German Education and Re-education By Susanne Charlotte Engelmann, Ph.D. (review)

BOOK REVIEWS257 clear explanations. We hope that they may be brought to the attention of many educators, so that they may be helped "to prepare a finer race of men." P. Alfred de Saint-Alexandre, O.F.M. Cap. La Réparation, Pointe-aux-Trembles, Montréal. German Education and Re-education. By Susanne Charlotte Engelmann, Ph.D. (New York: International Universities Press, 1945. Pp. 147. $2.00.) This book presents a brief summary of the history of education in Germany. The author groups her material under three convenient headings: education before the First World War; education under the Republic; education in Hitler's Reich. A single chapter is devoted to each period. The fourth, and final, chapter discusses the problems of re-education in occupied Germany. The presentation is largely factual, in the main unbiased, and quite objective. However, it is a generalization and suffers the defects of most generalizations, i.e. cursory and incomplete treatment. It is to the author's credit to have pointed out in several places that the problem of German education cannot be properly understood if studied apart from the country's civic and economic problems. Germany will not be re-educated in the midst of political unrest and economic insecurity. In the few places in which the author by necessity touches on fundamental philosophical issues her reasoning is vague and inconsistent. The book has an Introduction by Lewis M. Terman, professor at Stanford university, a short Bibliography, but no index. Myles Parsons, O.F.M. Cap. St. Lawrence College, Mount Calvary, Wis. ...