Case 13-7 (Public schools: Switzerland vs Germany)

I continue my comparison from the previous discussion.

We were many times told that the (West-)German education is on decline since 80th. The schoolbooks I have seen prove this opinion. However I would say that the Swiss education system is far ahead of German colleagues. If I compare the German and the Swiss education systems I would say in one sentence that this is an ignorant incompetence vs. an aggressive incompetence.

The school education in all European countries has failed to answer the challenges of the new century. The school today mistakes "hamsteredge" for knowledge and extends the Perfection Gap instead of removing it. Most teachers do not have any understanding of the educational psychology, of the pedagogic and even of the disciplines they teach. The explanations of simplest things in schoolbooks are chaotic, abbreviated and incomplete.

There are a lot of attempts to create a "modern school" but the public knows only the advertisements crated by pedagogical theoreticians who get money for describing only real or imagined advantages. I have seen a lot of such advertisements for German and Swiss schools. The first hand experience confirms that they are too optimistic.

Below is a short list of some differences of public schools in Germany and in Switzerland I have experienced myself. I have heard many stories that contain more interesting information. I do not mention them here. There are also many extraordinary achievements in our case and I have an official permission from July 12 2018 to describe them publicly with real names but I would rather wait the results of questions our lawyers had asked official authorities.

Switzerland has much better possibilities to replace a public school with a private school or with homeschooling.

German parents often take their children from private and alternative schools and place them into public schools because they would give their children a better education level in a more competitive environment. Swiss parents advise to avoid public schools at any cost. (This cost is quite high but I agree with this advise.)

You would spend for a private school more than 2000.- CHF per month and per child and in most cases you pay not for an extraordinary education but for a less aggressive environment. However private schools and special schools are the places of exile for "improper children" and my sons have met many interesting kinds of them, both peaceful and not.

This comparison affects only public schools. I also do not explain the common fundamental flaws and describe only differences. In case you do not believe me I could assure you that the reality had exceeded even my worst assumptions. Unfortunately this are not some random errors in a good system. This are the ways this system is designed to operate. I had dug to the roots but I won't start explanations here. Below is a simple list to enjoy and to wonder.

The level of Swiss education is lower than in Germany. I think even lower than in NRW! However I could admit they have more foreign language lessons because French is the second obligatory language of the state. (It seems they are ready to dispose of it in the German speaking part in the near future.)

Schoolbooks are worse. Also are the public school teachers I have seen.

My children had used the ground script ("Grundschrift", a simplified form of handwriting) only in the first year of the German primary school before they had learnt the proper way to hold a pen and could start to use the classical cursive ("Schreibschrift"). The Swiss school describes the writing in cursive as a sin forced by parents.

Yes. This is written in an official document.

German teachers have many funny ideas about mathematics but Germany is far better in it. 12 year old Swiss in the 4th year of the primary school study the multiplication on 2 and have problems with it.
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