This book, a fascinating comparison of the educational systems of East and West Germany, demonstrates how, since 1949, education has been used to create different and competing societies: East Germany has tried to create an ideal socialist state, while West Germany has sought to be a model of Western democracy. The authors argue that the German tradition of using education to attain social and political goals continues in the two Germanys of the postwar period. The authors draw a complete portrait of the constitutional and institutional differences between the systems and of the tensions that exist between theory and practice, providing a clear understanding of the general educational problems in Western democracies and Eastern communist states.