School in Germany- Part I

School in Germany is sort of hard for me to explain, since there are so many angles from which you can approach it from. So today, I'll just start out with my view of Realschule vs. Gymnasium. I believe I can give a pretty accurate view of this, since my experiences are firsthand and not just something I have heard from other German or American students. The CBYX program gives students priority enrollment in Gymnasiums, but in the case where there is not one nearby, they will need to go to a Realschule. I only ended up going to a Realschule because my first host family would not let me go to a Gymnasium. So without further ado..let's start :)

Basic Differences

After the 4th grade, all students need to take a test that will determine what type of school they will attend. The Hauptschule is, put bluntly, for the students who did poorly in their previous years. The Realschule is for the "normal people," and the Gymnasium is for the cream of the crop. Gymnasium students will go on to complete the Abitur, a test that is required for entrance into university (similar to the SATs and ACTs). Gymnasiums consist of grades 5-12, whereas the Realschule only goes till grade 10 and Hauptschule to 9th (I think). All students can opt to take the Abitur (Abi), but the Gymnasium students are especially prepped for it.

In regards to the school day, the Realschule usually runs until 1 PM. Gymnasium students have longer days, and can be in school until 3. School starts at 7:40 AM (times can vary, but this was true in my case) for both.

The Students

Many people have asked me if the students who attend Gymnasium are "better." Well, that would depend on your definition, but in terms of work ethic, I would say yes. These students work a lot harder, and are more serious. I take German with the 7th grade here, and I can definitely say that an entire class of 7th Grade boys (my class only has 3 girls in it) from Gymnasium behave better than a group of 10th grade Realschule students. They are more mature and don't make dumb, hurtful remarks. Now, this is not saying that the Realschule sucks, as there were extremely kind people there as well. But overall, I would prefer to be at the Gymnasium. Just stating the truth. In Germany, there are lots of options in terms of education. Those who end up in the Realschule have a different mindset--they just want to get jobs as quick as possible.

The Teachers

The teachers at the Gymnasium (at least at mine) are absolutely higher quality. Most of them know English, and have also went to Gymnasiums themselves (they also tend to be younger, but that just might be a coincidence). These teachers also make more of an effort to help the exchange student succeed in class, whereas my previous set of teachers just had me sitting there idly or didn't even bother to introduce me to the class. The teachers at the Realschule always lacked expectations--I think this is the problem with having different levels of schools. They know the students aren't the brightest, and the students know that themselves too. In fact, my host brother from my new host family said, "Yeah, all of us at the Realschule are dumb." That remark demonstrates that honestly, he doesn't have lots of confidence in himself. How in the world are people supposed to succeed when they have such low self-esteem?

Class Structure and Content

Gymnasium class content is definitely more interesting. There are more discussions, and the topics or debates are deeper. The Realschule tends to feed students information, which is something that I really don't like--it is definitely not in the best interest of the students to do so.

Botttom Line

Unless you are just a student who wants to go on an exchange year to chill and not learn anything, I would advise attending a Gymnasium. You might have to work your butt off to understand something, but it's completely worth it, and you'll learn the language faster.