EDUCATIONAL RIVALRIES 413
topics also appeared in other subjects, although not much was done with
environmental policy in instruction on politics and economy. A com-
prehensive empirical survey conducted in 1985, however, came to the
conclusion that environmental education did not account for more than
twenty to twenty-four hours of instruction per year, distributed over eight
subjects. The authors of this study also posited that although this envi-
ronmental education was often taught with a problem-based didactic ap-
proach, much of the instruction remained rather abstract, without much
reference to real-life practice.^86
Additionally, both German states had faced the same challenge pre-
sented by the computerization of society since the 1970s. The statement
by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED on the consequences
of the development of information technology and information process-
ing technology for the educational system that was issued in November
1985 was the most comprehensive response by the GDR leadership to
the computer revolution.^87 As of 1985/86, “computer science” was intro-
duced as a new main subject for ninth grade and above. There was still
the problem, however, that the schools did not have enough computers
to support this initiative.^88 In the consultations between the state plan-
ning commission and the ministries of the national economic sectors, it
became clear that it would take until at least 1992 to introduce computer
science instruction across the board. The decision was made to grant pri-
ority to the EOS; computer science was also supposed to be taught at the
POS, but as a partial course in “computing and information technology”
in the subject “Introduction to Socialist Production.” In West Germany,
the Federal and State Commission for Educational Planning and Research
Promotion (Bund-Länder-Kommission für Bildungsplanung und For-
schungsförderung) developed a “Comprehensive Concept for Informa-
tion Technology Education” in the mid-1980s that was supposed to guide
the diff erent state ministries of education in developing corresponding
programs.^89 Distinctions were made between “basic information technol-
ogy instruction” for all pupils that was incorporated into the curricula
of the existing subjects, the creation of a separate subject of “computer
science” mostly for the last two grades (Oberstufe) at the Gymnasium
level, the inclusion of job-related information technology instruction at
the vocational schools that was tailored to specifi c occupations, and de-
gree courses in computer science at the university level.^90 The state min-
isters of education had initially approved instruction in computer science
for the Gymnasium Oberstufe in 1972. Yet the necessary hardware could
not be found in suffi cient number at most schools until the 1980s, when
the computer industry began to donate computers to schools on a larger
scale. As of 1989, approximately 72 percent of all schools had enough