February 4, 2015 at 00:35Looking back, or what would I have done differently, having moved to work in Germany now. Part 3 (Education in Germany)
Part 1.
Part 2.
As promised in the second part - this post is about kindergartens and schools. I can’t write anything about universities yet - I haven’t encountered it. Children will grow up - we’ll collide and then I’ll write, if I don’t forget.
Again, everything that is written below - refers to the region of my residence. Perhaps in a different land the situation is better, but judging by the reviews of friends from the land of Baden-Württemberg, they have the same thing.
Theoretically, all children starting at the age of 3 should go to kindergarten (Kindergarten). In practice, there are sorely lacking places in the state and queues are a common thing. On the other hand (at least in small towns, where there are 3-5 gardens at all), in aggregate, for all kindergartens, they often leave 1-2 vacant places “just in case”. Thank God, we successfully ended up on such a “case”. But in order to claim such a place in the garden, you need to prove that there is no one to sit at home with a child of kindergarten age. In our situation, the wife was ordered to go to integration courses (as the wife of the owner of the Blau Karte, this is not necessary, as opposed to if you have a normal residence permit for work), but at Rathaus it was a ride for “proof”. After that, we were asked to learn in the courses, at what time the wife will not be able to look after the child (and we have not even explored the courses!). I had to urgently look for courses, register, take a piece of paper from there, which said on what days and at what time she needed to attend them. The result - the child was taken from 7:00 to 13:00.
There is no such thing that if you were given a place in a kindergarten, then you can bring a child to 7-9 and pick him up in the region of 17-18. We have 4 groups “by time”:
Each such group costs different amounts per month. Accordingly, if the child is in kindergarten from 7 to 12, then you pay the least, if before 17 - the most.
Bring the child before 9:00. Be late for a minute - from the gate turn. I will not exaggerate - this is exactly the punctuality.
There are no age groups in understanding, as in Russia (junior, middle, senior, preparatory), here. The maximum is a separate group for the smallest - 2-3 years. Although all the others are shuffled around the rooms (formally groups with their funny children's names), they play together either in the common hall, or they can move from room to room.
As I wrote above - they brought the child at 9:01 - they will not let you in. But if you took the child a minute later, without warning in advance - within a month you will receive a letter in the mail with an invoice for the time for which you are late. We have a similar “fine” if the memory does not change 3 or 5 euros for every 5 minutes (rounded up).
If you really need to pick up the child later, then this must be planned (yes, everything is planned here, including delays - otherwise you will pay with a wallet). At least one day in advance, one of the teachers must be warned in the kindergarten, he fills out a special form, which indicates which day and how much later you are going to pick up the child, whether he needs to be provided with lunch. If you, say, are going to pick him up 2-3 hours later, then he will die of starvation there, but if you have not indicated that you need to provide lunch, no one will feed him -he will look with hungry eyes at others .
Well, now it’s just “quiet horror” for parents who are used to kindergartens in the former Union / present Russia:
1. There is no normal nutrition, as in Russian kindergartens with cereals, kissels for breakfast, first and second for lunch, sweets and tea for an afternoon snack at all . “Warm dinners”, as I mentioned above, is just the second course (well, at least warmed up).
In kindergartens they don’t feed here. Remember this. All children in the morning carry breakfast in special plastic boxes (Dose), which usually consist of sandwiches of varying degrees of fullness, yogurt, a maximum of some small fruits. If you put yogurt to the child, then you have to put a teaspoon in the kindergarten and don’t give them out. You can add more juice in a bottle that is easily opened by the child and from which he will not spill it on himself or on other children. From drinking in the kindergarten they give ordinary water and water with gas. No seagull, no compote, no kefir ...
2. children in kindergarten are not taught anything other than learning to communicate with peers. There is no account, no surrounding world, no music, no pool (in our kindergarten in Russia all this was and it was an ordinary state kindergarten). Yes, they play with children (but not all educators - some stupidly sit and sharpen their lasses while the children are left to their own devices), draw, sculpt, look after them so as not to harm themselves and others (as soon as the child entered the morning for the gate - the educators are fully responsible for his life and health). Yes, there are excellent educators in whom children don’t have a soul: they play with them and sing songs and stuff.
