A foreign exchange student from Sweden at the school in my town in America told me when she saw her first cheerleader in uniform in the school hallway, she said, "They're real!" And then she had to get a picture of herself with a cheerleader to send to her friends in Sweden to prove that they exist.

"unique group dynamics" on the school bus... yeah, that's a nice way to say it, I suppose.

I hate the people who say German is an ugly language I’m from the USA but my dream is to learn German it’s so beautiful

When I was in school we usually had a period called Study Hall where you got to work on your homework. So most of the time you got a major chunk of your homework done there. If you had any left at the end of period, you took it home.

4am, Germany... GGIA comes up.. and I have to watch :D

Well, I started school in 1954 at 5 years old. I went to a Parochial School, which was set up just about the way you described German Schools. We also stopped using a pencil in the 2nd Grade and switched to a fountain pen (with a blotter of course). Ballpoint pens were out. In secondary school we had to write in Pen, especially tests, so no pencil there. There were sports in High School (Secondary School) which the students would rally around their school teams. I lived in New York City (Brooklyn) and we did not have school buses. We used public transportation or our feet. The school bus is a recent phenomenon in NYC schools. I graduated in 1967, so this change was made some time ago. As for College, I attended college later in life and was able to pick my courses up until I graduated. Schools changed in the years since I was a student in Grade and Secondary School. Discipline today is lacking and today's kids get away with a lot more than students of my era. Are days gone by better than today? I can't say but I know how to write in cursive, learned French, learned how to add without a PEN or pencil, Know geography and world history, science and writing. Many kids today can't do half of what I learned before the 5th grade. It is a shame.

I didn't realize how similar Indonesian school systems and German school systems are. Very interesting.

I only did public schools, and we took whatever books home that we needed, and we did our homework at home. That’s why it’s called “homework”. 🤣🤣🤣

I give the perspective of a third party here: I'm Argentinean, and our primary and secondary schools strongly resemble the German system. No lockers, green chalkboard at the front, a two-persons student's desk, weekly schedule of subjects. It seems to me that a German-like system or similar is also used by most Latin American countries, but of course if some other Latinamerican here have a different experience, please share it, it will be great to know.

I went to Gymnasium in Bavaria and attended a short exchange program (3 weeks) with an American high school (Oregon) in my 11th year. When my exchange partner came to visit, our English exams were returned and he was quite shocked since the test was much harder than his English tests.

Hi Feli! My son goes to a very modern comprehensive school in Germany. In this school, they hardly give any homework apart from learning vocabulary or reading a book. Instead, they get weekly plans they have to work out themselves They get time with two teachers in which they can do their tasks called working time (Arbeitszeit) and I have to say that I kind of like that system better than our traditional system with loads of homework to do at home. It takes off the burden from me as a parent to support my son with his homework and gives him an expert, the teacher, for his questions right when he needs one. And in that school, there are lockers, too. So, school can be experienced very differently in Germany.

There are school buses in Germany, too. Maybe not so much in big cities like Munich, as there is enough public transportation available. So it's more in suburbs, small towns or rural areas. Difference to the US is that the school bus has fixed bus stops and they are regular buses and not yellow. ;) A Bachelor's degree in Germany can take from 6 semesters (3 years) to 8 Semesters (4 years) in general. Mine was 7 Semesters (3.5 years). The important part is that if you want a Master's degree you need 10 semesters total at a university (that is 300 credit points or so iirc (30 per semester)). So since the time for Bachelor's is variable Master's degrees also go from 1 year (2 semsters) to 2 years (4 semsters). I switched back to block letters in Oberstufe or so. It's more readable and tbh I can write faster in it than in kursive.

This was a Great episode! Loved it!

When I was in high school, and I graduated in 2007, we actually utilized an A and B day schedule. You’d have 4 or 5 classes one day, and 4 or 5 different ones the next day, and while we did have lockers, I never used mine. I just carried all the books I needed for that day with me everywhere. We were also required to take two years of one foreign language, but you could take 3 or 4 if you wanted to. I did 4 years of German, of course! We even had a German Club that would meet on Tuesdays after school. That was probably the most fun I had at school! Another thing, regarding cursive, we learned it in 2nd grade and were required to use it after we learned it, but after 2nd grade, no one really cared how you wrote anymore. And as far as pens and pencils are concerned, after elementary school, you could write with a pen if you wanted, but doing math with a pen was always frowned upon all the way up til 12th grade.

POST MORE VIDEOS...I look forward to them!!

Brava! Another great informative video. So articulate

Also, in NYC almost everyone took public transportation to school.

Love your content!

RURAL schools are VERY different from city schools in the U.S. They're VERY small - only around 20-25 kids in the entire grade. In my physics classes, I was the ONLY student! School lunches were quality, home made food - like a RESTAURANT buffet - you could return for second and third helpings (FREE) until they ran out! :o) Sports were almost as important as school itself! I remember having 4-6 hour basketball practices EVERY NIGHT until I finally QUIT for it leaving me no time or energy for my schoolwork and OTHER extracurricular activities! :oO From junior-high through high-school we had lockers, which to this day seems strange to me. In gradeschool we kept our materials in our assigned desks. In college we kept our books and materials with us at all times in backpacks. In college be we had to buy our books, and most people sold them back at the end of the semester for a fraction of what they bought them for. I was always in awe that for my four-year bachelor's degree, two years of classes had nothing to do with my major, one year generally applied, and only ONE year SPECIFICALLY applied! What a racket!

