Hanne

18 June 2009

It is finally summer! Blue skies, 23 degrees, almost sunburn weather. Perfect weather for a mass demonstration outside the university against student fees. 4500 students from schools and unis, and hundreds of armed riot squad police. Before today I had never seen so many police in one place, let alone police wearing such hard core body armour and shin pads. They were filming the demonstration too, which was rather strange. Hopefully I don’t get questioned at the airport or something like that! The protest was actually Germany wide and there are all sorts of events taking place this week. It is not just about uni fees either, but the entire education system. There are three types of high school and you only do Abitur, or University Entrance exams if you are at a gymnasium. The other schools prepare you for more practical jobs. Only the kids are 10 or 11 when it is decided which school they will go to, it is all very pre-determined and school is super stressful because marks are important right from the start. So if you are one of those people who decides they want to learn alter on, tough luck! As far as I can gather the marchers wanted all student to have equal chances, so to go to he same sorts of school. Hmm maybe I should suggest they take up NCEA?

Actually I can see where some of their points are coming from. Although uni fees are only 500 euro a year or so that does go against the principal of a free education, and prevents those whose parents can’t pay for the fees from attending uni. Still it seems pretty cruisy compared to our fees in NZ! The students were also upset that the unis are turning into corporations, where the emphasis is on money being made, not a good education. Here students actually study, I noticed that right away. In fact they are not allowed to work many hours a week beside study because that is properly a main occupation. So the atmosphere is different, I think at Auckland people just accept that the un is there as a business (just look at the new business school building! Built at the expense of he Russian department, among other things). Here the ideals are still important, which was refreshing, but I am not sure how far they will get with that one as the EU is trying to standardize unis….

The school issue is much more serious, I would say. Especially the pressure the kids are under. The pressure everyone is under! The kids don’t really enjoy school because it is so full, they finish at midday so the classes are full on to pack it all in. They are thinking of lengthening the school say to 3pm or so to try to take the pressure off, perhaps that would help. And it would certainly help if they knew that their future paths were not going to be mapped out when they were 10 years old! Everything is taken so seriously. Like the career waiters in ice cream cafés who wear their striped shorts and bow ties and do the job that in any other land would be done by students in between their studies.

I was talking about this with a German girl the other day, how I want to go home and maybe work for a year. She asked if I wanted to do a praktikum and I said I didn’t really mind, just any job so I can earn a bit of money. She could not understand that, how can someone take a year that has nothing to do with building a future career? I am so grateful that life in NZ is so much more flexible. It is so much easier to change your mind and go in a new direction (most people I know have had at least one career change). It probably helps that we are not so many people so there is not quite as much competition and constant pressure to succeed. The other day I decided that maybe I want to train as a chef, and back home that is entirely possible. So this trip really is opening my eyes to different cultures, values and different ways of doing things. And making me appreciate where I come from even more!

That’s all for tonight, keep thinking outside the square.

Bis Später,

Hanne

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