But the training we are used to in Russia is not here as a class. There is no preparation for school either. Such parental initiatives (such as preparing for school), on the contrary, are met with hostility from both the kindergarten and the school. It is generally accepted that a child should have a childhood and he should be able to play enough, get enough, "and still have time to learn." But it seems to us (and many other people from the "Eastern Camp") that it’s already too much, when a child who goes to first grade can neither draw nor sculpt, cannot count at least 10, doesn’t know the alphabet he is not able to calmly listen to the teacher for at least 10-15 minutes, he cannot solve trivial logic problems ... All of this is customary to be taught here just the same in the first or second grades.
Therefore, it is not uncommon here that when passing a medical examination in front of the school (we had it just a couple of weeks ago), it turns out that the child does not know and can not do anything at all and they are sent to the “zero” classes. Literally with us, out of 10 people sitting in line, more than half were sent to the “zero” - they were not given the go-ahead in the “first”.
3. since children are not taught anything in the kindergarten and there is no normal food there, then additional rooms, such as a gym, kitchen, math rooms, music ... are not needed. The kindergarten (at least ours) consists of a common hall, 3 rooms for children, a toilet, a manager’s office, a warehouse and a teacher’s rest room, in which there is a microwave, in which lunch is heated. If the child is in the kindergarten until 15-17 and wants to sleep, mats from the warehouse are pulled into one of the rooms, and children who want to sleep are simply laid on them andare asleep.
4. On the other hand, there are positive aspects. In contrast to the lack of proper nutrition, every 2-3 days (of course, according to a pre-compiled schedule - where are there without this) another child brings a package of fruits (a bunch of bananas, a kilo of apples or pears, oranges, tangerines) to the kindergarten - on average, then about 1-2 pounds. And before the usual breakfast in the dry oven, the whole group gathers and, under the guidance of the teacher, prepares a common tomorrow from these fruits (a la buffet). Children are given knives, other cutlery, they cut everything themselves, remove the skins and then they all eat it together.
Once a month, the entire kindergarten (not all children - only at the request of the parents, because for this it is necessary to pay an additional fee in advance) goes somewhere. The last such trips we had:
This, frankly, is very cool - the child is shown a world that he, even with his parents, is unlikely to see. After each such “excursion”, they show an interest in different things, children begin to be interested in different aspects of life in a completely childish way.
But ... due to the fact that children are not taught anything in kindergartens, due to the fact that they are allowed absolutely everything (literally everything - their parents are responsible for all their misconduct) and no one dares to object to anything (at least in public ), it seems to me, they grow up as we see teenagers of 12-17 years old here: they can ride a tram and yell at the whole tram, running back and forth along it, follow the crowd along the sidewalk and not give way to mother with pram, etc.
Don’t think about it - I’m not a supporter of “parenting”, but to allow absolutely all of this is also not right - some kind of balance is needed, but here it is clearly not. And then for such children in the 2nd grade, “Right” becomes their favorite subject, in which they are told what they have the right to do under the Law, but for some reason they don’t talk about their responsibilities, that if mom shouted at them, they have the right to complain to Jugendamt (a body called to take care of children - in fact, often playing the role of juvenile justice).
As I wrote above, depending on the time the child was, the amounts are different. Until the last school year (I recall - from 7:00 to 13:00) we paid 64 euros. If you leave your child until 5:00 p.m. (and this still needs to be proved that you need to leave him there so long), then the amount will be 128 for a kindergarten and plus 10 for meals (this is all per month).
And since the last year in the kindergarten, children are formally already considered to be “school-obligated”, although they still do not attend school (I don’t know how to say this in Russian normally - Schulpflichtig), since September we have been paying only 18 euros per month.
Perhaps I’ll write about school in the next post - so quite a lot has already happened.
UPD: the final part is transferred to Megamind and is available here
Part 2.
As promised in the second part - this post is about kindergartens and schools. I can’t write anything about universities yet - I haven’t encountered it. Children will grow up - we’ll collide and then I’ll write, if I don’t forget.
