GERMAN HIGH SCHOOL CULTURE SHOCK (from an american exchange student)

HEY! today I discuss some school culture shocks I've experienced while studying abroad in germany, as well as the differences from my american high school! I was so surprised to see that something as universal as school can be so different, but I've had a great experience so far. I hope you enjoy and subscribe for more videos!

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I hope you enjoyed and thanks again for watching!
- Caroline Ruby

[tomekk]

Nice video. Usually you switch rooms in "Gymnasium" to the special equipped room too (chemistry, physics, geography etc). Not switching like at your school is related to COVID restrictions/hygiene rules.

[dermetaller]

"Everyone dresses really nice." As a German, I can assure you that this is not the case. Aside of other factors, it very much depends on which school you go to and in which neighborhood the school is located.

[Hannah]

So normally in "oberstufe" you also switch classrooms for the different class. I have every subject with different people, I'm in 12th grade.

[angelikaboer]

Lots of schools (not Gymnasiums only) have cafeterias, to sit down and have a warm meal. The open windows are because of Covid19, it wasn't before. Have a good time in Germany!

[DasTamii]

I think that really depends on the school. There are also schools with catheterise and warm cooked lunch, we were allowed to use our phones in breaks, especially in lunch break, yes, we have fix classrooms here, but in my school we also had subjects where we have to leave the classroom, for example biology, chemistry, music, shop class, drawing and of course pe… we also had 50 minute lessons and only 5 minute breaks (and then 50 minutes lunch break)…
In our school smoking was not allowed.
So it really depends on the school :)

[couch-loewe]

One of my teachers once explained the schedule to us with the fact that a human brain can only pay attention for about 90 minutes. After this period, the attention and understanding ability drops significantly. Hence, school "lessons" are usually 2 x 45 min per session followed by a break. That is also the reason why most films last around 90-ish minutes... our brains get lazy after XD

[michaelschuckart]

"Students stay in their classroom".
Yes mostly, but Biology is a bad example, because for physics, chemistry and biology there are usually special class rooms.

[andreaseufinger]

Hi Caroline: Be careful: Some of your observations are very specific to your school in germany. Nowadays, you usually have lunch rooms, the phone rules are different from school to school etc.

[GGysar]

1:43 That depends on the school and the subject. For chemistry, physics, computerscience, music or art class you will most definitely switch the room, because not all rooms have the required equipment. And when I was in school, we students had to switch rooms most of the time.

[Emma-Marie-fu]

1:26 normely we do switch rooms in Germany for classes that aren't German, math, english, history or geography but some schools don't switch at all for some reson

[jessali_]

I went to 5 different Gymnasien in Germany, and they were all so different, even though they were all in the same state. The schooldays at one school were 8-5 every single day, except Fridays. One school had varying hours, anywhere between 7:20 to 5:30. One year, my Tuesdays started at 9:20! One school started at 8:30 every day. Some schools had cafeterias serving real food, some only served junk food, one school didn't have a cafeteria or even vending machines at all because students were expected to go home during lunchbreak. Also keep in mind that different states (Bundesländer) have completely different school systems.
Hope you have a great time here. :)

[Jeahkir]

Remember: there are 16 different Bundesländer in Germany with 16 different systems of school... So your experience only counts for the Bundesland your Gymnasium is in. And moreover, schools are different in the Bundesland too.

[juliaclaire]

You can't say it's the same overall in Germany. It depends from school to school how everything is managed. The schools are mostly free to decide on their rules.

[riesenpurzel]

Also interesting for me as a German in his mid 30s to hear a foreigner's perspective. For most parts, I can confirm. But I am also shocked to hear that it is "common" nowadays that students smoke outside with the teachers... that was definitely, at best, a super rare case 15 years ago.

[spickinicki]

Thank you, this was very interesting. My Gymnasium was pretty much the same way you describe your experience. I didn't realize that there are next to no breaks between classes in US highschools. That sounds so stressful!

[CHarlotte-royi]

It’s really interesting to learn about the differences in language learning. Until now I never understood how one can say “I took 3 years of Spanish” but then all they can say is Hola and Gracias. So thank you for mentioning that difference and enlightening me!
Also I hope you have an amazing experience, happy to follow along

[iviik]

I am from Slovakia and I would say that that is how pretty much every school in Europe works, we have different schools that’s why everyone is so fascinated to study in America

[kimmycupreacts]

That's interesting about the language. I took German in high school (I'm from the USA) and my teacher "Herr K" ONLY spoke deutsch in the classroom. I thought he was nuts at first, but it worked!

[fruzsimih]

I live in Austria and my sister was an exchange student in the rural US for a year in the 1990s. Her French teacher there had such a terrible American accent when speaking French that you could hardly understand her. But worse, she also required her students to speak the same way! When my sister came back to Austria, I had to practice the correct French accent with her because she'd often fall into "American French"...

[madridista]

0:52 nahh what? Even tho I’m kinda late that’s kinda weird. At my Gymnasium I haven’t seen a single guy with skinny jeans since baggy jeans became the trend or standard.