Berlin, a focal point for Cold War tensions among the occupation powers, left to history an exceedingly rare and little-known instance of Allied cooperation in curriculum reform. In the midst of frequent ideological clashes, education officials on the Allied Kommandatura Education Committee (AKEC) concluded an agreement in the summer of 1948 on the formation of the postwar history curriculum for a new generation of German youth. The divided city thus remained the only area within the entire occupation zone where Soviet and American education officers established a dialogue over a specific dimension of school knowledge. The proceedings of the AKEC in Berlin and the subsequent accord on the teaching plans for German history offer a unique perspective on the clash between Soviet and American ideological interpretations of modern German history. The theme of this study is the nature of this dialogue, comprising both conflict and a surprising accommodation by both sides. The related issue of school structure, although important for the examination of postwar educational reform in Berlin, is beyond the scope of the investigation.

One of the best-known comments on English rural education appears in James Fraser's evidence to the Newcastle Commission (1858$n61), in the course of which he states: “Even if it were possible, I doubt whether it would be desirable, with a view to the real interests of the peasant boy, to keep him at school till he was 14 or 15 years of age. But it is not possible. We must make up our minds to see the last of him, as far as the day school is concerned, at 10 or 11.”

Industrialization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries enlarged the possible roles of universities in three major respects. The range of topics that could be offered expanded as technical and commercial subjects joined the arts curriculum and the traditional learned professions of law, medicine, and theology. In addition, shifts in societal composition as a result of industrialization changed the mix of the pool from which students could be drawn. As the rural sector shrank and overall population increased, a much larger group of students from urban backgrounds became available, some of whom derived from the new middle classes and others from the industrial working class. Finally, as industrialization increased the need for literacy and numeracy throughout society, the demand for university-educated teachers grew.