German Education: Unexplained Images


Figure 1.--Here we see a small group of boys. They look to be 12-14 years old. The photograph is undated, but we would guess was taken in the early 1920s. They are clearly not a family group because they are about the same age. Just what kind of group we have here we are not sure. We are not sure, but surely it must be some kind of school group. There is not teacher in the group, but a school group surely seems the most likely. Most of the boys wear modern sack suits with lapels, but some boys wear older more juvenile collar buttoning jckets. All of the boys wear knee or short pants. We assume that is the styles of the day rather than a school requirement. Also most boys wear kneesocls, but a few have long stockings. Put the cursor on the image to see the rest of the group. Image courtesy of the BP collection.

We have found some German photographs that we do not understand. Normally we are able to archive images in the school section so as to illustrate trends and features of German education. But some images fail to illustrate what we know about German education and schools. Rather thn discard them, we thought we might post them here and perhaps our German readers will be able to explain just what these various images illustrate.

Image 1: Unidentified Small Group

Here we see a small group of boys. They look to be 12-14 years old. The photograph is undated, but we would guess was taken in the early 1920s. There are several reasons for our daring. Kneesocks abd Scjiller collars seem more popular in the 1920s than the 1910s. The old fashioned jackets nd the long shorts and kjeesocks suggest the early- or mid-20s rather than later in the decade. The boys are clearly not a family group because they are about the same age. Just what kind of group we have here we are not sure. We are not sure, but surely it must be some kind of school group. There is not teacher in the group, but a school group surely seems the most likely. The boys must be in some kind of secondary school. At the time, secondary schools were almost all single gender schools. What confuses us is the size of the group. It seems to small for a class and thee boys are not in a school classroom. In fact it is a studio group portrait. The boys as a group were taken to the studio, The only thing that occurs to us is that perhaps the boys attend a small private school, perhaps a boarding school. Class sizes would have been smaller at a private school. Here we would have more confidence if it was a British photograph where private schools, especially private boarding schools were much more common. German state schools had very high standards. In fact state schools had higher standards than many private schools. Unlike Britain, even well-to-do Germans sent thir children to state schools. Some boys from well-to-do families attended private schools because they were not able to meet the standards of the state schools. Of course some private schools also had high standards. So our best guess is that it is a small class groupat a private school. But we are not at all sure and would be interested as to what readers make of this photograph. One German reader is as mistified as we are. The boys' clothing is also interesting. Most of the boys wear modern sack suits with lapels, but some boys wear older more juvenile collar buttoning jackets. We also see a range of collars including Schiller collars. Notice there are no neckties. All of the boys wear knee or short pants. A reader writes, "If you look closely at those pictures you see that those "knee-socks" are rolled down stockings." We assume that is the styles of the day rather than a school requirement. Also most boys wear kneesocls, but a few have long stockings.







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Created: 10:15 PM 10/13/2006
Last updated: 6:04 PM 10/14/2006