Everyone will agree that education ought to prepare young people to lead a meaningful life, but there are different ways in which this notion can be understood. A religious interpretation has to be distinguished from the secular one on which this paper focuses. Meaningfulness in this non-religious sense is a necessary condition of a life of…

Investigates the Weber work with regard to the pattern poems it contains. (FL)

Analyzes the portrayal of educators in German literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. Contrasts the negative characterizations of Thomas Mann and Erich Maria Remarque with those of Gertrud Kolmar, who portrayed the reciprocal nature of the educational process, wherein both educator and pupil experience a widening of perception. (DMM)

Discusses the use of electronic glossaries, annotated texts, and other ancillae in German-as-a-Second-Language courses at the college level, and asserts that electronic media deliver lexical assistance far more effectively than do traditional methods, using texts in ways previously unavailable. (MDM)

This article is for teachers who wish to introduce their advanced language students to literature but have not yet found an appropriate text. Five major reasons for choosing Georg Buchner's 1837 drama Woyzeck are given: the drama's brevity, uncomplicated language, contemporary relevance and the timelessness of its themes. (LET)

The genre of fairytales, one structured form of storytelling, has been labeled "Marchen." German culture is orally transmitted in this generic form, and can be traced to a collection of 210 fairytales, the Grimm brothers'"Kinder-und Taus-Marchen," first published shortly after 1800. For this study, research questions were posed…

This book addresses the problem of the future of Germanics as a field of study at colleges and universities in the United States. It is noted that the study of Germanics has been losing tens of thousands of students for the past 25 years, that this slide downward is no longer attracting enough attention from the Germanics community, and if it…

Taking a sociocultural framework borrowed from Michel de Certeau, this paper suggests a pedagogy of reading as practice that makes readers of foreign literary texts aware of their own privileged foreign cultural position in contrast to that of native readers. (JL)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's views on children, adults, and nature complement and redeem the one-sided attitude of our present-day habits of thought. Goethe's writings about natural history and the relationship between the individual and society illustrate how teaching can be less a branch of technology than an art. (PP)

Discusses the emphasis that many American universities place on multicultural and international education, focusing on how this emphasis has affected German language and literature departments. Argues that greater classroom emphasis needs to be placed on non-canonical texts, writers, and modes of communication. (15 references) (MDM)

Discusses the use of German literature in courses teaching cross-cultural management. The article argues that literature depicting society and culture promotes effective business interaction. It also attempts to clarify the benefits of using literary texts to supplement theoretical texts on international business. (26 references) (Author/CK)

Discusses the inadequacies of German departments' programs in terms of indifference for the educational objectives of students, lack of coordination among levels of instruction, and overemphasis on literary studies. Proposes a developmental model of integrated German studies which shifts the focus from literature to language and culture, to…

Compares the teaching of literature in East and West Germany. Discusses both the nature and titles of the material taught and problems of teaching literature espousing individual thought and criticism in a communist system. Describes common ground in the literature curriculum of both that may serve as a basis for curriculum of unified Germany. (DK)

Describes a unit on teaching Brecht in an introductory literature course, and suggests that students are better able to read and discuss Brecht's Hitler play if they first view and discuss Leni Riefenstahl's film Triumph of the Will. Guidelines are provided on how best to present and explore the two works with students. (LET)

Although Allan Bloom in "The Closing of the American Mind" and Mike Rose in "Lives on the Boundary" reveal an almost endless list of obvious differences of perspective on literacy and higher education in America, both take divergent yet similar routes to create a permanent place for liberal education. Both Bloom and Rose use…