American Reacts to the German School System..

Thank you so much for watching!

Where should we go next? 🌏❓

[davebirch]

"German language looks so foreign" 😂 well yeah it's not English so it is foreign 🤣

[N_K]

1st grade usually starts in the age of 6 and 'Gymnasium' ends with Grade 12 or 13, depending of the 'Bundesland'. Example: Born in march 2000, starting 1st grade in autumn 2006 and finishing 'Gymnasium' in summer 2018 or 2019 (age of 18 or 19). In case of going to university you start in october 2018 or 2019.

[PokhrajRoy.]

Joel: “That is one of the most complicated school systems I’ve seen.”
Me: “Who’s going to tell him about the French Educational System?”

[vivica]

I’m on a Gymnasium and in ninth grade. Every student from the eighth grade and up gets an IPad and students from fifth to seventh grade get an IPad in school that they have to share. So the technology is definitely better now. 😂

[ThichNhatHanh]

One think to remind is that its proven in 1000 of studies that digitization isnt a benefit for developing brains.
Digitalization with out the analog foundation is like a tree with out the trunk. You can get as much branches as you want but they are not gonna last very long with out the roots and the trunk

[leestevens]

I have a German friend who lives near the "Bodensee" (Lake Constance) area of Germany, and he wanted to try an exchange program in the U.S. (He spoke fluent English in his HS.) I helped him to find an exchange program in Michigan which he LOVED. I saw his transcripts when he was applying, and I couldn't believe how rigorous his Catholic school was: he was taking classes like physics, chemistry, engineering, biology, etc. Needless to say, he KILLED it in Michigan and graduated in what would have been his junior year. Then he went back to Germany and graduated a SECOND time from the HS he had attended previously. Consequently, he got two diplomas in two years. He also earned his private pilot's license at the ripe old age of 15, mainly flying gliders. He decided to study with Lufthansa (the German airline) and he is working as a pilot in Germany now. I would say he's done rather well for himself in just the past few years!

[emma_jngs]

I’m a German student, currently in my final year, in about 2 months I have my Abiturprüfungen.
And I wanted to share my experience since I feel like the video didn’t quite showed I’d right. For example I live in one of the richest school areas (near Frankfurt) and I can tell you digitisation is even worse in my current school. We don’t have Wi-Fi, we have different types of boards (which don’t function properly) in every classroom. Talking about digitisation I should also tell you that our computers shut down when we want to use a programme younger than from 2009 (2011 if your lucky). And our gym classes were cancelled due to the fact that there is no place where they could happen.
On top of all that our school can not be heated in a proper way because the building, which is looking like it was build before the Second World War, is leaking the warm air in to the outside rather than the insight of the building. It was said to be taken down 5 years ago and to rebuild on a new spot, but this spot was sold by the city so now the school must stay in the way it is.
But even with all that I have to say the school system is not the worst, because the teachers know how to teach in a way you can understand them and they really try to make their subjects more interesting. There really creative and supportive and need to be more acknowledged for that.
I apologies if my English is not good enough but I hope you understand what I wanted to say.

[arnewengertsmann]

A few things on that video.

1. Digitalization: The biggest problem here is federalisation. You have wildely different schools. Basically if you go into a school in a wealthy comunity in Bavaria you might find a modern school with stat of the art equipment. In other schools the roof might collaps at any minute. The states defend their rights furiously, even where it makes no sense. So even if the federal government wants to help, they are prevented by states rights.

2: The separation of special needs kids: Without promoting or condeming it, the idea here was that you have special buildings and special trained personell to accomodate those needs.

3: A big advantage of the German system is its vocational training, which is dual. You go simultaniously to your apprenticeship with a company and study at a vocational college. So you get simultanously the theory and the practical side in one go.

