Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

lamentable results of our political conduct unless one is now determined to give our people a
better political education. In 99 out of 100 cases the results of our present teaching of history
are deplorable. Usually only a few dates, years of birth and names, remain in the memory,
while a knowledge of the main and clearly defined lines of historical development is
completely lacking. The essential features which are of real significance are not taught. It is
left to the more or less bright intelligence of the individual to discover the inner motivating
urge amid the mass of dates and chronological succession of events.
You may object as strongly as you like to this unpleasant statement. But read with attention
the speeches which our parliamentarians make during one session alone on political
problems and on questions of foreign policy in particular. Remember that those gentlemen
are, or claim to be, the elite of the German nation and that at least a great number of them
have sat on the benches of our secondary schools and that many of them have passed
through our universities. Then you will realize how defective the historical education of these
people has been. If these gentlemen had never studied history at all but had possessed a
sound instinct for public affairs, things would have gone better, and the nation would have
benefited greatly thereby.
The subject matter of our historical teaching must be curtailed. The chief value of that
teaching is to make the principal lines of historical development understood. The more our
historical teaching is limited to this task, the more we may hope that it will turn out
subsequently to be of advantage to the individual and, through the individual, to the
community as a whole. For history must not be studied merely with a view to knowing what
happened in the past but as a guide for the future, and to teach us what policy would be the
best to follow for the preservation of our own people. That is the real end; and the teaching of
history is only a means to attain this end. But here again the means has superseded the end
in our contemporary education. The goal is completely forgotten. Do not reply that a
profound study of history demands a detailed knowledge of all these dates because otherwise
we could not fix the great lines of development. That task belongs to the professional
historians. But the average man is not a professor of history. For him history has only one
mission and that is to provide him with such an amount of historical knowledge as is
necessary in order to enable him to form an independent opinion on the political affairs of his
own country. The man who wants to become a professor of history can devote himself to all
the details later on. Naturally he will have to occupy himself even with the smallest details.
Of course our present teaching of history is not adequate to all this. Its scope is too vast for
the average student and too limited for the student who wishes to be an historical expert.
Finally, it is the business of the People's State to arrange for the writing of a world history in
which the race problem will occupy a dominant position.
To sum up: The People's State must reconstruct our system of general instruction in such a
way that it will embrace only what is essential. Beyond this it will have to make provision for
a more advanced teaching in the various subjects for those who want to specialize in them. It
will suffice for the average individual to be acquainted with the fundamentals of the various
subjects to serve as the basis of what may be called an all-round education. He ought to
study exhaustively and in detail only that subject in which he intends to work during the rest
of his life. A general instruction in all subjects should be obligatory, and specialization
should be left to the choice of the individual.
In this way the scholastic programme would be shortened, and thus several school hours
would be gained which could be utilized for physical training and character training, in willpower,
the capacity for making practical judgments, decisions, etc.
The little account taken by our school training today, especially in the secondary schools, of
the callings that have to be followed in after life is demonstrated by the fact that men who are
destined for the same calling in life are educated in three different kinds of schools. What is
of decisive importance is general education only and not the special teaching. When special