Württemberg-Baden. The report was presented on September 20th and published on October 12th. The number of copies of the German translation The current level of education in Germany was initially 20,000 copies, but these were quickly sold out, so that 100,000 were reprinted. Around 35,000 copies were also distributed to ministries of education and teaching staff.

recommendations

The commission recommended the establishment of a six-year elementary school and, based on this, a single-tier secondary school based on US high schools , which should also last six years. Lessons should focus on social forms of learning and the teaching of democratic values. Attending school and learning materials should be free of charge.

The Allied Control Council implemented some of the commission's recommendations with Directive 54. It was stipulated that everyone should have the same educational opportunities (Art. 1). Furthermore, the Allies stipulated that attendance at public educational institutions is free of charge and that learning materials are provided free of charge (Art. 2). In addition, there should be a uniform school system until the end of compulsory schooling at the age of 15 (Art. 4). In addition, the proposal to convey a democratic lifestyle was included in the directive (Art. 5).

In the end, however, the plans for a unitary school system failed due to the resistance of conservative philologists and politicians who attached importance to a structured school system with a selective grammar school.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Jürgen Oelkers: Education and Justice: For the historical confirmation of the current discussion. In: Hans J. Münk (Ed.): When is education fair? Ethical and theological contributions in an interdisciplinary context. Bielefeld 2008, p. 28f.
  2. ^ Ludwig von Friedeburg: Educational reform in Germany. History and Social Contradiction. Frankfurt am Main 1989, p. 302.
  3. ↑ Birgit Braun: Re-education in the American zone of occupation: the school and educational policy in Württemberg-Baden from 1945 to 1949. Münster 2004, p. 30f.
  4. ^ Ludwig von Friedeburg: Educational reform in Germany. History and Social Contradiction. Frankfurt am Main 1989, pp. 302f.
  5. ↑ Directive No. 54 of the Allied Control Council ( online ( Memento of May 31, 2005 in the Internet Archive ))
  6. ↑ Torsten Gass-Bolm: Das Gymnasium 1945–1980. Educational Reform and Social Change in West Germany. Göttingen 2005, p. 83.