Uprising against communist regieme

As the division and restructuring of Germany came so did many forms and packages to help their economical problems that Hitler caused during WWII. After the war East Germany had adopted a communist government under the power of the Soviet Union. In 1953, shortly after Stalin’s death, a package was put together by the Central Committee of East Germany to help with the economical and agricultural reconstruction. This package, otherwise known as Volkseigene Betriebe, included changes such as an increase in taxes and prices. It also incorporated a 10% increase in work quotas. For the workers it seemed like more work for the same amount of income. The package also said that if the quotas weren’t met workers would get a reduction in their salary. This did not sit well with the laborers and workers of East Germany.

On June 16 factory and construction workers in East Berlin decided to go on strike to show their anger and disagreement with this new package which in no way would help them and only boost working hours to help with East Germany’s troubles. The talk of strike spread like wild fire through the working circle of East Germany and on June 17 only one day later all of East Germanys factory workers had walked off the job and went on strike. Now with all production lines at a standstill Germany was in worse off condition then what it had began with. The crowds grew so big that police and government officials hide because they were targeted and blamed for this proposal of change. The government had little luck at stopping the riots so a curfew was set and extra police were brought in to calm the crowds. Many protesters stormed government buildings and took them over.

Hans Stenzel, my grandfather, a postal man at the time in East Berlin was an eye witness to these protests. He recalls when he would have to pick up the daily shipment of mail from the train he would always have an armed Russian soldier with him in the car to protect him from any rioters. He also remembers that in the post office parking lot the protesters had set up a stage with a podium which the main leaders of the strike would stand and speak. “One day”, as Hans recalls,” they took a government official up on that stage during a big rally. When they got him up there said he was the reason for all the problems and began to hit and kick him. It was gruesome to watch. They were trying to promote that if there was no change more and more officials will be beaten and eventually killed.” Hans says they would often chant, “Down with the Government. We don’t want to be slaves, we want to be free.”

Protests began to get out of hand and eventually the Soviet Union noticed all the arrests and had to step in. They were forced to go in with tanks and soldiers to take down the protesters because East Germany didn’t have an army to fight back. Fights brook out between the rioters and the soldiers. In the end it was estimated that there were over 200 deaths and 5,000 arrested. The Soviet army over took the protesters and finally the strikes were over. Even though the strike was over the work wasn’t. Clean up began in various cities to clean the destruction the rioters caused. After this uprising the Soviet Union and Central Committee increased their power so there would never be a protest that would get this out of hand.

This strike brought light to the power that people of East German really possessed. I think that in the end if the Soviets wouldn’t have been able to stop the riots the citizens could have easily run them out of their country and eliminated communism from the German government.

Success in Educational Systems

The world is comprised of many different cultures which involve numerous schooling curriculums where the government designs a specific education system. Each system has its own policy to keep its youths’ minds protected from any harmful or unwanted information which could corrupt generations to come. Many of the methods used in the curriculums are successful in encouraging students to strive to achieve goals, providing students with opportunities to widen their chances of successes in life. School provides students with the information and understandings
needed to interact within society and function in daily life. Without school humanity would not have been capable of evolving as it did for the lack of knowledge could have caused civilizations development to come to a halt. Germany and America are two of the most well known countries that have very distinctive yet effective education systems. Each has its beneficial methods in ensuring the knowledge for its youth.

America’s schooling has been around for many years in which it has proven to be a proficient tool in educating students to the standards the country requires them to learn. America’s schooling is a traditional K-12th grade in which grades are divided in to two-three main categories starting in elementary which is kindergarten through 6th grade. In these first years of school students learn indispensable skills such as basic Math, English and History. Middle school usually consists of 7th-8th grade in which the studies progress into advanced subjects with higher standards. High school is grades 9th -12th in which the subjects become even more
challenging engaging students to think critically. High school teaches various subjects but doesn’t train one for a specific job. Many teachers push their students to do better and strive to go to college. Many minimum wage jobs require people who apply to have graduated from high school. After high school, depending on the student’s grades and mentality, they may choose to go on to college. Many students would like to attend college but do not have the opportunity for the lack of funding or requirement issues. They may be stuck working at a low paying job that they do not enjoy because it was not their true goal. Depending on the individual and the career that is pursued college may take 2-30 years. Although elementary, middle school and high school are by law mandatory to take, college is not.