[soundocean]

The lack of digitisation here in Germany was a running gag when I was in school about 20 years ago already... Some things never change. From 2018 to 2021 I took a late vocational training (after studying at university; figured I was more of a "practical type", so to say) and couldn't believe my eyes and ears when I realised nothing much had changed since around 2005 AT ALL. Okay, we had flat screens... but that was about it. (I must confess I was kind of surprised by that already lol) One our teachers desperately tried to advance digitisation in this school at least, but when nothing's on your side (especially not the state's money), it barely matters how hard you try. Then the pandemic hit and let me tell you, except for like 2 or 3 teacher's subjects the "forced homeschooling" was nightmare material, ESPECIALLY shortly before exams. Some teachers almost entirely stopped "teaching" because they refused dealing with simple emails...
And with all that, we were still LUCKY, for our teachers were willing to use the internet for that at all. I know that many schools, especially elementary schools afaik, didn't send materials home to students at all, but told them to come get their work sheets and everything from their teachers. (I know this is more complex and partly a way to make sure everyone could use the materials as not every family has the ability to print stuff for example, but this shows just another side of the German digitisation issue medal... sighs)

This entire topic is something you can always dig into if you feel like you want a good reason to facepalm honestly. It's by far not "only" a school problem. Just especially there.

[fxbx]

The main reasons for the lack of digitalisation (in my opinion):
1) huge bureaucracy, meaning high restrictions by law, high data security/privacy, etc… the process for a school to buy computers in Germany is much more complex than in the us due to the bureaucracy I guess.
2) lack of political will in the responsible ministry during the merkel era.
3) Germans not trusting technology especially not giving out personal information and
4) the ridiculous and continuous fight between states and federal state about who is responsible for modernising schools that just annoys everyone.

[sobelou]

Joel, are you sure that digitalization, important as it is, is the most important element of the education system? because the academic performance indicators favor Germany a lot more than the dismal digitalization place would suggest.

[josefineseyfarth]

I was at a German Gymnasium until like 2017 and the PC cabinet looked pretty much like the one in the video. I doubt that this situation changed much during the last 5-6 years, especially facing the HUGE lack of money available for schools and education in general, lack of teachers and of course the pandemic. Which seemingly revealed how bad the digital hardware and software providing/ availability at German schools actually is.

[ole]

Do you know Feli from Germany and her YouTube-Channel "Understanding Trainstation"? It is in English and there is an episode where she and her co-host Josh, who is American, did a comparison between the American and the German school system. You should definitely check it out, it is very interesting. I can also recommend her channel "Feli from Germany". She makes videos about all kinds of topics related to Germany and the U.S. It's also in English, but sometimes she speaks snd teaches a little bit of German, too. She is from Munich/Germany, which is the capital of Bavaria, but she lives in Cincinnati/Ohio.

[WyomingTraveler]

Every country has a different system of education. I like the German/European model where not everyone is put in a college prep system. Students can go to a college prep secondary or a vocational secondary education.

[BunterAlltag]

Great reaction on that one. :-) The German school system really seems to be complecated if you didn't grew up with it. Btw. if German seems total gibberish to you, maybe RobWord's video "How anyone (including you) can read German" could help a little. Would love to see a reaction on that. :)

[faultier]

Quote from one of our politicians:"The Internet is a new territory for all of us." „Das Internet ist für uns alle Neuland“ Angela Merkel, 2013. Today? Still the same.

[Scooterboi]

Those monitors and then you get Mercedes Benz, Audi, BMW. What?!
The US and Oz have the same inequity issue.

[ItsjustmeElisa]

Back when I was in school here in Germany our "Computer Lab" was about 6-8 generations of pcs behind of what even I had at home and I didn't grow up wealthy by any means whatsoever ^^
Even nowadays for most bureaucratic things you still have to go in person and fill out like paper paperwork.
Especially the lack of access of remote health services is very detrimental for some people.

[veronikahelmig]

I 1000% agree to your summary. The German school system is lost in digital ancient times. Grew up on country side and my school was "Hauptschule". We had a good teacher in Informatics teacher which was rare in the 1999's. Best equipped schools were and still are Gymnasium. High Education.

[BennisKanal]

In Germny in 1994 Helmut Kohl had a friend from "kirchmedia". So he decided to invest in copper cable instead of fiber optic cable (what all experts wanted), because of corruption thingies... since then the exchange of these old copper cables still lasts and is proceed very slowly. that's why Germany completly missed the digitalization.