Again, everything that is written below - refers to the region of my residence. Perhaps in a different land the situation is better, but judging by the reviews of friends from the land of Baden-Württemberg, they have the same thing.
Kindergarten
Getting a place
Theoretically, all children starting at the age of 3 should go to kindergarten (Kindergarten). In practice, there are sorely lacking places in the state and queues are a common thing. On the other hand (at least in small towns, where there are 3-5 gardens at all), in aggregate, for all kindergartens, they often leave 1-2 vacant places “just in case”. Thank God, we successfully ended up on such a “case”. But in order to claim such a place in the garden, you need to prove that there is no one to sit at home with a child of kindergarten age. In our situation, the wife was ordered to go to integration courses (as the wife of the owner of the Blau Karte, this is not necessary, as opposed to if you have a normal residence permit for work), but at Rathaus it was a ride for “proof”. After that, we were asked to learn in the courses, at what time the wife will not be able to look after the child (and we have not even explored the courses!). I had to urgently look for courses, register, take a piece of paper from there, which said on what days and at what time she needed to attend them. The result - the child was taken from 7:00 to 13:00.
Groups in kindergarten
There is no such thing that if you were given a place in a kindergarten, then you can bring a child to 7-9 and pick him up in the region of 17-18. We have 4 groups “by time”:
- 7:00 - 12:00
- 7:00 - 13:00. Includes a warm lunch
- 7:00 - 15:00. Includes a warm lunch
- 7:00 - 17:00. Includes a warm lunch and a quiet hour (optional)
Each such group costs different amounts per month. Accordingly, if the child is in kindergarten from 7 to 12, then you pay the least, if before 17 - the most.
Bring the child before 9:00. Be late for a minute - from the gate turn. I will not exaggerate - this is exactly the punctuality.
There are no age groups in understanding, as in Russia (junior, middle, senior, preparatory), here. The maximum is a separate group for the smallest - 2-3 years. Although all the others are shuffled around the rooms (formally groups with their funny children's names), they play together either in the common hall, or they can move from room to room.
Features
As I wrote above - they brought the child at 9:01 - they will not let you in. But if you took the child a minute later, without warning in advance - within a month you will receive a letter in the mail with an invoice for the time for which you are late. We have a similar “fine” if the memory does not change 3 or 5 euros for every 5 minutes (rounded up).
If you really need to pick up the child later, then this must be planned (yes, everything is planned here, including delays - otherwise you will pay with a wallet). At least one day in advance, one of the teachers must be warned in the kindergarten, he fills out a special form, which indicates which day and how much later you are going to pick up the child, whether he needs to be provided with lunch. If you, say, are going to pick him up 2-3 hours later, then he will die of starvation there, but if you have not indicated that you need to provide lunch, no one will feed him -
Well, now it’s just “quiet horror” for parents who are used to kindergartens in the former Union / present Russia:
1. There is no normal nutrition, as in Russian kindergartens with cereals, kissels for breakfast, first and second for lunch, sweets and tea for an afternoon snack at all . “Warm dinners”, as I mentioned above, is just the second course (well, at least warmed up).
In kindergartens they don’t feed here. Remember this. All children in the morning carry breakfast in special plastic boxes (Dose), which usually consist of sandwiches of varying degrees of fullness, yogurt, a maximum of some small fruits. If you put yogurt to the child, then you have to put a teaspoon in the kindergarten and don’t give them out. You can add more juice in a bottle that is easily opened by the child and from which he will not spill it on himself or on other children. From drinking in the kindergarten they give ordinary water and water with gas. No seagull, no compote, no kefir ...
2. children in kindergarten are not taught anything other than learning to communicate with peers. There is no account, no surrounding world, no music, no pool (in our kindergarten in Russia all this was and it was an ordinary state kindergarten). Yes, they play with children (but not all educators - some stupidly sit and sharpen their lasses while the children are left to their own devices), draw, sculpt, look after them so as not to harm themselves and others (as soon as the child entered the morning for the gate - the educators are fully responsible for his life and health). Yes, there are excellent educators in whom children don’t have a soul: they play with them and sing songs and stuff.