I live in Lower Saxony and we have school buses, and they're usually very full of people. There's just a few bus stops tho, they don't come to your house. But many students do also prefer to walk or take the bike to school

Those yellow school buses aren't a feature everywhere in the US. At least in the Bronx, where I grew up, school kids are just as independent as their German counterparts. Depending on your address (meaning how far away you lived from school), you'd get either a free bus or a subway pass. In the mornings it would be very common to see kids on the public buses or subways on their way to school. I got a bus pass, but was always kinda jealous of friends of mine that got a subway pass. Yellow buses were never a thing in the Bronx though, as far as I can remember. I'm also not sure about the rest of NYC, but I suspect it was similar to the Bronx. Re academic difficulty, I hear all the time from my European friends how easy they found the school curriculum when they did an exchange program in the US, and so they go around thinking and telling everyone that American high schools are so "easy" and how superior the schools are in Europe, etc. But I think I've figured out the misunderstanding. Unlike Europe which separates students into different schools according to their difficulty (Hauptschule vs. Gymnasium), in the US everyone attends the same school. This means under the same roof you'd have a regular school (similar to the Hauptschule in Germany), AS WELL AS advanced college level courses, which we call "Regents" in NY State (similar to Gymnasium in Germany). Exchange students from abroad always attend the regular track in American schools, which is pretty rudimentary. Only honors kids or kids with very good grades are allowed to take Regents classes, or AP classes, which are supposed to prepare you for college/university. Exchange students are almost NEVER placed in the Regents classes, and so they return home thinking that high school in the US is super easy. That, however is NOT the case! Regents physics, biology and math are every bit as difficult as at a German Gymnasium. Just the other day I surprised my doctor with a detailed answer while he was explaining the side-effects of some medication. He asked how I knew that, if I'd studied biochemistry - I replied that I could still remember my biology classes from high school in NY, then I described to him the role of Mitochondrial DNA, RNA and the effects of this medication he was prescribed me. He was very surprised! All of that was thanks to my teacher Miss Perez from my Regents Biology class in high school... There's also a HUGE difference between public and private schools and universities in the U.S. From your descriptions, I suspect that you're mostly familiar with the public school system where the curriculum tends to be easier. That's not the case however at private schools. They cost a lot more money, but in return you get a much higher academic level and more engaging teachers. As far as the US goes, it's seldom a good idea to generalize based on one's experience in only one state or after having attended only public schools.

When I was in high school, we had what they called a “block schedule” where students would have four class periods a day and each class was an hour and half long and they would meet every day. And the school day started at 8am and ended at 3pm. Though some days we would only have a half day and get out around lunchtime and the teachers would have time to work on grades and plan upcoming lessons. A lot of schools do something similar or they do the typical hour long class that meets every day. As far as homework, we just carried the books we needed and usually left the ones we didn’t need for whatever reason there at school. In some ways I like the way you all do school because in the US they really strongly encourage students to go to college, which for some college might not be the best choice. It may be better for them to learn a trade or something. Some of the AP (advanced placement) classes in high school you could even get college credit for it, which is nice because in some students situations could earn enough credit to get an Associates degree!

Great video Felicia! Awesome job!

Wishing you happy new month of July 2021...hope you have a safe, cheerful, exciting month and may it bring you good health and prosperity all round.

Interesting! How do you find all these topics again and again. You are more than creative! Of course the topics are obvious! But if I look at your entire clips!!!! Respect! You've found your profession 🧐🧐🧐

For me the highlight of the video is seeing pictures of little/ young Feli…😀 For anyone who agrees, say it with me “AWWWWW”😀😂

Thanks GGIA, made my day! All the best on the store. Tschuss!

When I went to highschool in the 8o's , our homeroom was the first class you had. The teacher took attendance and then he/she taught the first subject of the day. School began at 7:30am and ended around 3. Each semester your schedule changed. A sleeping student wasn't disturbing the class so they weren't punished.

I find it allways sad that not everywhere in Germany "Einschulung"(school enrollment) was celebrated... In the eastern parts of Germany on the weekend before the first day of elementary school, there be a ceremony at the school with all your family members, often also with aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents... where you get your "Schultüte" and afterwards there will be also a little "party" just with your family. This is my first memory where i "take the center stage" and i allways like to think back to this day.

The Realschule I attended in southern Bavaria installed projectors and document cameras as well as desktop PCs in every classroom about or 7 8 years ago when I was in 7th grade. They were such an improvement over the old overhead projectors, I'm still wondering how we managed without them before that. It probably highly depends on how much schools decide to spend on digitalisation, but Bavaria generally seems to be pretty far ahead in that aspect compared to many other German states.

I just love your videos...keep up the great work....hugs

At my school here in Bavaria every room has a document camera, projector, the older rooms have white boards. The newer ones are equipped with interactive boards that go online. Things have changed quickly the last 3 years. Covid pushed everything forward. The old overhead projectors died out about ca 2010 I whould say....

