The German Educational System- Framework for Educational Reforms?

(November 13 - 25, 2005)
By Atty. Myrish C. Antonio

Myrish T. Cadapan-Antonio

“The cultivation of the mind is a kind of food
supplied for the soul of man.”

-Marcus Tullius Cicero,
De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum
Vol. 19 (45-44 B.C)
As cited in Broca’s Brain,
Carl Sagan, 1979

One of the most interesting things about participating in an international political discourse on educational reforms is interacting with chosen intellectuals from 24 countries of the Asian, European and African continents. Ours was a diverse group of 21-50 year-old academics who had in one way or another participated in the propagation of the educational system of our respective countries or undertaken studies on the same. Most of the backgrounds of the participants, however, are either in Political Science, Economics, Philosophy and surprisingly, Physics. The programme of the seminar centered on the introduction of the German system of education, the basic liberal concepts of education, privatisation and decentralization of education, fundamentalism in education, equal access to education and perspectives of the ideal educational system- topics which were supposed to incite one to think of how to better the educational system of his or her own country.

The German system of education, for the most part, is complicated. It is three-tiered: beginning with the local level, the Lander or the state level and the federal level. Pre-school, infrastructure and secondary education were domains of the local level whereas the Lander took control of curricula, vocational education, educational policies and their implementation through the Minister of Education. These duties are also overlapped with by the Federal government which also looks into educational policies. Most of the schools in Germany (on all levels-primary, secondary and tertiary) are public and government-run. At present, their students do not pay for their education and are even given subsidy for daily expenses. Primary school often finishes at aged 13, the Gymnasium or secondary education at 18 and higher education at 19. Significantly, empirical data showed that most Germans finished secondary education at 23, and tertiary education at 28. Still, most German students prefer vocational training over higher education so much so that the disparity of such interest in more than 40 % (at least with the statistics available as of 1999). This is primarily because the government has encouraged the propagation of vocational courses and in fact provide for more vocational jobs. In Germany, a plumber or construction worker can find sustainable employment and is regarded as a professional in his or her craft. Thus, even though the economy of Germany is 3rd in the world, it is the highest exporter in the world. Vocational education is both done in the classroom and on the site. Germany boasts of this success and as participant of the seminar, I had the chance to visit Volkswagen factory site in Lower Saxony, an hour from Hannover, the capital of the federal state Niedersachsen. This information really struck me.

I go back to the Philippine setting where interest is veered towards the acquisition of education to be placed in a white-collar job. Our idea of success in one’s field and of what the ideal career is the ability to stay in a plush office wearing business clothes. Unfortunately, plumbers and electricians and masons and construction workers are looked down upon as ‘lower class.’ Hence, those who take on these career paths are prejudiced as financially challenged and less talented. The bandwagon is further dragged on to lower wages and benefits. For the most part, I suppose this is one of the major reasons why government is seemingly eternally unable to create enough jobs for our graduates every year. Perhaps this is also one of the main reasons why we have tried so hard to improve our economy but the trying efforts have not yet seen its results, if any. This may probably be why we cannot move forward as a people because we ourselves have limited our ability to develop in the industrial sector. We have several economic zones, yes, which employ blue -collar graduates but these zones are all foreign-owned. There are not so many Filipinos risking their necks to fund industries. Neither are there persons who are interested to work in vocational workplaces because they are dirty, pay less and are regarded lowly.

Germany may not be the richest country on earth. They may not even have the best educational system but certainly their people are able to live better lives, at least as far as the poverty issue is concerned. My proposition is that, while the Philippines struggles to produce more intellectuals, it should steer its people towards an educational system which will allow them to produce employment rather than find one.

On other very interesting presentation was that of Prof. James Tooley of the United Kingdom who introduced us to his research work on private education. In his lecture, he presented findings that among the poorest areas of certain countries in the world that he undertook his study, there were several private institutions existing which were unregistered, more preferred and whose students were doing considerably better than those in the public schools. He therefore postulates that private education should be propagated. I found this presentation interesting because the studies were undertaken in slum areas which made me think to ask: Aren’t the income of the parents in these areas just enough or even not enough to provide for basic needs of food for their children? Where then do they get the budget for education? Prof. Tooley was quick to point out that the parents in his areas of study had set aside a “budget” for private education. This, I find very difficult to imagine in the Philippine setting where most of our families live below the poverty line, an obvious reason why figures will point out that in primary and secondary education where government provides for free education, a resounding 82% prefer public education. Therefore, privatizing this sector will certainly be a tall order.

