Education in Germany?

I have my AS German Oral (AQA) next week and I'm doing my presentation on Education in Germany. I've written about the different schools and how kids start a year later etc, but I'm struggling to write my conclusion. My teacher said I need to state whether I prefer the British or German systems, but I'm having a mental block and I can't come up with any arguments for or against either of them.
Anyone have any ideas why one could be said to be better than the other?

Reply 1

hobnob

fantasque

Just pick one particular aspect which you think is fundamental to any education system and compare how well each of the systems works to put it into practice. One of the more obvious points would be looking at the question of whether the systems are actually fair and provide children with equal intellectual abilities with equal opportunities to succeed, as they should. For example, in Germany, the Abitur/Fachhochschulreife is the only way to qualify for university. However, children from immigrant families or families with a very low income are significantly less likely to reach that qualification than children from a middle-class background. It could be argued that the "lower" types of schools (mainly Hauptschule, but to a certain extent also Realschule) label children as failures at a very early age, and that 11 is too soon to decide about a child's fate in life, etc. Obviously there are similar arguments against the fairness of the British system, but you're probably already familiar with those...

Reply 2

lily_of_the_valley

just think about the pros and cons of both education systems and try and form your own opinion from there. For example, maybe the German system is better because children start a year later, but on the other hand the British system could be better because unlike Germany it doesn't discriminate as much when it comes to secondary schools (with the Hauptschule, Realschule Gymnasium hierarchy).

Reply 3

hobnob

Early specialisation for A-levels vs. studying a broader range of subjects for the Abitur would be another good point of comparison, because you can use it to argue for or against the superiority of either system, depending on which angle you take. :wink:

Reply 4

Kathrin

well I am German and I prefere the English school system, to be honest.
Less subjects for A-Level.
more than one teacher teaching you in the same subject.
examns only twice a year (or less)
you can prepaire for examens (in Bavaria there are regular tests in each subject, about what we did last lesson, and they dont tell you when they do the tests)
school starts later 9 o'clock
you dont have to do a year again, when you havent done well (at least didnt fail the subject)
...

Reply 5

hobnob

Kathrin

Well, but there's another side to each of those arguments:
1) Doing fewer subjects is great if at 16 you already know exactly what you want to do, but if you don't, doing more subjects gives you more options. There's a reason why the Abitur is also called 'allgemeine Hochschulreife' - afterwards you're free to choose just about any subject at university (as long as you got halfway decent grades, obviously), whereas under the English system, you'll be restricted depending on what GCSEs or A-levels you did.
2) Having more than one teacher for the same subject can also be a disadvantage.
3) Having more frequent exams means the individual exam is less important, so if you mess up one it won't affect your overall mark quite so dramatically. It also encourages students to revise smaller chunks of information at a time instead of forcing them to cram frantically at the end of the year.
4) Having unannounced tests may not be great when you have to write them (can't say I was too fond of them at the time), but there's less of a risk of students being taught only to pass tests and nothing else. Besides, this also helps to keep newly learnt stuff fresh, because you can't just put your notes aside until you need to revise for the next exam.
5) If school starts earlier, it also finishes earlier, which means you get more free time and don't have to spend your entire day at school (although there is the odd afternoon class, obviously). And you can actually go home for lunch.
6) Being forced to repeat a year is annoying, but it also gives you a chance to start again from scratch and pay closer attention at the points where things went wrong the last time round.

Reply 6

Kathrin

hobnob

point 4) true, but you are so under stress, and you never know when the tests are, and you want to do well of course and be prepared, and sometimes you have 3 tests a day or 5 tests in a week, next to the other test "Schulaufagen"
pont 5) not true, especially in Mittel- and Oberstufe of the Gymnasium you often have 10 school lessons a day, 2-3 times a week.
this means you are in school until half 4 (that was my case and I only was in year 10)
point 3) well if you mess up an exam, then you can resit aswell, cant you?

Reply 7

hobnob

Kathrin

Maybe, but there isn't that much to revise for each individual test, since it's mainly just about checking whether you took in everything you learnt during the last class. That's less stressful than having to revise half a year's worth of notes.

pont 5) not true, especially in Mittel- and Oberstufe of the Gymnasium you often have 10 school lessons a day, 2-3 times a week. this means you are in school until half 4 (that was my case and I only was in year 10)

Are you sure? :confused:

I certainly didn't - we had four afternoon lessons a week at most. During my final two years I had something like 30 lessons per week; before that it was perhaps 35ish. Although, come to think of it, there may have been changes since they introduced that G8 thingy. Still, even by your account, students get at least two or three afternoons off.

point 3) well if you mess up an exam, then you can resit aswell, cant you?

Ah yes, good point. Since you can resit exams under the English system, there's of course no reason why you shouldn't take advantage of it. :smile:

On a bit of a sidenote, though, I fail to see the advantages of an exam system that allows students resit exams until they're happy with the results. Under the German system, you sit your final exams at school, get your grades and that's that - no resits. I mean, it's all very well to say people deserve second chances and all that, but doesn't that sort of system teach students to believe there'll always be a second chance, which simply isn't true. They won't (normally) get to retake modules or resubmit coursework when they're at university and they won't get to have another go at job interviews either, right? And that's going to be much harsher for them if they're not used to situations where there is no second chance...