Book Source: "The World of Yesterday" by Stefan Zweig, "Modern" and "Militarized" Education of Hundreds of Years Ago
Pt.1 Cramming and Assembly Line Education#
However, in that enlightened liberal era, only the education of so-called higher institutions, that is, entering university, had real value. Therefore, every upper-class family aspired to have at least one of their sons with a doctorate title before their name. But the path to university was quite long and not at all pleasant. Before that, one had to sit on hard benches and complete five years of primary school and eight years of middle school, sitting for five to six hours a day, with all free time occupied by homework, and also receiving regular education outside of school curriculum, that is, learning living languages such as French, English, and Italian in addition to studying classical Greek and Latin, in other words, learning five languages in addition to geometry, physics, and other courses prescribed by the school. The burden of learning was so heavy that there was hardly any time for physical exercise and walks, let alone leisure and entertainment.
University? Or rather, do prestigious schools really have any use? This is a portrayal of my extreme pressure-filled learning experience.
For us, school meant coercion, desolation, and boredom. It was a place where we had to memorize and recite scientific knowledge that had no value. We felt from those scholastic or scholastic-like contents that they had nothing to do with reality or our personal interests. It was a dull and boring learning, not learning for life, but learning for the sake of learning, it was learning imposed on us by the old education. And the only truly joyful moment was the day I finally left school—I have to thank school for that.
However, this dislike of school was not a personal bias; I cannot remember anyone among my classmates who did not dislike this unchanging life, which suppressed and smoothed out our best interests. However, it was only after a long time that I realized that this indifferent and impersonal life of ours during our youth was not due to the negligence of the government authorities responsible for our education, but rather concealed a deliberate and secret intention. The world we faced, or rather, the world that governed our destiny, concentrated all its thoughts on pursuing a peaceful and prosperous belly, and it did not like the younger generation, or to put it more bluntly, it always harbored doubts about the younger generation. The civic society, which took pride in its orderly progress and sense of orderliness in all aspects of life, claimed that calmness and moderation were the only effective virtues for human beings, so any impatience that would lead us forward should be avoided. Austria was an ancient country ruled by an old emperor and managed by elderly ministers, a country without ambition, hoping only to prevent any drastic changes and thus maintain its secure position within Europe. And the nature of young people is to constantly undergo rapid and drastic changes. Therefore, they became a worrying factor that had to be excluded or suppressed for as long as possible. So the state had no intention of making our student life enjoyable. We were supposed to achieve any form of promotion through patient waiting. Due to this constant postponement, age was completely measured by a different standard, just like today. At that time, an eighteen-year-old high school student was treated like a child, and if caught smoking on the spot, they would be punished, and if they wanted to leave their seat to go to the bathroom, they had to raise their hand respectfully. But on the other hand, at that time, even a thirty-year-old man would be treated like an immature bird, and even at the age of forty, he would be considered inadequate for a responsible position.
It seems that no one can escape being a cog in the machine.
Pt.2 Authoritarian "Education"#
Only by understanding this special concept can one understand that the state wants to fully utilize schools as a tool to maintain its authority. First of all, schools must educate us to regard everything that exists as perfect, the views of teachers are infallible, the words of fathers are irrefutable, and all facilities of the state are absolutely effective and everlasting. The second basic principle of this education is that young people should not be too comfortable. This principle is also implemented in families. Before granting young people certain rights, they should first understand their obligations, and mainly the obligation to obey completely. From the beginning, we should firmly remember: we have not made any contributions in our lives, we have no experience, we can only be grateful for everything given to us, and we have no right to ask any questions or make any demands. In my time, stupid methods of intimidation were used on people from childhood. Maids and foolish mothers would scare children at the age of three or four, saying that if they misbehaved, the police would be called.
Pt3. Fragility#
What we mistakenly called universal suffrage before was actually only granted to the propertied bourgeoisie who paid a certain amount of taxes. However, the lawyers and farmers selected from this class sincerely believed that they were representatives and spokespersons of the people in parliament. They took pride in their dignified, decent, and elegant speech, so when the parliament met, it was like an evening discussion in an exclusive club. These bourgeois democrats, out of their belief in liberalism, sincerely believed that progress in the world would be achieved through tolerance and reason, and they advocated promoting the welfare of all citizens through small compromises and gradual improvements, believing that this was the best way. But they completely forgot that they only represented the wealthy people living in the big cities, not the hundreds of thousands and millions of people in the entire state. During this period, machine production also played a role, concentrating workers who were previously scattered into industries. Under the leadership of a genius, Dr. Viktor Adler, Austria established a socialist party aimed at realizing various demands of the proletariat; the proletariat demanded true universal and equal suffrage. However, as soon as this suffrage was implemented, or to be more precise, as soon as it was forced to be implemented, people immediately discovered how fragile the revered liberalism was. With the disappearance of liberalism, harmony in public political life also disappeared. Now there are conflicts everywhere. The struggle has begun.
Large stores and mass production bankrupted the petite bourgeoisie and master craftsmen. Dr. Karl Lueger—a popular, clever leader—used this dissatisfaction and concern to propose the slogan that the little people must be helped, attracting all the small-town people and angry petite bourgeoisie to his side; because their fear of becoming proletarians from property owners far exceeded their envy of wealthy individuals. It was precisely this conscientious social class that later became the first large group of people around Hitler. In a sense, Karl Lueger was a role model for Hitler; he taught Hitler to use anti-Semitism at will. This slogan set a visible enemy for the dissatisfied petite bourgeoisie while quietly diverting their hatred from the wealthy landlords and feudal nobility.
However, we young people were completely immersed in our literary interests, paying little attention to these dangerous changes in our country. In our eyes, there were only books and paintings. We were not interested in political and social issues. What meaning did that harsh quarrel have in our lives? When the whole city was excited about the elections, we went to the library. When the masses rioted, we were writing and discussing poetry. We did not see the signals of the fire on the wall, but like the ancient King Belshazzar, we tasted various precious artistic delicacies without worry, without looking forward, until decades later, when the roof and walls collapsed on our heads, we realized that the foundation of the wall had long been hollowed out, and we realized that personal freedom had also begun to decline in Europe with the beginning of the new century.
When young people can no longer obtain what they were "promised," when the wealth accumulated by generations is stolen, how should we move forward?