listen to ma girl Bettina

Back in the early 2000s we had this one very problematic school in Berlin called the Rütli School. The academic performance was rat shit bad, the students had no discipline, and there were fights amongst them on a daily basis. Teachers were threatened by students and scared to even go to school. The police had to pay the school a visit almost every single day, and (as you might be able to imagine) it had a really bad reputation.

The situation became so severe that the teachers wrote a letter to the senate expressing their concerns, and the school with all its problems gained national attention. Since then, interventions and efforts have been made to address these problems and to improve the overall situation at the school. Nowadays the Rütli School is kinda like a flagship school. Good job!

That brings us to today. I sometimes have the feeling that there’s more problematic schools than unproblematic ones in Berlin these days. My mom works at a school and some of the stories she’s telling me, oh boy… disrespectful parents, disrespectful children, gangs that threaten other children, scared teachers, children bringing knives to school, racism, antisemitism, stuff like that. And we are talking about an elementary school. What’s it gonna be like at some of them high schools we have here?

But let’s go back to the Rütli School. Since it was the year 2006 when the concerned teachers wrote their letter to the senate, I assume that they wrote an ACTUAL letter. Might have been hard to ignore it by the senate. Maybe they even sent it by registered post so that the receiver (the senate) had to confirm that they got it.

Even though state offices have a strong rejection towards modernization, I assume that if teachers had a complaint these days, they’d write an e-mail (I might be wrong about it though). I’m asking myself that question because me thinking that there’s a bunch of schools in Berlin where the situation is as bad as it was back in the days at the Rütli School makes me wonder if schools are still writing letters to the senate asking for help.

Maybe it’s so many schools having problems and writing complaints to the senate that the media thinks that it ain’t worth writing about. But maaaybe the e-mails land in the spam file or even miraculously in the bin. Who knows?

Where is all of this leading to?

Not only in Berlin but in other parts of Germany as well it’s always being criticized that the educational system needs more financing. The educational level of many students when they done with school is so poor that a lot of jobs can’t be filled is the consequence. That not being enough there’s also the demographic change (a lot of old people retiring and not enough young people being there to fill the gaps). 100s of teachers are being needed and that in Berlin alone.

What is the senate doing?

On federal level there was a meeting not too long ago. Our federal minister of education (Bettina Stark-Watzinger, FDP) said “Something has to happen now because education is the basis, and we can only do that by leaving behind traditional roles that we have lived in the past. We really have to start a reform process.”

Bettina, sorry but I have questions. We can only do what? I have the feeling you didn’t finish the sentence right there. And what traditional roles Bettina? What are you talking about? I don’t understand. And what does that “really” mean? For how long have you been talking about starting a reform process that you have to emphasize it like that? But I agree with you that something has to happen, and I also agree with you about the reforms being necessary. When will you start with reforming? I have the feeling that it’s kinda urgent.

Even before this meeting, SPD leader Saskia Eskin had already called for a special fund of 100 billion euros to be invested in building renovation, digital equipment and a better daycare service.

Wait! 100 billion euros? Didn’t Germany spend 100 billion euros on something else recently? That number sounds so familiar. Ah, I remember now. The German armed forces have received a special fund of 100 billion euros recently.

Guys ‘n’ girls! Did you not listen to Bettina? Education is the basis! We have to have a basis before we start buying guns for them uneducated kids joining the armed forces after they dropped out of school.

But hey, I wish you all the luck in the world with finding capable recruits if you don’t invest in their education beforehand.

This is it for today. I hope you enjoyed today’s content and as always, much love.