It is the last week of Mia's school and as I always seem to bring up the differences in the school systems, this seemed to be another fitting week to do so! I still can't get over the responsibility that the kids are given here. Mia's school had a "Wandertag" today (a day where no classes go to school, but instead make a plan for all different kinds of field trips. It makes sense that every class goes away on the same day because then you don't have missed classes because some teachers are gone. Mia's class voted to take the train to Nuremburg to go to the Zoo for the day. All 26 kids were told to meet their teacher in front of the train station at 8:00. Mia's friends came to our house first and then they walked together (I being the over protective parent, walked with them to the train station to find most of the class there waiting, no parents, and no teacher (as of yet). So that I didn't embarass Mia, I headed back home once I knew that she and her friends had met up with their class, but I didn't need to go and I was definitely the only adult there. It is just so mind boggling that this functions so well. After they got back by train, they all just managed to get themselves home. Again, I was the ONLY parent there to pick up. These are only 5th graders! No chaperones either, just the 2 classes of 25- 26 kids with the 2 teachers on the train to a big city, where they have to switch trains too. By the way too, they had free reign at the zoo. In groups of 4, they had to split up to do a scavenger hunt. Mia's group split up into 2 in order to be more efficient in the hunt and then grouped back up with the other 2. It always just seems to work! (oh and the train AND entrance to the zoo was only 8.50 euro total (about 10 dollars!)
This is so funny/different too... Being that this is the last week, the kids get out at different times this week. Mia just told me as she was heading out the door in the morning..."oh - and by the way we get out at 11:30 today". There is no listed schedule anywhere - just the responsibility of the kids to tell the parents!
Another amazingly different experience was Mia's "Schulfest" (school festival). It was the first one that we had been to since her being in a new school this year. Her school is 5th - 12th grade, so the capabilities of the kids range greatly. The school fest was a bit like a big science fair exhibit (she goes to a Math/science school). The theme was "light and shade" and there were all different kinds of group exhibits that the kids ran on their own. The fest was for 4 hours and in Mia's group, the kids had to sign up for an hour to help tour guests through their sun dial exhibit. The kids were ALL responsible for coming back 15 minutes before the fest ended to clean up the exhibit (the kids had to remember this on their own). It was all student run - no parents were involved in any way and teachers help was very limited. They didn't have school that morning and instead it was required that everyone come in the afternoon. Many parents work, but kids still had to get to school on their own) Here are some of the funny differences:
*Cake and coffee - as per EVERY German fest, they had cake and coffee. Kids signed up to bring cake (without asking parents first, and instead just signing up themselves knowing that they are responsible to tell their parents to make a cake or make it themselves). I asked Mia if I should put it on paper plates so that we wouldn't have to worry about picking up the dish. Oh NO!!! That would not be German like! When we got there, there were 80 plus cakes in tupperware containers (so glad I listened to Mia). The cake was served on real plates with real forks and the coffee was with real mugs (Naturally ;-)). We were responsible for remembering to pick it up at the end. No trash at all :-)
*Bier (Beer) - Oh yes - a German fest would not be a fest without Beer - even a school fest is such. Being that these kids can drink at 16, it is perfectly acceptable to drink at the fest if they choose. We only saw a few kids drinking beer and there were no problems at all - it is treated just like a food. Such a different world!!!
*The grill - They had steak and bratwurst for sale and who do you think ran the grill? Students! Some of the older boys prepared and grilled all of the meat. No parents - no teachers - just the responsible older boys who could drink beer if they wanted to while grilling!
*The Stone Pizza Oven - Who would have thought??? Mia's school has a real stone Pizza oven in the back. Once again, the kids prepared and made all of the pizza (fresh dough made by hand and the only help they got to ease the workload was that they had a machine to flatten the dough, so they didn't have to roll it out). They used the professional looking long Pizza Sheet to cook the pizza. After years of a consistently run fest - word on the street was that the pizza was delicious! And it was! As a funny side note, while we were waiting in line for the pizza, we stood by many fruit bearing trees. The cherries are ripe here in Germany now and so we got such a kick out of watching a group of Chinese exchange students jumping up to grab cherries off the cheery tree - so funny! I asked Mia if she had introduced herself to the exchange students - but she said was too shy :-)
*Money - Students were responsible for collecting any money received from items sold. Everything was extremely reasonably priced, but it must have been a fundraiser for the school and so kids worked as cashiers (no parents - no teachers). They were trusted to do the job responsibly.
*Creativity - there were tons of exhibits that were so creative and one of the neatest things is that they were truly done soley by students - no teachers to spruce things up. One example was a Movie that was made by one of the 5th grade classes. The class had done a year long project with refugee kids that live in the area. The class had gotten together with a group of them several times to do fun activities such as a ping pong tournament, a breakfast etc.. The kids videoed some of this and made it into a movie. During the school fest, some of the kids went around the school handing out handmade tickets to the movie (which was being shown every 30 minutes). We had our tickets and went into the room that was marked "Movie Theatre". There was a table outside, where other students collected the tickets. They had a neat exhibit inside with photos, information and statistics on refugees that you could look at before the show. When it began, the students introduced themselves and explained what the movie was about. It was a cute movie - only about 8 minutes long - but so cool that it was totally created by the kids. On our way out, they even had boys with flashlights pointed towards the floor - showing you the exit. So creative!!!
Bailey came with us to the fest and we remarked often about the differences. At her school, an 18 year old has to have a pass to go to the bathroom (because they could get into trouble), yet at Mia's school, the 16 year old can grill, take money, and drink beer all at the same time - such a different world!!!
