End the school reforms!

A commentary by Ulrich Greiner Most states are reverting back to the old nine-year Gymnasium timeline. The never-ending educational reform to and fro hurts students, teachers, and parents. In Lower Saxony it has been decided that study time for students at the Gymnasium should again total nine years. There is not much that better documents the madness of German school and education policy than the fight over G 8 versus G 9. The rough implementation of the time being cut short alone documents the dominance of the technocrats and the total absence of any educational ideal. Edmund Stoiber, then Bavarian Minister-president said in 2003, In a European comparison, the German education system robs young people of valuable time. With that did he mean to say that time in school is lost time? In that case, should one not work to ensure that school time is valuable time? And if not, do away with time in school? Around the turn of the millennium it was made clear to all education ministers from Stoibers statement that in most German states school time for Gymnasien was to be shortened by one yearexcept for in the states formerly in the German Democratic Republic, where eight years for Gymnasium had already been standard. Because at the same time it was decided to maintain the same total number of hours required before graduation, schools had to give classes in the afternoon as well. And already then we were on the way to all-day school. There are many arguments in favor of all-day school, not least the idea of educational justice. All-day school was not, however, in the program; there was no public money to equip schools with cafeterias. Because there was no money, the school had to improvise. Naturally, the students with family backgrounds which were financially stronger and more able to spend were better off. How much energy has been wasted on this nonsensical reform! The energy of the parents, who had to butter rolls and make coffee; energy of the teachers, who had to come to terms with the educational reforms; energy of the students, who had to internalize the same material in a shorter time and forego the exchange year previously common in many places; finally, energy of the universities, which had to take double the number of graduates in one year. And now, around a dozen years later? Many states are reverting back to the old model, either voluntarily, or forced by citizen-led initiatives. And in some states, the G 8 and G 9 models are running concurrently. It remains a riddle, why the political parties love to fail in education policy. It is as if this had not already often cost them elections. Yet they do not learn from their mistakes. Now the education minister in Kiel announced that in Schleswig-Holsteins schools they are moving into the future, and declining to give

grades, all the way until the seventh grade. The minister is convinced that the joy of learning is hindered by grades. To that one can only say: it depends on the grade in question. What a misery, to be a student nowadays! The material to learn is ever more, demands ever increasing, and year after year education experts think up new curricula, new methodologies, and new school types. If I were king, I would institute a total ban on school reform. Yes or no to grades, eight years or nine, it is six of one and half a dozen of the other. Perpetually prescribing the one six or the other half a dozen is feebleminded.
This article appeared in ZeitOnline on February 21, 2014 and was written by Ulrich Reiner. Translated from the German by Dave Herr. Original available at http://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/schule/2014-02/G8-G9-GymnasiumBildungspolitik