CRUSHED BY EXAMINATIONS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12282, 8 July 1914, Page 8

CRUSHED BY EXAMINATIONS.

The recent examinations at the, German schools were again, as each year, accompanied with .numerous instances of boys 'killing themselves, either through tear that they would not pass, or. because of mortification at .failures. - Oil a single day three- suicides of students, all less than eighteen years old, were reported, and the body of ofie who had drownc&l himself some days earlier was recovered. These instances were in Greater Berlin alone. One of the boys threw himself in front of a "train because lie had not been-promoted to a higher class. The'fixed bureaucratic scheme •of life for the average German, .while not explaining., such suicides, throws some light on the youths' actions. Failure to be graduated from scjiool is a very serious .thing.. To become a public official is the goal of a great percentage of young Germans, for the official enjoys many privileges not granted to the noilofficial German. But for those who have failed in their school work there is no chance to become State officials. Even in private life they find it almost impossible to secure responsible positions with mercantile firms, and they are, of course, debarred from entering the. learned professions.