SCHOOL DAYS IN GERMANY

Today’s page looks at the school life of students in Germany.

If you’re like most students, you dread the first day of school. But in Germany, the first day of school feels like Christmas.

After a six-week summer break, German kids head off for the first day of school. The start of the school year is celebrated with a schultute – a giant paper cone filled with everything from school supplies and snacks to video games. Each child shows up with a new backpack and a schultute full of goodies.

The school year usually starts in mid-August and is divided into two semesters, with 12 weeks of vacation, in addition to public holidays and the two-week Christmas recess. Other holiday periods occur around Easter and the harvest, when farming families need their children to help in the fields.

Kindergarten is optional. Home schooling is not allowed, unless a child is too sick to attend regular classes. After the fourth grade, children are divided into different schools based on ability. The brightest children between 10 and 11 years of age are nominated by their teachers for the gymnasium – not a “gym” at all, but a secondary school for gifted children. They will attend for nine years. There is pressure to earn a nomination to be accepted into the gymnasium, as this opens the way for acceptance into college.

Unlike your school, where you probably change rooms for each class, German students spend the majority of their school day in their homeroom while the teachers move from class to class. Students sit at tables instead of desks, and the tables are sometimes arranged in a semicircle.

There’s no dress code per se or uniforms, but most schools do not allow shorts, sandals or unkempt or sloppy clothing.

School begins between 7:30 and 8:15 and can finish as early as noon. This is usually the case with the lower grades. In the higher grades, classes can continue up until 6:00, depending on the school. Each period is 45 minutes long, with five-minute breaks in between.

All-day classes are starting to catch on in Germany, as are school lunches. As Germany’s economy changes, the all-day school day allows more parents to work while the kids are in class. Still, there’s pressure on parents not to enroll their children in all-day schools.

Most exams are essay-based, rather than multiple choice, and last no more than 90 minutes. English is the most popular foreign language studied.

The university experience is unusual in Germany in that students choose their own courses of study and professors select their own subjects to teach. Classes are not fixed and students can change universities based on their interests and what the university has to offer. Some students may spend as many as 10 years at the university, changing courses.

ACTIVITIES

Use the Internet or other reference source to learn more about school in Germany.

Use a map or globe to find Germany and its capital city, Berlin.

Make a list of similarities and differences between your school and those in Germany. Which do you prefer? Discuss the differences with your classmates.