APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110024-7
Contrary to past East German educational practice, research is concentrated to a very large extent on actual problems of industry and agriculture. Stress is placed on the close relationship between theoretical and applied research, and the regime is relying upon Forschungsstudium graduates to become the real experts and leaders in the economy and society.
University organization and faculty administration have also undergone drastic changes. The traditional units of faculty—institute and division—have been discarded in favor of a single administrative unit called the section. All subdivisions of a major field are grouped together in one section; for example, biochemistry and organic chemistry are now in the chemistry section rather than having separate, administratively independent institutes of their own. About 900 institutes have been merged into some 170 sections. Under the section, related teaching and research facilities have been combined in an effort to end the fragmentation, jurisdictional disputes, and petty jealousies of the old system.
Each university is headed by a rector who is advised by a council of representatives composed of members of the faculty, economic managers, and leading citizens of the region. Each section is headed by a chairman directly responsible to the rector. The chairman is advised by a council composed of students, workers, teachers, and university employees. As part of the reform, the much maligned traditional German professorial system has been abolished. The standard five grades of teaching personnel have been replaced by two categories of full-time professors and instructors called Dozenten. Supplementing this is a subsidiary system of "honorary" instructors and professors that allows outstanding individuals from science and industry to serve as guest lecturers in their areas of specialization.
3. Language study
Along with technical and vocational training the East German educational systems, like the Soviet and other European systems, stresses the study of foreign languages. Russian is introduced at grade 5 (age 11) and a second language, usually English is optional beginning at grade 7 (age 13). Those students who have enrolled in Berufschulen and Fachschulen also study Russian and may elect another foreign language. Students in the extended polytechnical schools pursing a modern language or classics curriculum must study two foreign languages in addition to Russian.
4. Communist indoctrination
The regime makes no effort to disguise the fact that it regards the Marxist content of the school curriculum as an important means for indoctrinating youth. Deutsche Lehrer Zeitung, a teacher's journal, has said for example, that the entire school system is responsible "for making socialist military training an educational principle." The paper suggested that this can be achieved by stressing military traditions in history classes, by comparing Warsaw Pact forces in mathematics classes, and by pointing out the "evils of U.S. chemical warfare" in chemistry classes.
In addition, much of the students' social activity outside school is centered on the Communist-sponsored Free German Youth (FDJ) organization for young people aged 14 to 26, and the Ernst Thaelmann Pioneers, named after one of the leaders of the prewar German Communist Party, for younger children aged 6 to 14. Although membership in these organizations is theoretically voluntary, it is in fact difficult for young people to avoid joining.
Despite the pervasiveness of indoctrination, it is apparent that the Communist authorities have had only mixed success in developing a uniform, disciplined, ideologically motivated youth. Although the regime's statistics do not report crimes perpetuated by youth, public complaints and various reports indicate that juvenile delinquency is a significant problem in East Germany. The attraction that Western fads such as rock music and long hair have had for East German youth, while not always classifiable as a crime by the authorities, is usually considered evidence of failure in indoctrination. There are also reports that views politically divergent from the official line have appeared at institutions of higher learning. The regime placed the cumulative blame for such manifestations in 1965 at the feet of the FDJ, and it ordered the FDJ to deemphasize the social aspects of its meetings in favor of more lectures. These strictures went unheeded to some extent, and it was only after the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 led to restlessness among the students that the regime instituted stringent controls over their activities. The regime's campaign in behalf of university reform in 1967 and its continued participation in popular issues are probably intended to deflect student discussions into a relatively safe channel (Figure 28). With the exception of scattered antiregime demonstrations by students and young people during the crisis in Czechoslovakia, East German students have not posed a serious threat to the regime.
5. Teachers
A key educational problem for the Communist authorities has been the teaching force. In 1945 Soviet authorities allowed only about 20% of the former teaching staff to resume their positions. To increase the staff, a large number of people considered
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110024-7
