Realschule students go on to have jobs like a bank teller, a saleperson or a physical therapist. Students who need more support go to the Mittelschule. Students in the Mittelschule learn a trade, like carpentry.
At first I really didn’t like this school system because I thought it was unfair. I thought that the American system was better. But was the American system really better, or was it just what I was used to?
I started asking my students what they thought about their school system. It turns out that they actually really liked their system. They explained why students were separated. Not everyone is the same, and some students need extra help or harder courses. Also, students can move between schools. If Gymnasium is too hard for a student, they can move down to the Realschule. And if a student in the Mittelschule wants to go to university, they can take extra years of classes to go there. Finally, students can learn really cool trades in Germany. You can learn how to be a book binder or how to build pianos, for example.
There are still some things that I don’t like about the German system. I think fourth grade is a little too early to be separating students, for example. However, just because the German school system is different than the one I grew up with doesn’t mean that it’s better or worse. It’s just different. When I learned about the system, I made a lot of assumptions about how the students must feel. But when I actually talked to the students, I learned that things were actually more complicated than I thought. What do you think about German schools?
