A séance for possible contact with the world of the dead is of course not a serious source, so asking Goethe himself is out of the question. And so all that remains is to study his writings. The prince of poets would probably not see it so easily that his work was removed from the Bavarian curriculum. Faust I is no longer compulsory reading in the new nine-year high school? While the schools have long been sinking into the summer holidays, excitement is building up in the country.
The Klassik Stiftung Weimar appealed in an open letter to Prime Minister Markus Söder on Tuesday to reverse this decision. Bavaria should be a role model and stand by its responsibility “for the central future capital of education”. The question that moves the foundation: Is a book still relevant if it is not in the curriculum? The search for the answer would go beyond this framework.
Minister of Education Michael Piazolo tries to calm things down: Faust will by no means be “banned”, many schoolchildren will read it. But not everyone anymore. Nevertheless, even the high school teachers are relaxed. Sure, a canon for German would have been nice. But to rehearse the uprising for Faust? no Ultimately, most educators want more freedom and less patronage. They have now. And if you like control: In Bavaria, Faust I will probably still be read for a long time, it is too likely that there will be questions about it in the Abitur.
Back to the poet prince. Goethe wrote a great deal on the subject of education, and one could find evidence of this on every page of the dispute about Faust. “A clever person finds the best education when travelling,” says in Wilhelm Meister’s Wanderjahre. So does it matter what is read in school? The German teacher of the author of this text had his advanced course read dozens of readings (the new syllabus stipulates five “complete works” in grades 12 and 13) and constantly went on (literary) trips with the course. Faust I and II were given a lot of space, but the journeys were remembered more vividly.
Is that the proof of the next Goethe educational wisdom? “Everything great forms as soon as we become aware of it.” Ultimately, it is up to the teacher to treat literature in such a way that something sticks. A look online shows how relevant and modern Faust I can be: the drama has long been available as a graphic novel. And the Youtube classic by dramaturge Michael Sommer – Faust I in nine minutes with Playmobil figures – was clicked 1.7 million times.