I was a member of my high school's speech and debate team. We competed against students from schools within the state. I enjoyed home football games and the dances afterward. I had friends who were on the football team, cheerleading squad, and the marching band.

In Germany, you have to pay for lockers. And it's also not certain that your locker is near your classroom which makes it inefficient to use it. However, my old school had free lockers in each classroom in the new building which is very nice because you don't have to carry around heavy books all the time. Especially for subjects the teacher uses the textbook like once a school year^^

I'm American, and went to public school in the 60s and early 70s. As I recall, we used to have to listen to the national anthem and do the pledge of allegiance every morning in elementary school (grades 1 through 6), but I think we only listened to the national anthem at higher grades. We always had the same classmates the whole day up until 10th grade. Sometimes some cheerleaders wore their uniforms in class, but not often. Our high school was huge, and there were 945 in my graduating class. Some in my class I had never even met. At 10th grade, we started mixing with students from other homerooms, and we had to decide what curriculum we wanted to follow. There were several categories to choose: College Prep - As the title says, this category was for those wishing to go to college. The students would have to take more advanced math, chemistry, and maybe a language. Technical - The students would spend half a day in high school, and would take another bus to technical school for a half day. They had to take algebra, chemistry, and other advanced math studies, and learned technical skills in medicine, graphic arts, etc. Business - This is the one I chose. The curriculum was anything involving business management and retail. Students took courses in accounting, typing, and in their senior year, spent half a day in high school, and half a day working a retail job. We got graded on the job also. Since parking was limited at the high school, we were the ONLY students who got parking passes to later go to our jobs. Commercial - This was strictly secretarial, and involved a lot of typing and shorthand. General- This was the lowest curriculum, and most of the students who got into this were either bullies or lazy-ass people going in no direction.

Older US student here (graduated high school in 1985) Generally speaking, I seldom had homework - what assignments I couldn't finish during that particular class, I could usually find time for during other classes. Most stuff I actually took home to work on was stuff like term papers (theses) or other assignments generally meant to take multiple days to complete. Grade School (1-6) had two class periods, then a 20-minute recess, two more classes, lunch, then two more classes. While not etched in stone, classes were pretty standardized by grade level - Math, Science, History, Social Studies, and English. The sixth class varied by grade level and generally focused on Art, Music, or PE. Junior High (7-9) had three class periods, a one-hour period split between lunch and homeroom, then three more classes - no more recess. Math, English, Science, and History were standardized by grade level. The other two classes were technically electives, though a number of courses were required at some point: you had to take at least two semesters of "skills" (usually shop for the guys, home-ec for the gals), at least two one-semester Art courses, etc. High School (10-12) also had three class periods, a one-hour period split between lunch and homeroom, then three more classes. English was now the only standardized one-per-grade-level course; three math courses (Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry) were required, as were Physics, Chemistry, and at least one more applied science; at least two years of PE; US History, Civics, and World History plus one history elective; and one year of a foreign language (though I got out of it by taking a course in mythology). The rest were open electives - I took Drafting and Architectural Drafting, Computer Programming (back when BASIC was king), Creative Writing, and I totally forget what the other was. Very rarely did I ever ride the bus to school. Prior to 9th Grade, I rode my bike to and from school (unless the weather was bad enough to warrant one of my parents/grandparents driving me). Due to peculiar circumstances, I was able to get my full drivers' license at 14½ - two weeks into starting 10th Grade - and drove myself from then on. Academic standards were definitely higher back when I was in high school - in most courses, the 'baseline' was 80% (B- letter-wise) and, if you wanted a higher grade, you had to earn it! In programing, for example; if your program accomplished the task reliably without error, it was worth 80%. Me, I *ALWAYS* went the extra mile - an intuitive UI (which was quite the challenge back then), error handling, data checking, code efficiency, etc. For writing assignments, it was MLA all the way (again, far more challenging back in the days before the internet) and every fact/assertion needed a cited source. Discipline was also hugely different back when I was in school. The infamous 'Board of Education' was still a thing and, if you were violent or excessively disruptive, you got smacked with it - in most schools, you could hear the crack of someone's ass getting whacked from anywhere within the building. For 'lesser offenses', the teachers would often embarrass you in such a way as you'd never want to risk a second offense: fall asleep in class and you spent the rest of the period (possibly even an entire week) standing up; act up and they moved your desk outside the classroom and shut the door; keep interrupting the lecture and the teacher would trade desks with you ("Since you know so much that you don't need to pay attention, *you* get to teach the class.") Brutal, but highly effective!

The Gymnasium i went to was the "most state of the art" Gymnasium in whole Lower-Saxony when it opened in 2005 or 2006. Well working and good powered (!) computers in every room, Smartboards everywhere, Wifi for students, a school car sponsored by local companys, interesting and quiet a lot extracurriculars, ... it was kind of a paradies.

I don't remember having to go through a security system in Canada for school, but I went to school in the early '90s to early 2000s, so maybe that was different times. This was an interesting video!

Love these!

What a wonderful bit of great information on the differences. I went public school in South Louisiana from the 1960's-1971. Some of the public schools I went did not have air conditioning so they had no school from June-August. We used pencils all thru school and we used ink cartridge pens in Elementary Schools. We had the blackboard all thru school with chalk. I hate those white boards with the markers to write with. I can from a American Indian and European heritage and had encountered a lot of racism issue due to my being biracial from students and sadly from the teachers also.

