| Scholars often assert that the schools of immediate post-WWII Germany represent a restoration of pre-Nazi education. This dissertation argues that long before the protest movements of the late-1960s, the West German educational system was undergoing meaningful reform from within. German teachers, principals, pupils, textbook authors, and parents initiated change at the local level through the introduction of a variety of curricular and pedagogical innovations. The establishment of exchange programs between the United States and West Germany, the formation of student government organizations and student newspapers, the publication of revised history and civics textbooks, the expansion of teacher training programs, and the creation of a Social Studies curriculum all contributed to the advent of a new German educational system after 1945. These changes were designed to prepare West German pupils for their responsibilities in the young democracy. Far from a simple "restoration" of pre-Nazi ideals, postwar West German education represented a synthesis of tradition and reform. |
