Czechoslovakia is today a lumpy sausage of democracy completely surrounded by authoritarian regimes. Last week a book* was published which made the striking claim that the skin holding the Czechoslovakian sausage together is its school system. Stamped on that skin is the label: Made in the U. S. A.
Author of the book is a young, spectacled teacher of German at New York University, Francis H. Stuerm, who investigated the Czech schools for two-and-a-half years, who himself married a Czech.
Although Czechoslovakia became a republic soon after the War—when it was created out of...