Harry Lime
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 Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2003 7:55 pm Post subject: German school system scheiss |
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http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/08/06/german.school.shock.ap/index.html
courtesy of http://harrylime.biz
Germany (AP) -- It sounds like every child's dream: only 41/2 hours of
school a day, no attendance taken, a free day if a teacher is sick, no
punishment for playing hooky.
But this is no dream, as Germans have suddenly awakened to discover; it's
the sorry state of their schools.
Germany's education system, like its economy, was once considered the pride
of Europe. Worries about the stagnating economy have recently preoccupied
Germans, and now they are realizing their schools are also in trouble.
Things have gotten so bad that not only parents are complaining. Even some
high school students grumble that it's hard to take school seriously.
The system reaped praise after World War II for turning out fine
shipbuilders and metalworkers. But such vocational training is out of step
with the modern and more flexible needs of service-oriented or technical
professions.
Also, a 1950s era assumption that mothers are home afternoons to help their
children with homework has ceased to hold true as German women enter the
work force. So instead of learning after school, many kids are goofing off
or getting into trouble.
The real wake-up call came last year when an international test of
15-year-olds ranked Germany 21st out of 32 leading industrialized nations in
reading, mathematics and science.
South Korea, Japan and Finland led in all three fields of the Program for
International Student Assessment test in 2000, conducted every three years
by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
U.S. students came in 15th.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government has responded by pledging $4
billion over the next five years to create all-day programs for elementary
and secondary schools, improve teacher training and revamp classwork to
encourage skills instead of rote learning.
Schroeder, whose wife, Doris Schroeder-Koepf, spends afternoons helping her
11-year-old daughter, Klara, with homework, wants 10,000 more schools to
offer extra hours. Currently there are 1,800 -- just 6 percent of the total.
Delayed reaction
The Meisterschule in the blue-collar Frankfurt neighborhood of Sindlingen
has offered afternoon classes in art, music and sports, as well as tutoring,
since the 1970s.
"We felt the children needed more time together with their teachers, more
time to really concentrate on learning and encourage their development,"
Principal Waltraud Schrader said as she strode around the "all-day"
building, a bright red concrete block in the schoolyard that houses a
cafeteria, library, music and recreation rooms -- all rarities in German
schools.
Only about a third of all teachers can assert themselves. So many kids skip
school, but nobody cares, it creates a real 'so what?' atmosphere.
-- Patrick Morin-Hauser, high school student
More typically, German pupils are home by early afternoon -- after three
hours of classes in elementary school and less than five hours at middle and
high schools.
German pupils are also tracked after fourth grade into secondary schools
that determine whether they will learn a trade or vocation or go on to
university.
"It is too difficult at the end of fourth grade to determine who should go
into which (secondary) school," said Hans Bruegelmann, an education
professor at the University in Siegen.
The reasons for the decline are many, but Germany's case is worse, say
educators, because it took so long to realize the system was in trouble.
"In countries like Britain or the United States there is a tradition of
monitoring education that allows them to see what works and what doesn't,"
said Cordula Artelt, an education expert with the Max Planck Institute in
Germany. "We haven't done that. We have almost no indication of how well the
system is working."
Once in college -- government funded and free of charge like lower
schools -- students take an average of seven years to earn a degree. And
only 32 percent of them actually do so, well below the average of 48 percent
for industrialized nations.
Germany has relatively few private schools and they are expensive. Private
universities are almost nonexistent.
Immigrant pupils
Particularly disadvantaged are the children of immigrants, who speak little
or no German -- a problem reinforced by the PISA test results, which showed
schools with the worst scores had the highest number of immigrant pupils.
But given the chance, Jonas, the son of Moroccan immigrants, has taken it.
An avid reader and frequent visitor to the Meisterschule's library, he uses
the after-school program to read more and get a teacher's help on his
homework.
"All-day programs really help kids like him get ahead," said Schrader.
Huguette Morin-Hauser's two boys attend Frankfurt's Lessing High School, and
tell a wholly different story.
"Only about a third of all teachers can assert themselves," says Patrick,
her 15-year-old. "So many kids skip school, but nobody cares, it creates a
real 'so what?' atmosphere."
Morin-Hauser said her younger son, Pascal, didn't start school until he was
7. Grading, considered bad for self-esteem, begins only in 3rd grade; there
is only one parent-teacher conference a year, and Pascal's lack of
motivation and occasionally aggressive behavior in elementary school went
undetected for years, she said.
Ultimately, the problems in Germany's education system translate to young
people poorly prepared for the job market, while companies complain they
can't find qualified graduates.
Despite more than 11 percent unemployment, Germany has to attract highly
trained immigrant workers to fill an estimated 100,000 high-tech jobs.
Education Minister Edelgard Bulmahn has visited U.S. universities to learn
why they are so successful at attracting -- and keeping -- the world's
brightest. According to her ministry, 14 percent of German doctoral grads
leave for research posts at U.S. universities once they have their degrees.
--
"In the depths of my heart, I can't help
being convinced that my fellow men, with
a few exceptions, are worthless."
- Sigmund Freud |
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