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“He alone, who owns the youth, gains the Future!” By Alex Carr Education during the Nazi period in Germany displays some similarities to the modern western education system despite having different long term goals. While Germany was trying to create barbaric conformists the modern education system tries to create submissive conformists to serve the purposes of society. Both education systems manage to do this from trying to mould children from a young age to turn them into “human puppets, not independent thinkers” (Kjos, 2001). In doing this many people can feel alienated from society at a young age that could have lead to imprisonment or execution within the Germany population where now it can lead to a life of poverty or imprisonment. Education is the modern method by which a society hands down characteristics of one generation to the next including its knowledge, culture and values while each individual child develops physically, mentally, emotionally, morally, and socially. “Women and men of color, white women, and the working class and underclass have been absent from the "center" of analysis, research, theory, and the curriculum” (Flick, 2000) meaning that the modern curriculum is intended mainly for the white middle class, especially males. With the modern educations standards a similar curriculum is given to children through out the western world resulting in very little flexibility for the individual student. This results in nations of children being educated with the same knowledge, culture and values because the success of a student is often measured by their ability to accept these common qualities because “the more enthusiastic they get, the easier are the exams” (Kjos, 2001). Education played a very important part in Nazi Germany in trying to cultivate a loyal following for Hitler and the Nazis. “The Nazis were aware that education would create loyal Nazis by the time they reached adulthood” Unknown, 2002, Nazi Germany…). The Hitler Youth had been created for after school activities and schools were to play a critical part in developing a loyal following for Hitler with “indoctrination and the use of propaganda were to be a common practice in Nazi schools and the education system” (Unknown, 2002, Nazi Germany…). Propaganda and indoctrination being the two foundations of Nazi education is no secret. Hitler's goal was National Socialism, a fascist state that would subdue and rule the world. “Jewish children were banned from the schools.” (Unknown, 1999, Nazis and…) Since Jewish children were banned from attending school it further isolated them from society and many of them eventually ended up in prison camps or executed. The Nazi education during World War 2 had completely different motives to those of the current education system. The Nazi regime wanted its youth to continue on the ideologies and beliefs to further its battle for a superior race while the modern education still does the same except the modern society now has different values. The Nazis shaped children’s minds to be “brutal, domineering, fearless and cruel” (Hitler, 1933) whereas the modern education system teaches the adolescence of today to be materialistic, conforming and submissive.
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