When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, they quickly took control of the schools and education. The school day for boys and girls, all of whom were soon required to be Hitler Youth members, became an extension of the National Socialist ideology. When the goal of education in Germany changed, so too did, the atmosphere in schools, the subjects that were taught, and the way they were taught.

When they came to power, the Nazis looked at the state of German education and came to the conclusion that two major problems existed: 1) it placed too much emphasis on the individual and not enough on the responsibility of the individual to the racial community, and 2) educators spent too much time educating the mind and not enough on physical and character education. According to the National Socialist...