German Schools
I figure that since I am spending a decent amount of my time here at school, I should tell you about some of the huge differences between the schools here and the ones in the USA.
1. Teachers don’t have their own rooms. Rather, students stay in the same rooms and teachers move from room to room (and building to building).
To me this is a bad idea on a few levels. First, the obvious one that teachers are always having to move around at breakneck speeds to get to classes on time. My school has 2 buildings (one for grades 5-10 and one for grades 11-13). It is about a 7 minute walk from one building to the other when you walk briskly. Therefore, students are often left unsupervised while teachers are running around. Not a good idea. The second reason it’s a bad idea is that students feel too comfortable in their rooms. When we moved from room to room we had to follow and respect the rules that each teacher had regarding behavior in their classroom. Not so in Germany. This leads to a lot of classroom disruptions because students always stay in the same place.
I actually asked my adviser, Björn, about why the teachers don’t have their own rooms. His suggestion was that the state doesn’t have enough money to make enough rooms for every teacher, so this was the only solution.
2. The structure of the school system is archaic.
So after the 4th grade, students have 3 options. They can either (a) go to the highest level of higher education (Gymnasium), (b) go to Hauptschule, which is the middle ground of higher education, or (c) go to Realschule which is the lowest level of higher education. Those who graduate from Gymnasium are allowed to go study at a University, if you go to Realschule you are not allowed to, and if you go to Hauptschule you will have a really difficult time going to University, but it can happen. It is also very difficult to move up to a different school (i.e. going from Hauptschule to Gymnasium).
So, some people might think that this is a good way to put people with similar levels of drive and intelligence in the same school, but it doesn’t work like that. Plus, when you were in 4th grade did you have any idea if you legitimately wanted to study at a University, get an Associate’s Degree, work in a service industry, or do an apprenticeship? I know I didn’t, but that is how the system is set up.
3. Discipline doesn’t exist in German schools for the most part.
I am teaching at a Gymnasium, so in theory I should see the smartest, most productive students because these students are the ones who can go to University. I can only imagine how it would be if I was at a Realschule or Hauptschule. Anyways, I was expecting German classes to be very respectful and orderly. In reality there is not much respect or discipline at all. Students talk during class, don’t pay attention, talk back, etc. None of the teachers I had would have ever put up with that behavior, so it took me awhile to get used to. There are naturally some students who pay attention, volunteer and are respectful in each class. The general consensus among most teachers is that you just teach to those students. They don’t really care whether or not everyone passes, but the students who care and participate are the ones they want to see do well. It is an attitude that reflects the strains of their job, because they have legitimately given up on (typically) 60% of the students in each class.
Oh, one more little fact. If you thought that doing mindless homework for grades was horrible, then you won’t after this. Most classes have two tests per semester (60% of the final grade). The other 40% is made up by…………..class participation. That’s right, they count how many times each student raises his or her hand per period and if they had correct answers or not. Each teacher records the information in a book and factor that in to the final grade. As I think of more downfalls of the German school system, I’ll be sure to add them.
3 years ago