[Rezension zu Hermann Bachmann: Grundlagen der Volkswirtschaft, I. und II. Theil]

Hermann von Schullern zu Schrattenhofen: Review of Bachmann’s Grundlagen der Volkswirtschaft (1897)

Schullern’s brief review assesses the first two parts of Hermann Bachmann’s textbook: general economics and agrarian affairs and policy. Its governing criterion is pedagogical fitness. Bachmann’s experience as an agricultural teacher enables him to meet a genuine demand for accessible economic instruction, while Schullern grounds his own assessment in approximately six years of teaching at commercial academies.

The first volume receives strong but conditional praise. Adding a chapter on agricultural production would make it independent of the second and extend its usefulness beyond agricultural and vocational schools to commercial institutions. Schullern also anticipates a wider place for economics in secondary education:

Auch für Gymnasien und Realschulen, deren Lehrplan früher oder später sich dem national-ökonomischen Unterrichte wird eröffnen müssen, wäre es geeignet.

English translation: It would also be suitable for Gymnasien and Realschulen, whose curriculum will sooner or later have to open itself to instruction in political economy.

This prospective curricular role gives the review significance beyond a recommendation of teaching materials. Economics appears as knowledge that schools will eventually need to accommodate. Yet suitability depends on editorial care: Schullern calls for stylistic revision and the removal of numerous printing errors, without questioning the soundness of the material’s arrangement and treatment.

The second volume addresses a narrower readership, but Schullern values its concise, impartial handling of agrarian questions. His praise turns on Bachmann’s recognition of the relative character of practical problems and his selection of genuinely decisive considerations. The compressed account of agrarian legislation in the German Empire, with some attention to legislation elsewhere, is singled out as especially useful. These qualities also give the textbook a corrective function beyond the classroom:

Dieses Bändchen ist übrigens nicht nur für Schüler verwendbar, sondern dürfte auch sonst noch manchen belehren, der, von gewissen Vorurtheilen befangen, die heutigen agrarischen Probleme unter einem verfehlten Gesichtswinkel betrachtet.

English translation: This little volume is, moreover, usable not only for pupils, but may well instruct many another besides who, captive to certain prejudices, views the agrarian problems of today from a mistaken angle.

Schullern thus links good economic teaching to better practical judgment. Accessible exposition, contextual assessment, and knowledge of legislation can counter prejudiced views of contemporary agrarian problems. His closing recommendation of wider circulation follows from this conjunction of educational usefulness and informed public understanding.