The Fatal Conceit: Swedish Education after Nazism

In the aftermath of Second World War, Sweden dismantled an education system that was strongly influenced by German, Neo-Humanist pedagogical principles in favor a progressive, student-centered system. This article suggests this large part due to fatal misinterpretation policy on which Nazism predicated. Contrary scholarly and popular belief, Nazi schools were not characterized discipline run top-down teachers. fact, Nazis encouraged nationwide youth rebellion schools. Many leaders had themselves experienced belligerent, child-centered war pedagogy 1914–1918 rather than traditional German education. Yet, Swedish school reformers came regard Neo-Humanism as fulcrum Third Reich. The mistake paved way for inadvertently share certain traits with true educational credo likely contributed Sweden’s recent decline.