But the training we are used to in Russia is not here as a class. There is no preparation for school either. Such parental initiatives (such as preparing for school), on the contrary, are met with hostility from both the kindergarten and the school. It is generally accepted that a child should have a childhood and he should be able to play enough, get enough, "and still have time to learn." But it seems to us (and many other people from the "Eastern Camp") that it’s already too much, when a child who goes to first grade can neither draw nor sculpt, cannot count at least 10, doesn’t know the alphabet he is not able to calmly listen to the teacher for at least 10-15 minutes, he cannot solve trivial logic problems ... All of this is customary to be taught here just the same in the first or second grades.
Therefore, it is not uncommon here that when passing a medical examination in front of the school (we had it just a couple of weeks ago), it turns out that the child does not know and can not do anything at all and they are sent to the “zero” classes. Literally with us, out of 10 people sitting in line, more than half were sent to the “zero” - they were not given the go-ahead in the “first”.
3. since children are not taught anything in the kindergarten and there is no normal food there, then additional rooms, such as a gym, kitchen, math rooms, music ... are not needed. The kindergarten (at least ours) consists of a common hall, 3 rooms for children, a toilet, a manager’s office, a warehouse and a teacher’s rest room, in which there is a microwave, in which lunch is heated. If the child is in the kindergarten until 15-17 and wants to sleep, mats from the warehouse are pulled into one of the rooms, and children who want to sleep are simply laid on them and
4. On the other hand, there are positive aspects. In contrast to the lack of proper nutrition, every 2-3 days (of course, according to a pre-compiled schedule - where are there without this) another child brings a package of fruits (a bunch of bananas, a kilo of apples or pears, oranges, tangerines) to the kindergarten - on average, then about 1-2 pounds. And before the usual breakfast in the dry oven, the whole group gathers and, under the guidance of the teacher, prepares a common tomorrow from these fruits (a la buffet). Children are given knives, other cutlery, they cut everything themselves, remove the skins and then they all eat it together.
Once a month, the entire kindergarten (not all children - only at the request of the parents, because for this it is necessary to pay an additional fee in advance) goes somewhere. The last such trips we had:
- to the library - everyone was told to the children about the library, about books, how to take books there, how to return them, etc. - now the daughter drags us there, because she really liked picture books there
- to the fire department - the boys were wildly delighted, the girls did not like it (it’s understandable)
- to the butcher shop - they showed how to make sausages, sausages and more
- tomorrow they’re going to the Darmstadt theater - I don’t know what they will be shown there, but there was no talk about any children's performance
This, frankly, is very cool - the child is shown a world that he, even with his parents, is unlikely to see. After each such “excursion”, they show an interest in different things, children begin to be interested in different aspects of life in a completely childish way.
But ... due to the fact that children are not taught anything in kindergartens, due to the fact that they are allowed absolutely everything (literally everything - their parents are responsible for all their misconduct) and no one dares to object to anything (at least in public ), it seems to me, they grow up as we see teenagers of 12-17 years old here: they can ride a tram and yell at the whole tram, running back and forth along it, follow the crowd along the sidewalk and not give way to mother with pram, etc.
Don’t think about it - I’m not a supporter of “parenting”, but to allow absolutely all of this is also not right - some kind of balance is needed, but here it is clearly not. And then for such children in the 2nd grade, “Right” becomes their favorite subject, in which they are told what they have the right to do under the Law, but for some reason they don’t talk about their responsibilities, that if mom shouted at them, they have the right to complain to Jugendamt (a body called to take care of children - in fact, often playing the role of juvenile justice).
Kindergarten cost
As I wrote above, depending on the time the child was, the amounts are different. Until the last school year (I recall - from 7:00 to 13:00) we paid 64 euros. If you leave your child until 5:00 p.m. (and this still needs to be proved that you need to leave him there so long), then the amount will be 128 for a kindergarten and plus 10 for meals (this is all per month).
And since the last year in the kindergarten, children are formally already considered to be “school-obligated”, although they still do not attend school (I don’t know how to say this in Russian normally - Schulpflichtig), since September we have been paying only 18 euros per month.
Perhaps I’ll write about school in the next post - so quite a lot has already happened.
UPD: the final part is transferred to Megamind and is available here