I work in the educational system in Germany but with older kids like 16+ and I’m always shocked how dependent they are. They are like 19years old and ask me where to write down their task and if it’s okay to use squared paper instead of lined paper. And I’m always like “wtf, I don’t care, don’t even think about that irrelevant stuff”. It’s so sad to see that they just learn random things because teachers tell them to and they need to pass the exams. Actually, the curriculum sounds pretty good in Germany - in theory. Put practically, it’s a desaster. I teach languages and even though most of my classes have a centralized final exam to get their “school leaving qualification”which means I need to prepare them for this exam (so following a specific pattern for their text analysis for example) I always try my best to teach them content-related stuff they’ll need, e.g. our monetary system, current political decisions, critical thinking when looking at charts or reading newspaper articles even though this isn’t given specifically in the curriculum. But as I mentioned, the curriculum sounds great but everything in there is so vaguely phrased that you can basically do anything with them. Unfortunately, a lot of teachers stick to the topics that are given in the school books which is the common propaganda stuff you come across everywhere. I’ve never used text books because most of them are just rubbish.

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

Hey Kiwi super interesting to learn about the german system, Sylvia is german and will get her to reply to you when she finishes swimming with the kids ❤️

It only takes one really good teacher to save a kid. I was lucky to have one in the fifth grade.

This. ☝️Educational systems are bad for the most part, you as a parent and one, or few good teachers are there to make the difference. Isolating a kid from wider society can be more harmful to the kid later.

I was lucky to be a pain-in-the-arse kid who simply didn't see the teachers as any authority at all.

I feel bad for some kids who really wanted to please authority and never got a single good teacher.

Then again, I also feel bad for myself because having an authority you can actually respect and trust to care for you is healthy. Don't think I had one.

You're so on point about textbooks. Why do they even exist? Hadn't properly thought about this before.

What's that all about?...

I think I've got it - making a textbook is pretty much saying the following:

"Let me put everything you need to know about this subject in one book for you."

Which is saying:

"I know hold the absolute truth on this subject"

and

"The best way to present this information is in one book."

Nobody so delusional should ever be providing information for children.

Write a book and put your name on it like a reasonable human being. Stop hiding behind acronym-named companies that shouldn't even exist.