In Gymnasium I had afternoon lessons on 4 days and up to 10 periods. And it was the G9 system. 4-6 periods was during year 5 and 6, but if you are older than you have a lot more school.

There were definitely a few more subjects to choose between in Germany, too :D I went to school in NRW and i was able to pick psychology, pedagogy, literature or dutch for example. My sister even had an ancient greek class.

Nice to have discovered your channel!! Already learned some things from your videos. Love your enthusiasm and energy in your videos. Well, writing and learning from Hawaii ! ! Have you ever been here? If not, you should : ) ALOHA!

Our football games were always Friday nights. We play basketball & baseball games twice a week (Tuesdays & Fridays usually). Once it got warmer out, we'd play some extra baseball games on Saturday. Our conference was large and we usually travelled 1-2 hours each way by bus. We had some non-conference games which took 3-4 hours each way.

I graduated from a german Gymnasium at the age of 17 one year ago and I just realised how different our schools were XD for example I only had a classroom until year 6 and I had afternoon classes iterally every single day. So most of the time school ended at about 5:15 pm. But overall a very nice video, thumbs up :)

I went to Gymnasium in Germany between 1995 and 2004 (yes, I am THAT old D: ) and it's true that the setup of different subjects were pretty homogenous for all students of the same grade up until 10th grade. At my school we had these subjects in each grade from 5th to 13th: 5th grade: German, English, Religion (Catholic or Protestant), Music, Art, Geography, Math, Biology, P.E. 6th grade: German, English, Religion (Catholic or Protestant), Music, Crafts, History, Geography, Math, Biology, P.E. 7th grade: German, English, French or Latin, Religion (voluntary), Music, Crafts, History, Geography, Math, Physics, P.E. - no Biology! 8th grade: German, English, French or Latin, Religion (voluntary), Art, History, Geography, Math, Physics, Biology, P.E. - no Music! 9th grade: German, English, French or Latin, a third foreign language (voluntary). Religion (voluntary), History, Geography, Math, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, P.E. - neither Art nor Music! 10th grade: German, English, French or Latin, a third foreign language (voluntary), Religion (voluntary), Music, Art, History, Geography, Math, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, P.E. - definitely the most "crowded" curriculum in my secondary education career :D 11th grade: German, English, a second foreign language (can also be your personal third one), a third foreign language (voluntary), Religion or Philosophy, Music or Art, History, Geography, Economics & Politics, Math, three out of four Science & Technology subjects (Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science), P.E. - and finally a rather weird one-year only subject called "VTU" ("Vertiefender Unterricht" - literally something like "consolidate learning class", I don't know any better way to translate it properly), which essentially consists of group work on various subjects and the teacher would teach us how to "properly work together and consider the way you interact with your fellow students in class"... yeah, it was kinda weird and no one took that subject seriously in our class :D 12th grade: German, one foreign language (could be either one that was offered but almost everyone in my year chose English :P ), a second foreign language (voluntary), Religion or Philosophy, Music or Art, History, Geography, Economics & Politics, Math, at least two out of four Science & Technology subjects (Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science), P.E. (one of three specialized courses) - also from this grade on you had two "Leistungskurse" (= "advanced courses") in two subjects of your choice (among those that were actually offered) you had an increased number of periods per week in and which would become focus subjects in your final exams ("Abiturprüfung") one year later 13th grade: German, one foreign language, a second foreign language (voluntary), Music or Art (taking either was voluntary), History, Geography or Economics & Politics (voluntarily both), Math, at least one out of four Science & Technology classes (Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science), P.E. (one of three specialzed courses), one "Project Course" (specific courses offered by various teachers that focus around a "semi-academic" topic to further enhance group work and how you approach learning something on your own) - also in addition to your two "advanced courses" you had to pick two more subjects for your final exams to be your P3 course (written exam subject) and your P4 course (oral exam subject) I personally had Math and Geography as my advanced courses, German as my additional written exam course and English as my additional oral exam course. :)

Great video, learn something new today.

Interesting Video! On the equipment of German schools: Although a blackboard and an overhead projector are still frequently in use at state schools, modernization is taking place and will continue to do so. At a private school, for example, there are already digital boards, whiteboards and book cameras. [In addition, "Apple TV" with screens and IPads for all teachers (mandatory) and students (voluntary) has now been introduced at my old school]. I think modernization of all schools is important and inevitable, especially in the era of digitalization.

Probably because I'm older than yourself (there was 2 Germanys when I was in school) but we definitely had chalkboards here in US. The dry erase whiteboards are an after my time thing.

Since the pandemic started many of our teachers started to use projectors more and more often. We also have some rooms with white boards as well. To how long a school day is: I had days where I had to stay until 6pm. This was because I took Chinese lessons, but most of my school days in the Gymnasium where at least until 3pm.

In rural areas as an older student you might need to walk up to half a mile to the nearest intersection to get picked up by the school bus. There was also a wait from 5 to 20 minutes for the bus to come, which could be quite invigorating in winter 0 to -20 or -30 degrees C.

At my American school, they give us a set of textbooks to keep at home which we use for homework. Each individual class provides the needed textbooks as well, so you would not be carrying your books to and from school every day.

