Gymnasium (Germany)

In some states of Germany, permission to apply for gymnasium is nominally dependent on a letter of recommendation written by a teacher or a certain GPA, although when parents petition, an examination can be used to decide the outcome.

[4] Due to the rise of German nationalism in the 1900s, the Gymnasium's focus on humanism came under attack, causing it to lose prestige.

He argued that they are not aligned with the aims of patriotism, duty, and the idea of Germanhood and that the country's history could also provide the education and insights offered by the models of classical antiquity.

The early twentieth century saw an increase in the number of Lyzeum schools for girls, which offered a six-year course.

When primary school ended with the fourth grade and pupils left German basic secondary schools (Volksschule/Hauptschule or Realschule) at the end of the ninth or tenth grade, the gymnasium used special terms for its grade levels: Today, nearly all German gymnasia, just like nearly all German secondary schools, teach English as a compulsory primary foreign language, with French or Latin sometimes posing an alternative, though English must usually be taken as a compulsory second foreign language in these cases.

The manner in which English is taught has changed since the late 19th century, when it was first offered as an optional subject, usually after Latin, Ancient Greek and French, and on the same level as Hebrew.

Curricula differ from school to school, but generally include German, mathematics, informatics/computer science, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, art (as well as crafts and design), music, history, philosophy, civics / citizenship,[8] social sciences, and several foreign languages.

For younger students nearly the entire curriculum of a gymnasium is compulsory; in upper years more elective subjects are available, but the choice is not as wide as in a U.S. high school.

In these federal states, it is not up to the parents to decide if a pupil will attend the Gymnasium but decision will mainly be based on the performance in elementary schools.

Though gymnasia traditionally impose strict grading that causes students of average academic ability to struggle, many schools share the motto: "No child left behind" ("Keiner darf verloren gehen").

[citation needed] For certain subjects, such as History, many universities still require the Latinum, some also the Graecum, proof of study or comprehension of Latin or Ancient Greek, respectively.

The most practical benefit of this was that it prevented the frequent confusion among parents about the fundamental difference between Realgymnasium, Oberrealschule and Oberschule on the one side and Realschule on the other.

Literature describing student caps was burned[citation needed].Students received new clothing from the League of German Girls and the Hitler Youth.

Some schools have mentors (mostly alumni or parents) who help graduates choose a college and who arrange practical training for them.

After nine semesters (4.5 years) or more, students have to pass the Erstes Staatsexamen, a state-level exam, roughly equivalent to a master's degree, which marks the end of their academic training.

In most cases, students applying to a gymnasium nominally need a letter of recommendation written by the primary school teacher.

The letter covers the child's academic performance, classroom behaviour, personal attributes, leadership abilities and extracurricular activities.

Of the private gymnasia, the vast majority is run by the Catholic Church on very low tuition fees (which is more easy as by Concordat, the Church receives a high percentage of the amount of money the State need not spend for a pupil in a Church-school); fees for schools who need to earn money by teaching are higher.

[22] Some Hauptschule and Gesamtschule students have special needs requiring extra help, so those schools cannot operate as cost-effectively as gymnasia.

Children belonging to Russian-Jewish, Chinese, Greek, Korean or Vietnamese minorities[24][25][26] are more likely to attend a gymnasium than ethnic Germans.

According to Der Spiegel magazine, some minority students were denied a letter of recommendation for entrance to a gymnasium by their teachers simply because they were immigrants.

[28] A study revealed that 50% of the students attending a gymnasium come from families of the top levels of German society.

The researchers stated, In 2003, a study revealed that lower-class and working-class children attending a comprehensive school lagged behind their less disadvantaged peers in terms of mathematical abilities.

[39] However, special care must be taken in interpreting the data, since lower- and working-class children admitted to gymnasium may be different from other pupils in their class ab initio.

Instead, they stated that students with lower IQs who attend gymnasium or Realschule might find themselves increasingly unable to keep up and thus may drop out by 10th grade.

They have said comprehensives taught their students "Independence, capacity for team work, creativity, conflict management and broad mindedness" and that those qualities cannot be measured on standardised tests.

[citation needed] It has been claimed that character cannot be measured on standardised tests and that students' answers might not reflect their real behaviour.

Charges were raised that questions were worded in academic language[48] thus, students attending a comprehensive may not have understood them properly.

According to Stefan Zillich, quotas should be "a possibility" to help working-class children who do not do well in school gain access to gymnasium.

Kids from Neukölln [a poor neighbourhood] would not feel good about themselves if they had to attend a type of school that mainly serves students from social classes different from their own.