PAGE 4 HIGHLANDER German Schools Differ in Many Ways From Their American Counterparts By GUNDA TIETJEN There are three different kinds of schools in Germany. I compare the German ‘“Oberschule” with the American high school, because I know only those. The German schools are smaller than the American ones. They mostly have about 1,000 pupils. There are some schools which have only 500 or those who have 1,600, but these are big for Germany. All these schools are planned for even fewer persons and so they are overcrowded. How long you have to go to school depends on the kind you attend. It differs from 9 to 13 years. Pupils of ‘“Oberschulen” have to go 13 years. The school year is divided into two semesters: the first starts in August and lasts until February, when you get your report card; the second goes from February and is finished in July with another report. This is the more important one, because it determines your transfer into the next grade. You have to write tests through the whole year. They are summed up for the report cards and if you failed in two subjects, you have to repeat that year, That means that you repeat every subject, even those in which you were good. You have to study exactly the same things like the year before. The grades go from 1 to 6, THURSDAY, MEET THE OCTOBER 16, 1969 SCOTS and 1 is really outstanding, but it is possible to get it. It is harder to get a 6, so stupid can nobody be. At least the teachers think that! You see, you really need holidays after the second record. We have three months holiday in Germany, but they are distributed over the year: Six weeks in summer, two in fall, two at Christmas; one at Easter, one at Whitsuntide. We don’t have the possibility to choose our subject. They are obliged lessons: German, English from fifth grade, Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics from the sixth grade; Geography, History, a second language (Latin, French, Spanish); sports, arts, music. We have more theoretic lessons than practical ones. From the 11th grade you can choose between mainly studying languages or sciences. Because you have so many different subjects, you have each only two to four hours a week. You have about 35 hours a week. And there is school on Saturdays, too. Your school day is finished about one or two 0’ clock. But you always have to do homework; that means that you work in or for school 45 to 50 hours a week. Your school day starts at home with seeking all the books you need that day and you put them into large bags. Every pu- John Pyner is the lead singer of the group, “John Riley” (for- merly Sunlight), which will perform at the Journalism Stomp on October 22. He is a member of the debate team and the Moot Clan. John will also represent Ben Lomond at All State in the choir division. pil has one of those special schoolbags, for he has to carry the books—and he doesn’t drive, but goes by bicycle or streetcar, and you have your things in the bag, not in the locker. We don’t have lockers. : Since every pupil in the same grade has the same lessons, they are together the whole day. You don’t meet so many people during the day. Each class has a classroom and the teacher comes to you. You leave your room only for sciences, such as biology, chemery. Bad. physica, because there Pearlean Anderson might be called “Bananas,” and yet she has done a great many things for our school. Last year, she was a member of the cast of the “Miracle Worker” and _ participated in most of the assemblies, including the Soul Assembly. Pearl is the Vice President of the Black American Study Clan and the Modern Choir; and is a member of the A Cappella. At the game against Roy, Kim Burbank was one of the impromptu cheerleaders for our side. Kim is a member of the Student Council, the Senior Council, and he is in the Boys’ Association. He skis and hopes to accompany the Ski Clan on one of their morally degrading field trips this year. minutes, a break for 20 minutes you have after the second period and so on. them, want to be treated very formal. The exception are some young and modern teachers. The older ones prefer to keep a certain distance. This is illustrated by the higher desks they use. It would be impossible to greet a teacher with “Hi.” You have to say, “Good morning, Mr. Soand-So. But there are some teachers and some pupils who want to change that. One thing you have in America which we don’t have in Germany is the school spirit. We have no matches with other schools, no school song, no We don’t have any lunchroom in school. We bring a sandwich in the large bag which I already mentioned, and eat that in the 20-minute break. You are not allowed to leave the school area during the breaks, since there could be an accident—even if you only cross the street for the baker’s, the insurance would not pay. But of course everybody goes, wheneyer he wants! 1OSse.. ings By KATHY JOHNSON Now that the sophomores have adjusted to being sophomores and the rest of us have adjusted to their adjustment, school has settled down to the same monontonous routine. The four‘letter words on the lavatory walls are still misspelled. This year’s has been switched from toilet bombings to ripping big kick phones off the wall. (You guys with all the talent should make your draft boards very happy). The B.L. on the mountain still has trouble keeping its figure and you probably have a thirty-page essay on the sexual habits of ants due next week. You’re feeling pretty sorry for yourself, right? Why not try to change your attitude? Instead of dwelling on all the terrible things that have happened to you, imagine all the unspeakably horrible disasters that haven’t happened to you (recently). Not the mundane, every-day lousy things, like contracting lock jaw and motion sickness at the same time or being confined to a diarrhea ward with pay toilets, or even being a one-legged man in a bucket kicking contest. For instance: It is your first week at camp. You call home collect and the operator says, “Mrs. Swiffle, we have a collect call from your son Arnold. Will you accept the charges?” “No.” Click. At a Thanksgiving dressing. dinner, you find a used band-aid in your A huge cold sore appears on your upper lip the day before your date at the drive-in with a B.M.O.C. been chasing around, sophs.). to You have choke. to laugh with of green a mouthful you’ve (those big men jello and start due On the day of graduation, you find an overdue on October 3rd. You wipe out while sidewalk During the first quarter mile tic on your trunks breaks. You have a head-on surfing a dog in your and Arriving home from school you find a note saying, “Go noKap called. Your ay father and I will be home ee a ao “> Scans “THE SWEATER SHIRT the elasV. W. ee Ce a pit. in a gravel of the cross country, collision with book, ge lose. where. Mr. tarily.” ahte8 af ex Neeee AOI momen- Cheer up, things could be worse. (And if all these things happened to you, stop whining. Things are bad all over). | From Italy Carefully made in Italy by master craftsmen. Full fashioned and hand finished with old world skill. Fashion right plaquet collar. 100% pure acrylic fiber, machine , FRED M NYE CO washable. Lo :