Polytechnic Secondary School

There was a final examination at the end of the 10th grade called Abschlußprüfung, granting the Abschlußzeugnis which allowed to continue one's education to vocational training.

The general style of teaching was a rather strict and authoritative version of different, highly efficient techniques of classroom management, used long before Jacob Kounin described this concept in the USA in 1974.

This measure led to vigorous criticism behind closed doors because the POS was initially designed as a further developed concept of the former German Realgymnasium.

The Ministry of People's Education justified the controversial reduction as a reorientation of the curriculum focussing on the essentials and providing more freedom of choice for the students.

Each course was built on a specific framework program given by the Ministry of People's education, but the standards were more general and not tight like the curriculum for the compulsory subjects.

Most of the courses covered topics from mathematics, physics, chemistry, crafts, arts, architecture, music, technical studies and conversation in a foreign language.