The New German Constitution

by René Brunet

After having regulated the question of the relations between Church and State, the Constituent Assembly took up the problem of education. It approached it in the same spirit that inspired the provisions it adopted relative to fundamental rights and duties. Here, too, it exerted itself to give its work a marked social character; and to a very large measure it succeeded.

However, the Articles concerning the schools were the subject of long deliberations and lively discussions in committee and in the full session of the Constitutional Assembly. In the debates on schools, on the relations of Church and State, and on the relations of schools and churches, two conflicting conceptions were manifested. Whereas the Centre and the parties of the Right declared in principle for religious schools, the Social Democrats championed the idea of secular schools, and long negotiations were required to find a compromise between these two apparently irreconcilable doctrines.

The Constitution, in its final text, contains provisions relative to public instruction, and to private instruction as well as provisions applicable to both of these.

I.—Public instruction must form an “organized whole.” That is to say, it must not consist of a collection of schools of different kinds without any logical bond between them; but on the contrary it must be systematically organized, in such a manner that each kind of school will be part of a harmonious whole, constructed on a rational plan and answering a definite object. This instruction must be systematized by co-operation of the Reich, the States and the municipalities.

But what principles should guide this organization and what should be its aims? It is here that the social doctrine of the Constituent Assembly reappears. Public instruction whose detailed organization is left to the regulation by ordinary laws to be enacted must present certain characteristics, all arising from the same idea—guaranteeing to every individual a maximum of development to the end that he may co-operate in the most effective fashion in the well-being of the community.

(1) At the base of the educational edifice there is the common or elementary school (Grundschule), which gives all children an equal education, from the point of view of length of time and content. This is the principle of the “uniform” school. This does not mean, however, that everywhere and in all the states public schools must be organized after an invariable pattern. They are uniform in the sense that they are one in the conception underlying their establishment, in that they are inspired in every respect and exclusively by the same democratic principles, that no difference in instruction is made and that the economic and social position and the religious beliefs of parents are deliberately disregarded in according to children the right to an education.

(2) Above the common schools are the secondary and higher schools. The Constitution does not say how these are to be organized. It indicates only the idea that is to serve as a guide to legislators when they construct the educational edifice. The State is not to yield to the will and the desires of individuals, but is to be guided before all by the aptitudes and the interests of the children.

(3) All children are naturally not compelled to go through the whole educational curriculum, but there is an obligatory minimum of instruction. Educational obligations are notably extended in the Constitution as compared to their former limits. “Attendance at school is obligatory. This obligation is discharged by attendance at the elementary schools for at least eight school years and at the continuation schools until the completion of the eighteenth year.” Formerly the obligation to attend school was only for seven years for the public schools. Supplementary instruction, therefore, thus becomes an essential part of public education in all the Reich.

(4) Instruction is free, at least in the elementary and supplementary schools. This is a necessary result of compulsory education. The secondary and higher schools are in theory not free, but “to facilitate the attendance of those in poor circumstances at the secondary and higher schools, public assistance shall be provided by the Commonwealth, States, and municipalities, particularly, assistance to the parents of children regarded as qualified for training in the secondary and higher schools, until the completion of the training.”

(5) Instruction in public schools, with some exceptions, remains religious. The most serious disputes arose over this point. Undoubtedly obvious progress has been realized by withdrawing the public school from the local supervision of members of the clergy; and by making hereafter public instruction as a whole subject to the inclusive control of the State. Municipalities may in addition be summoned to participate in this supervision. This will permit future educational laws of the Reich and administrative laws of the States to give the municipality a share in supervising the instruction—not only over the work of the schools but also over the spirit in which it is carried on. Even parents will be allowed the right to co-operate in it and teachers will be given a voice in the management. The supervision of the schools on the part of the Reich will be hereafter solely by civil servants, who will have this as their principal function and who will be especially appointed for this purpose.