Motto Woche

It’s is already been pretty well established that German school is different than American schools. The German school system proved just how different it was after I curiously say the words “Motto Woche” written across the entire week from March 22-26 on Jana’s column of the family calendar. I’ll try to explain a little bit about the system first.

(One of our buildings)

So for starters, every German must attend school from the ages of 6 to 16. This rules out all possibilities for high school dropouts and such, which is great; but it also bans things like “homeschooling.” First Germans will begin with putting their children into Kindergarten, which is unlike how us, Americans, use the word, because here it refers to provided daycare that might start at 2 or 3 years old, and is not in connection to a school. Parents will work to get their children spots in Kindergarten, but most are very cautious about how many hours a day their children will be there, and if the environment is pedagogically suitable. Germany actually has a very good Kindergarten program from what I have heard in comparison to other countries; on top of that, where the DDR used to exist in Eastern Germany, the Kindergartens were organized even better so every parent could work to maximize efficiency.

Around the age of 6 years old, parents will start looking for a proper Grundschule  (meaning “basic school”) for their children to attend through 4^th grade. Normally, the school will be somewhat near their house, which will change later. Kids will attend Grundschule and form the basics of their knowledge. The school day will end around 2:00PM everyday, and they’ll go home to eat a warm lunch with their family. My experience isn’t very good with the Grundschule system, because there are just teenagers in my host home.

At the end of 4^th grade, the teachers will look at each child’s grades and talk to their parents before putting forth a recommendation for what school the student should attend: Hauptschule, Realschule, Gesamtschule, or Gymansium. Hauptschule will be preparing students for a job in the real world, versus preparing them to go to a university, learning at a slower rate until 9^th grade. A student in Realschule will experience the same materials as a student at a Hauptschule, but will learn until 10^th grade and will learn at a slightly quicker rate. A Gesamtschule, which literally means “together school” is a school consisting of kids from every level of the German schooling system, so this would resemble more of an American High School with classes at different levels for different kinds of thinkers.  Then, last but definitely not least, comes the German Gymnasium. If you are selected to learn at a Gymnasium, that means you are going somewhere in life. Your parents probably had a good education and have a study job and so will you. Students can complete Realschule then go further in their education and step it up to Gymnasium, but that will mean a lot of hard work because they have been learning on different levels. When you attend a Gymnasium, you’ll be there from 5^th until 13^th (yes, 13^th) grade, and in this time, you’ll choose “majors” or Leistungskurs in high school and all of this learning will come down to a final exam: Abitur.

The Abitur is a huge test that is enough to scare anyone into weeks of uninterrupted learning. It is a grade that defines your schooling career, and it is the equivalent of an American GPA and SAT and ACT scores all put together. You won’t forget it. A final Abitur grade will decide which college your going to attend, what subject material, and your future as a whole. So, to sum it all up, this is a really important thing. The 13^th Graders will have their last day of school on April 16^th, then spend the rest of the time at home studying and learning for these huge subject tests, which they’ll take on three different days until the end of June. To commemorate the Abitur, there are parties to raise money, a yearbook, t-shirts, a slogan, and a final dance as a congratulation. We just experienced Motto Woche, which was a week of craziness designed by the 13^th graders, where they danced on tables, showed up to school crazily dressed, orchestrated games during our breaks between all the different grades, and ended it off by revealing their Motto: Suit Up, It’s GonnA BI Legendary. : ) It was a hilarious experience.

 (13th Graders dancing on our tables during the breaks)

On the down side, I go to school with already some of Germany’s “Smartest.” You miss the contributions and comments that one enjoys in a normal high school, because there isn’t as much of a variety of intellect. However, there is a lot more freedom and trust given to students: beginning in 11^th grade, you can leave the school during your breaks, and once you turn 18, you are fully responsible for yourself and can sign your own absence slips. Our classes are more arranged like at a college, so classes meet during specific days of the week, in different time blocks, in different classrooms. There is no “lunch” period in school, but most teachers are okay with a little snacking in class. It’s also not a problem considering the average school day is out at 2:00PM.

1^st Period- 8:00-9:00

2^nd Period- 9:10-10:10

3^rd Period- 10:30-11:30

4^th Period- 11:40-12:40

5^th Period- 1:00-2:00

7^th Period- 3:00-4:00

As for how our schedules work, students will concentrate their learning on either the Natural Sciences or Foreign Languages and will take multiple science classes or multiple foreign languages (English is considered mandatory no matter what, and not ‘foreign.’) Classes such as German, Math, History/Geography, English, Biology/Chemistry/Physics, Sport, Music/Art, Spanish/Latin/French, Philosophy, and Computer Science are offered at my school. The average student will have somewhere around 23 hours of school a week and might stay after school for concentrated study in a particular subject during the 7^th Period. Now in preparation for the end of the German schooling, Abitur, the house is pretty quiet, but the German school system is still a thing to marvel at.