There is one school form in Germany that has the level-separation, at least for the core classes of maths, german, and english, and also often for secondary languages and some more depending on if that school has the teachers to offer this separation. This is the Gesamtschule. The idea for it that you basically combine Realschule and Gymnasium into one, so that you get a better mixture of stronger and weaker students. To give both groups the chance to learn at their pace better, but still not split the community entirely into half, these level-options only exist for select subjects. They usually only start one or two years into this school form, and which levels you take is determined by the grades you get before that. Well, not determined - you can choose freely, but the grades are quite a good measure of what would be your better pick. You usually can also switch between levels later on if your performance swings heavily into either direction, and you don't have to be on the same level for all subjects. You can be Grundkurs (basic level) English but Erweiterungskurs (extended level) Maths at the same time. This distinction however is gone when you continute to attend the school after 10th grade, which is where the Gymnasium exclusive years start. It is all implied extended level from there. When I was at my Gesamtschule ('92-'01), we had group tabels made up of 3x2-seater tables. The hope was to have at least one strong student per group that somewhat carried/tutored their group, but I think this backfired in many instances. We still kept this system through all years, at least for all the subjects taught in our Klassenzimmer. The specialized rooms usually had rows of tables, sometimes staggered like in a tiny uni auditorium. Gesamtschulen also went the whole-day school route fairly early on. We did have a dedicated dining hall (Mensa) with centrally organized lunch (which was mostly horrible but cheap), and school lasted until 4pm on 3 of 5 days of the week (mon, wed, thu) for all years. Later on it wasn't uncommon to also have the Friday afternoon at school. I was very lucky to having lived practically right next to my school for 4 of those years, so it was actually possible to have lunch with my family within that 45min break. That was pure luxury. (And yes, I also sometimes went home to visit the throne! I felt VERY attacked when that film came out! :D )

At all the schools I went to, the school band was a concert band and a year-round thing, or they did concert band for half the year and then the same students did marching band for the other half.

When I was student in Germany (Saxony), we had blackboards and overhead projectors as shown until my 10th grade (in 2016) too. But after that they changed a lot. Some rooms really do look like the American version you showed, with document cameras, smartboards and projectors (Beamer). At the school where I teach now they have these old blackboards, but big TV screens above to connect with tablets or laptops and blue ray players. Of course some still look like you described, but I think that will change soon. And we just had a class room until 6th grade. After that we changed rooms and went to the teachers too. We just took our stuff from room to room...and yes, rooms often were locked in the break (especially such rooms for biology, chemistry and physics), so we put our bags in front of the room in the corridor. Picking classes seems to be a little different in the German states too. It's very interesting to hear from a German point of view! I wasn't allowed to drop a science or a language - we dropped either politics or geography and music or arts (as you too). About the schedule and the cafeteria: all schools that I went to (as student or teacher) had a cafeteria with warm meals for lunch and students had six to nine periods per day. I read that this is left from the system of the GDR. Also a 'Hort' for students in primary school doesn't seem as normal in the old states as it is in the new states of Germany. And by the way, we call the 'Schultüte' (school paper bag) 'Zuckertüte' (sugar paper bag)and celebrate the 'Zuckertütenfest' on the weekend before the first school day. ^^ So these are my experiences to add. But yes, all in all these are just little differences - thank you for your video!

Voll-uh-ball! Love it! 🤘💖

In the 60's-70's, when I grew up, in rural Northern Utah, "unique group dynamics" never happened as the bus drivers could and would ban you from riding the bus for however long as your behavior dictated. Riding the Yellow School Buses where I have lived and raised kids is a privilege, not a right. Now, I live outside Chillicothe, Ohio (80-90 miles East of you), and my Granddaughter that lives with us, attends the schools here. Their buses are all assigned seating. Hers putting the little kids up front, the older kids in the middle, and the trusted older kids in the back. Rarely has there been an issue, and again, those problem riders can be banned from the bus. I think one of the reasons for students changing classes in older grades can be traced back to when many students (rural and semi-rural for sure) went to school learning a trade or preparing for work in industry. History, Reading, Math, and Home Ec.,Auto shop, Wood shop, drafting, Ag Science, etc, were classes in Middle and High School. For example, I took two years of electronics/electrical theory, half a year of house wiring, half a year of drafting, half a year of wood shop, etc. That's the way it was for my dad, me, my oldest daughter, but sometime in the late 80's-90's, education moved away from teaching work/life skills to everyone must go to college. Kids leave US school without the basic skills to work in industry, or be an adult, but they can sort recyclables, and use smart phones like their life depended on it, but that's another story.

I really enjoyed this video! I am a teacher, here in the Sates, but I also lived in Germany for a year, when I was thirteen (in Gottingen) a LONG time ago. My quick 2 cents: As a former 1st-grade teacher, loved the Schultute idea (especially the homemade one). So sweet! About pencil sharpeners in classrooms; So true! Every US classroom has one. And I remember (as a 13 year old American girl attending 8th grade in Germany) marveling at your fountain pen skills. :) You are correct about chalk boards (those are completely obsolete in the US. All public classrooms that I have worked in over the last 15 years, had white boards or interactive "Smart baords" (or both). Though it might be the case that German classrooms have that technology now. One last point; I grew up and attended University in California at a public University; The University of California, Berkeley. While I understand your point and why you might be tempted to generalize about the public universities in the US being easier (I think you said for undergraduates) than in Germany, I don't think that is true. While there are many public universities in the U.S., for which that might be the case, there are also a good number of public universities (my alma mater included) that can compete with the best universities around the world - both at the undergraduate and graduate level. Such an interesting topic!

