Social Democracy and Education - The European Experience [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION - SOCIAL DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION: TWO OF A PAIR Frans Becker, Karl Duffek Tobias Mörschel Social democracy and education share a long-standing relationship. In the last quarter of the 19th century, when social democracy was becoming the driving force for the awakening of the working classes, many of its leaders discovered the history, the economy and the culture of their societies by reading, reading and reading. Their education did not take place at school: they educated themselves by getting their hands on the classical books of the early labour movement - as is documented in the autobiographies they have left us. They were incredibly eager to learn - and had the talent to absorb the information and transform it into their political views and strategies. In the first quarter of the 20th century, as social democracy established itself as the leading organization of the working classes and started to play its role in the political arena, the school became more than a barrier between infancy and work. It became one of the paths to emancipation. The best and brightest from the working class neighbourhoods chose a career pattern that was open to them - and became teachers. In turn, in their classrooms they planted the seeds of emancipation - by reassuring their working class pupils and giving them the extra push they often needed. They saw to the personal development of their students - not only in arithmetic, but also by opening windows to a wider world of culture. These teachers played a significant role in the socialist