Germany’s education system gives a lot more chances for successful opportunities giving every student a chance to have the benefit of enjoying their career path. German students start out in primary education in which they learn the basic subjects but, unlike America, Germany’s education system starts out at 1st-8th grade. Through these first years the students get a good idea on what they wish to become in the future. At the end of the 8th grade the student’s take a test which sums up all they have learned thought out their eight years of schooling. All through primary education teachers have very low expectations and don’t really have college bound mentality for their students. After the 8th grade the students have two routes they may choose, if they do not just drop out of school all together, they can go to lower secondary education (high school),program or vocational school a more in depth schooling which trains the students for a specific job. If the students have high goals for themselves they may choose to go to lower secondary education in which they stay in school for another four years receiving a more in depth study on all the general subjects. Teachers have no say in the placing of students in lower secondary education; the choice is all up to the student. More than likely students who go to high school attend higher education (college). If the student didn’t have the motivation to go to college their alternative would be to attend a vocational school which instead of studying general subjects they are taught a specific job which the students choose themselves depending on specific desires and abilities. These alternative high schools are not concerned with the students’ grades; they are more focused on a specific skill that students possess. These vocational schools are basically an internship that takes 3-4 years. At the end of the vocational school the students would be awarded a certificate verifying they are certified and experienced enough to execute the job correctly. The benefits of vocational school are that once students finish their internship they can go straight into working and begin making the same wages as the person whose been doing that job for various years before them. Many of the German students are pleased with their selection of their occupation for the fact that it was not forced on them but rather a choice they made which benefited their life long career.

The Talking Cure

Sigmund Freud is one of the most well known physiologists of the 20th century. He contributed many ideas and findings such as the theory of the unconscious mind, psychoanalysis and the Freudian slip. Freud was very good about getting deep into one’s mind, finding their darkest secrets and the things people hardly knew about that person, picking them apart piece by piece uncovering the truths and realities of how the brain functioned.

Psychoanalysis is one of the bases of Freud's work in which he used to better understand how the unconscious mind worked in the influence of one’s overall mental state and well being. This treatment uses aspects of experiences in the person’s life as well as characteristic of the person to identify the development and changes of the mind. Psychoanalysis is a study of the mind but also a treatment to cure and help patients deal with mental issues. Psychoanalysis mainly focuses its treatment on patients that have phobias, compulsions, obsessions, and depression. These treatments consist of a patient lying down in a room with only the psychologist present usually out of sight of the patients view or other psychologist may have the patient sit facing them. The psychologist then asks for the patient to free themselves from the captivity of their mind letting their imagination run wild so they can speak freely saying whatever comes to mind at that moment. It is said that the exertion of these spontaneous thoughts helps relieve stress which assists your mind to liberate itself from the illness for it has released thoughts and memories that has been cooped up inside. The psychologist also, after many sessions of treatment and a long period of time, interprets the patient’s ideas and thoughts that are said developing their own theories to why the patient is suffering from this mental problem. After the treatments and analysis of the patient, if they are not cured then medication is distributed to help treat the patient.

In my opinion I think that the study of psychoanalysis is brilliant and that if not discovered may not have gotten psychology to where it is today. This study is and will continue to allow psychologist to gain greater understanding of the brain in which it very well may lead to the finding of cures for mental problems and illnesses. On the other hand I do believe that psychoanalysis as the treatment to cure, yes, a treatment to cure! , a mental illness does not work. Having experienced psychoanalysis treatments first hand I can tell you it is somewhat pointless for treatment and frankly was a waste of time. In my experience with psychoanalysis treatment I was able to let off steam and stress talking with my psychiatrist. Through numerous treatments I did show some very little improvement in getting over OCD. Over a longer period of time I was able to see some changes in my daily routine but the OCD was still a major factor in my life. This began to reveal to me that if I really wanted to fully free myself from this mental disorder I would need to go through treatments the rest of my life. After going to treatment and not seeing any significant changes that would lead me to think I’m finally cured of OCD I stopped the treatment. I believe that mental illnesses will never go away no matter how much talking, medication or crazy scientific treatments one does. I think it either disappears over time or the person just lives with it for the rest of their lives.