Wow, honestly even the German system sounds like more choice than I got in the UK until GCSE years - so Year 10 onwards. From Reception up until Year 9 I got no choice, the lessons just were what they were. I think many schools here offer French or German as second languages, but I went to quite a small school that only offered French - I was so disappointed, I would much rather have learnt German, but... there was no option. And RE (Religious Education) was also just set by the school. Most schools have a religion and that's just what they teach - most are Church Of England schools, but Catholic schools are also relatively common. My school didn't have an assigned religion, so it rotated between teaching about all the major world religions, which honestly I did quite like - it was a lot of variety.

Thank you for the great vid. A little correction though: Doc-Cams became very common in germany in the last 5 years. At least in most of the schools in Bavaria.

Does Germany have school reunions after graduation? 10 year, 20 year and so on. I went to my 10 year Highschool reunion a few years ago just to confirm that I’m doing better then 99% of the jerks that gave me a hard time in Highschool. Priceless!

Kids in Germany have a "breakfast break" Frühstückspause. I was really thrown by this and did not understand why I had to send breakfast for my kids when they already had breakfast at home. I was also shocked to think that kids were sent to school on an empty stomach. I also never got used to the different times kids leave school. I find it really chaotic and I still haven't found a way to make a regular routine for my family.

Felicia - I went to a small Catholic rural school, although we had very narrow lockers to store our coats and boots, we stored all of our books and other materials at our desks. We stayed in the same classroom all days, except for music class.

I was on a Realschule in NRW and later on a Gesamtschule for my Abitur which I finished in 2010. In 2014, during my BA program I did an internship at my old Realschule for potentially becoming a teacher and there were still classic green boards with chalk and I think they still use these today. I think, the school level and the area where the school is, play huge roles in how well the school is equipped. Families with a good income will put their kids in Gymnasiums and are willing and able to provide schools with some more money to ensure a better education than parents from "Arbeiterkinder".

I read the US actually has a law or laws against allowing students to carry all of their books for all of their classes at once. The school can potentially get in trouble for this. I think it was enacted around 2000 or slightly after. Too many people were having serious back problems in their 20's, and they traced it back to carrying all the text books in high school. On the other hand, it can be really stressful trying to get to your locker and then get to class with the immense hallway traffic, and sometimes your locker and your next class are on opposite sides of the school.

Re homework: in the U.S. a student will have to manage bringing home some of their books each night for homework. It's typical to have 6 classes, but 1 of those might be p.e. and another might be some kind of arts class, band, or magazine -- something that doesn't involve books to carry. And not every class will have homework every day. Often the homework in high school is bigger projects or packets that are due weekly or after a longer time rather than daily. That means you can plan your time so that you don't usually have to carry every single book home every night. I was most blown away by the fountain pens. Fountain pens! Whoa. Those are so rare! And expensive, too. And writing in cursive, too. We were taught cursive in elementary school, but never required to use it after that. And the statement that German students are not allowed to use pencils because you would be able to erase things. Well yes, that's the whole point. Especially in math, you usually want to erase your mistakes. I have always preferred a pen, even for math (and I have a master's in math), and people thought I was strange, all through college and grad school, using my pens and lots and lots of paper rather than ever being able to erase anything. I guess Germany puts a big emphasis on getting things right the first time? No room for mistakes?

In middle school I had five assigned classes and the sixth class was an elective, which means I could choose from a list of options. Electives are fully graded, so they are not like extracurricular activities.

In school (in Germany) I always wore street shoes, except for physical education in some sport halls which are part of the school or owned by clubs.

An unique german feeling is THIS HUGE RELIEF knowing you don't have Tafeldienst. 😂😂😂 I can't explain!

I never had any of this "tv school" in the US when I went. I never saw a locker in school. Never took a school bus. I walked to school from about 3rd grade until I graduated high school. The only time I even heard the word "prom" was on Happy Days.

When I was in school at all levels, yes we hauled any work we couldn't complete during school home.

7:28 - Yeah, I had to take all of my books home every day. A few times I forgot to bring a book back to school with me and that was never good.

I never used my locker in school. Senior year I just put all my empty water bottles in it. Filled to the brim with bottles. Probably gave whoever cleaned it out a good scare and a good laugh

It seems that, the German "Gesamtschule" and "Ganztagesschule" has more in common with the American High Schools concerning extracurricula and choices of courses

We only had Home Room on Mondays or when there were special things going on. We were assigned a Home Room teacher/advisor who we had all 4 years of High School. Since I was a farm kid, I actually drove my dad's pickup to/from school at 14. I always stayed late for football, basketball & baseball, so I needed to either drive home or take the late transportation bus. We lived 5 miles outside of town.