One of the rare exposure trips that were included in the 37th International Seminar on Education that I was privileged to attend was a visit to one of the Nazi Concentration Camps in World War II, at Bergen-Belsen, just very near Hannover. To prepare for the predictably psychologically-draining trip, we were given reading materials of what to expect with historical backgrounds. As one read them, flashes of scenes from Best Picture movie “Schindler’s List” came to my mind. Of course most of what were depicted in the motion picture related to events which took place in the nastiest Nazi camp at Auschwitz, Poland still the mass killings (which in legal parlance we refer to as genocide) resembled those in Bergen-Belsen. The temperature these days of autumn dropped between 2-5 degrees Centigrade so that warm clothing, coats, gloves, scarves and caps were more the general necessity than mere additional load. We were sternly warned to bring additional warm clothing as the temperature in the camp was most likely lower than in other areas.

At the camp, we were made to watch a movie produced by the Federal Government to constantly remind its people of the “holocaust” caused by Hitler in World War 2. Thousand of bodies were buried in mass graves and the actual size and appearance of the concentration camp was shown. It was clear from the presentation that Germany made all efforts towards the prevention of a like circumstance in the future. We were then toured around the more than 30 hectare property where remnants of what were supposed to be concentration camps, gas chambers, toilets, roll call areas lay as well as mass graves where the thousand of Jews massacred were buried. In the Bergen-Belsen camp alone, an estimated 120,000 Jews were killed and to date, only 45,000 have been accounted for. A Foundation to conduct research on exact names of those who perished has been established, whose work is done rapidly as the generation of informers was slowly disappearing. There was an eerie silence all over the camp as we walk past the remnants of the Nazi cruelty. There were place of silence and areas for prayer dedicated in memory of all who died. Somehow, this experience brought a deep sense of retrospection over life and brought one to count one’s blessings of life and family.

A significant part of the visit was the presence of the grave of probably the most famous Nazi prisoner, Anne Frank, who together with sister Margot died thereat. The grave was set apart from the rest. If you may remember, Anne wrote the most extensive actual account of a prisoner of war in hiding for 2 years (from June 12, 1942-August 1, 1944) in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The diary is a day-to-day recount of her experiences with her family and other friends inside a hideaway prepared by her father and officemates within his office. They were discovered on August 4, 1944, shortly before the liberation by the British Army and were brought to Bergen-Belsen. Anne and her sister Margot succumbed to the typhus epidemic in the camp in 1945. It is considered one of today’s modern-day classics as it presents such a candid and frank account of human experience. It is published in more than 20 languages worldwide and greatly in English although there are 3 versions now available: Anne’s original unedited version, Anne’s rewritten and edited version where some character’s real identities were kept in pseudonyms and her father’s edited version. Reading any of these versions presents such awed vividness and window towards an era some people would even want to forget. I suppose the continued discussion and information of events like these to future generations should be encouraged, so that one is driven to always look after world peace and the prevention of human cruelty.

On the whole, I had a grand time in Germany, interacting with 28 other participants as well as meeting once again Dr. Jorg, Dr. Stefan, Wulf including lovely Ines, Simon and Yvonne who both provided such admirable assistance. Although everyone insisted I copyright “vis-à-vis” before they could use the same in a sentence, I say I had learned more valuable insights than vocabulary from Siviny’s theories on the Universe to Dr. Martin’s revolutionary liberal concepts to Matti’s utter scrutiny of every detail! Ours was an highly inquisitive and participative group that even our policy statement could not find home base. Thus, the delightful necessity of Part III in the internet! May I likewise add that Jan Argy provided such a fitting recess in a sometimes already intensive serious discussion by his punch lines and provided such great company to me. Kudos to him from an equally proud Filipino!

I suppose these experiences enrich both mind and spirit. While one seeks to learn through reading, travel indeed provides a window whereby one is able to fully grasp what letters cannot simply just provide. I consider myself blessed to have been afforded the rare privilege of free travel and education, all rolled in one and sincerely hope that I could translate these blessings to become a catalyst for societal transformation in my community, by embibing the practice of liberal ideals.

As I write this, we continue our debate on what should be the best educational system in the world. I still say the Philippines has all the ingredients of what it takes. It would just probably need prioritising and setting our educational goals as a nation for us to maximize the potentials of our graduates.