Felicia, thank you for explaining this in great detail especially from a more recent experience. My son is 13 years old and live in Bavaria with my ex. He was born in California but moved to Germany (dual citizenship) after our divorce just before he was 5 years old. He’s currently in die Richscule and will be starting 8th grade this next school year. We would like for him to come here to live with us for a year. That would include him attending school here in America for the eighth grade. I have done my research for the school that he would be attending and it is just as you stated in this video. My and my ex’s concern is that he may have to repeat the entire school year. Around the 20 minute 47 second mark of this video you start to talk about levels and discipline. You gave an example about how individuals who went to the Gynasium had to repeat the grade when returning from a year of exchange. My son has started to ask his teachers and said that they didn’t think that would happen, but provide no further details. What do you think would happen in this situation since he goes to die Richschule? Would he have to repeat school if he comes here to attend 8th grade? Would have have to repeat the German 8th grade? I would think that would not happen especially since it’s before high school. I want to contact his principal and explain the situation to them and hopefully work out a plan for him to be successful without repeating school. We are even willing to get his a tutor and ensure whatever classes the German school “requires” or deems insufficient, to be taken or covered while here. He definitely wants to come and live here with us and spend time with his younger brother and sisters. We live just outside Nashville TN and he loves the outdoors, lakes, camping, American culture but has no friends here since he only visits one month during the summer and a week every other Christmas. Of course we want him to be successful and if he wants to he can live here too. He has already did he wants to move here after his finishing school. He would qualify for free college here because of my disability from the army. He also told me he wants to live in America as an adult. I would hope the school can work with us so that he does not have to repeat and it’s just a smooth transition. What would you suggest? What advise can you offer and what would you recommend I tell the principal? Thank you! Any advice from anyone else is welcome too. ☺️

Almost nobody knows how to use a fountain pen in the US. I have one that I bought to use at work because ball points are a pain in the butt and when people would borrow it they would try to use it upside down with the nib below the feed (so the nib was curving away from the paper instead of towards it) or they would push so hard with it they would bend the nib and it would stop writing because the feed wouldn't be touching the nib anymore. People would also look at me like I was handing them a bottle of ink and a quill.

I personally like the home room system better after experiencing both, it’s easier for me to make new friends and it promotes unity over individuality 👍

I lucked out: We always lived so close to the school, that I never had to ride the bus. I liked having a locker and extra-curriculars at school. There is a big difference in academic standards between state/public universities and private universities, which definitely tend to be more demanding. I found my year at the University of Tübingen to be much less stressful than classes at my private liberal arts university in the US. Back in the 80s at a German university, if you didn't get your term paper done on time, you just went to the professor and asked for an extension. Plus, to this day, if you fail an exam at a German university, you can repeat it up to 2 times. If you fail your final at an American university, you flunked the class and would have to take the whole class again.

These chalkboards and projectors were still very common in our schools when I was in it (I graduated at about the same time as Felicia, in the US). We had smart-boards when I was in elementary school, though we also had white boards. They became more common as I entered middle and high school. Though you will still see chalk boards, they aren't used as much.

Friends of mine that have done education in the US, they say there is HUGE pressure all the time to excel and be the best... They drive people really hard. But you don't really LEARN anything compared to education over in Europe which is just... Far more modern. Its all about "making it" and being "top of your class" in the US. Multiple choice tests is the death of education.

As far a US college professors not being that demanding, try some engineering classes.

I graduated high school in 1974. There was a male student who sat behind me who put his head down on the desk and slept almost every day....The teacher would return tests by giving the first person in the row all the test papesr, they would take their paper and pass the rest back...I'd get mine and see Robert's test and he always had a better grade than me... he was part of a large poor family who didn't even have a TV until high school...He spent a large amount of time reading, especially military books... I think he was just so bored listening to things he already knew and slept... He joined the Marines after high school....thanks for the video

I rode the school bus years ago (1970's) when there was only a bus driver on board. Now they have an extra person on busses (in my area) to monitor the kids and for safety getting off the bus.

Ich glaube es hat sich geöndert, zuminedst bei uns in Südtirol werden immer mehr elektronische (weiße) Tafeln installiert, (hilft auch, wenn die halbe Klasse zu Hause unterrichtet wird)

My high school burned to the ground in my sophomore year. I had a Bible in my locker which was the only book not burned beyond recognition. It smelled really bad but was still useable.

In high school and middle school i preferred to just carry my books with me all day... i don't think i ever used a locker. One was assigned to me but i never visited it.

My high school had our 8 classes split up between 2 days. Each day had 4 blocks (classes/periods) @ 1.5hrs long, a 30min lunch, and 30min home room. Home room always took place between 1st and 2nd block. Our lunches were in 3 waves and would either be between 2nd and 3rd period, halfway through 3rd period (would be split into two 45min blocks) or between 3rd and 4th period. These schedules would be permanent throughout the entire year. One perk was if you were a Senior in 12th grade you were permitted to leave early if your last period was study hall and even earlier if you had 3rd wave lunch right before. Not sure how easy that was to follow but it’s really simple in practice rather on reading it written out paper.

Regarding the academic discipline portion and deadlines (from a teacher’s perspective), a lot of this is a recent development (last 10-15 years or so). There’s been a big shift in our society that has placed blame on a student’s failure on the teacher instead of the student. When I was growing up, if the teacher got on to a student or reached out to a parent regarding their kid, the parent generally sided with the teacher. Now it isn’t like that. Most of the time the parent will side with the kid. This has bled over into grades/assignments. Parents are not as involved in their kid’s education as they once were. They’re not checking in to make sure they are doing their homework and when the kid has a 15 in the class because they turned in no work, the teacher gets in trouble for not reaching out (which they do) and are expected to allow the student to make up the work. Basically teachers in the US are no longer viewed as authority figures (in both discipline and knowledge). Also, it doesn’t help that teachers in the US are grossly underpaid so the brightest minds no longer consider it as a career option.

I always took what I needed for homework home

The pictures of the Schultute are great! Based on the perspective of the first photo image, I did not understand the full size of these things. I thought they were small…about the size of an ice cream cone filled with a couple of pencils and a few pieces of candy. Then, the pictures of 6-year Feli hugging a giant Schultute mouse popped up, and it was so cute! Mom and Dad must have been proud.

3:10 This remains me of my vacational business school,it was a former US-Army barracks,good old memories. And we had schoolbusses too,but not the yellow ones like in the US.

Nice Video !!! Still want to see you go to Frankenmuth Michigan and see your reaction to Michigan's little Bavaria !! German girl goes to an American German city 😎!

I am a 5th Generation German American and find these videos very interesting

I was able to choose between band, choir or "music appreciation" in 7th & 8th grade. Once In high school, we had much more choice of subjects. I was going into engineering so I took advanced mathematics & sciences, plus college prep English classes. I also took drafting & architecture courses.

Hi Feli, cool video ;) In my school (Germany) we have whiteboards and Apple TVs, but there are definitely many schools still using blackboards.☺️

German here, Baden-Württemberg. I graduated with the Abitur in 2013 - the first generation of students to graduate after 12th grade, rather than 13th grade. My elementary school (grades 1-4) went from 8:20 to 11:50 most of the time, but we always had one "long" day per week, which either started 50 minutes earlier or ended 50 minutes later. Lunch was offered once a week, which 2 moms would cook voluntarily. But those handful of students who went to that lunch were stigmatized as "poor" because "their mom had to work, so they couldn't cook lunch at home". Which is bullshit of course. But that's indoctrinated classism and sexism for you. The public Gymnasium I went to in 5th and 6th grade went from 7:30 to 12:40 most days, but there would be one long day every week that ended at 3:40. That school was also super classist and sexist because it was expected for moms to be homemakers who would pick up their kid during lunch break, feed them at home, and then bring them back to school for the afternoon lessons. Like my elementary school, that Gymnasium also offered lunch only once a week, cooked by moms, and those who went there were stigmatized. The other public Gymnasium I went to up until 11th grade was more urban (well, not particularly urban, but not as rural and sheltered as the other two schools). The schedule was 7:30 to 12:40 twice a week, and 7:30 to 3:40 three times a week. Older students would usually have one day per week that ended as late as 5:30. The school offered a lunch, but it was just the same cheap frozen pizza every single day. Literally. And one such pizza cost 3 euros. Hardly anyone ate at the cafeteria because of this. We usually would take the bus to the next McDonald's or walk to the grocery store for donuts and candy. Talk about a healthy lunch, am I right? Now, private school was pretty different. I went to one during my 11th grade and to another during 12th grade. The first private school's times were 8:30 to 4:00 on Mondays through Thursdays, with a shorter day on Fridays that ended at 1:00. There were moms there who cooked a fresh and healthy meal every day, and everyone HAD to participate in lunch, no one was allowed to leave school grounds during lunch break. But the lunch was pretty good! The second private school went from 8:00 to 5:00, except for Fridays when it would end at 1:30. We had a catering service for lunch as well as a salad bar. But the food wasn't that good, so we would often go to a (non-fast food) restaurant for lunch (this school was right in the city center). I always felt sorry for the younger kids, who all had the exact same schedule, and it wasn't unusual to have very long commuting hours as well at that school. Those kids were stripped of their childhood, being away for school for longer hours than most adults work. And yes, they did have actual CLASSES for that long every day. Extracurriculars were not an actual thing in any of my schools. My private schools tried to popularize them, but frankly, there just wasn't any time. The school system in Baden-Württemberg requires waaaay too many classes.

It would definitely reduce hallway traffic immensely if only the teachers had to change class rooms in the US.

My american high school did not have lockers. It was backpacks or nothing. however, my schools had a block scheduling system where we had 4 classes a day, A classes on mon/wed, B classes on tues/thurs with fridays alternating

Felii great video! To answer your question about American school buses; the kids are not unattended (at least when I used to take them). Aside from the driver, certain 5th grade students (in elementary schools, were assigned the roles of “safety patrols”. They were in charge of making sure everyone behaved properly while on the bus. These students would wear vest so people could tell them apart. Each bus had a few safe patrols (3-4) . Also, the school would have “Walker safety patrols” for the children that would walk to school (usually the students who walked lived within the schools’ neighbourhood.) Also, thanks to the houseshoes in school back in Germany, I can proudly say I can switch between foot ware pretty quickly 😂 😂 oh and kids are missing out , big time on the Schultüte phenomenon. I loved it, according to my mom I went around with “an adorable big smile on my face.”