Looking back, or what I would have done differently, having moved to work in Germany now. Part 3 (Education in Germany)
Part 1.
Part 2.
As promised in the second part - this post is about kindergartens and schools. I can’t write anything about universities yet - I haven’t come across it. Children will grow up - we will face and then I will write if I don’t forget.
Again, everything that is written below refers to the region of my residence. Perhaps in another land the situation is better, but judging by the feedback from friends from the land of Baden-Württemberg - they have the same thing.
Theoretically, all children from the age of 3 should go to kindergarten (Kindergarten). In practice, the places in the state are sorely lacking and the queue is common. On the other hand (at least in small towns, where there are 3-5 gardens for all), in total, 1-2 vacant places are often specially left for all kindergartens “just in case”. Thank God, we successfully got on such a "case." But in order to qualify for such a place in the garden, you need to prove that there is no one with the kindergarten age to sit at home. In our situation, the wife was given an order to go to integration courses (as the wife of the Blau Karte owner, this is not necessary, as opposed to if you have a usual residence permit for work), but in Rathaus it turned out to be a “proof”. After that, we were asked to find out in the courses, at what exact time the wife would not be able to look after the child (and we had not even explored the courses yet!). I had to urgently look for courses, register, take a piece of paper from there, which said on which days and at what time she needed to attend them. The result - the child was taken from 7:00 to 13:00.
')
There is no such thing that if you were given a place in kindergarten, then you can bring a child to 7-9 and pick up around 17-18. We have 4 groups "in time":
Each such group costs a different amount per month. Accordingly, if a child is in kindergarten from 7 to 12, then you pay the least, if up to 17 - the most.
Bring the child need to 9:00. Late for a minute - turn from the gate. I do not exaggerate - here is exactly the punctuality.
In terms of age groups, as in Russia (junior, middle, senior, preparatory), it is not here. Maximum there is a separate group for the smallest - 2-3 years. All the rest, though rastasovany rooms (formally the group with their cheerful children's names), but they play all together or in the common hall, or can move from room to room.
As already wrote above - brought the child at 9:01 - you will not be allowed. But if you took the child a minute later, without warning about it in advance - within a month you will receive a letter in the mail with a bill for the time you were late. We have a similar "fine" if the memory does not change 3 or 5 euros for every 5 minutes (rounded up).
If you really need to pick up the child later, then it needs to be planned (yes, everything is planned here, including delays - otherwise you will pay with a wallet). At least one day you need to warn one of the teachers in the kindergarten, he fills out a special form, where he indicates on what day and how much later you are going to pick up the child, whether you need to give him lunch. If, say, you are going to pick him up 2-3 hours later, he will die there with hunger, but if you did not indicate that you need to provide lunch, no one will feed him -and you will look at others with hungry eyes .
And now just “horror is quiet” for parents who are used to kindergartens in the former Soviet Union / present-day Russia:
1. normal nutrition, as in Russian kindergartens with cereals, jelly for breakfast, the first and second for lunch, sweets and tea for lunch there is not here at all . The “warm lunches” that I mentioned above are only the main course (well, at least heated).
In kindergartens here are not fed. Remember this. All children carry with them in the morning in special plastic boxes (Dose) breakfasts, which usually consist of sandwiches of varying degrees of fullness, yogurt, a maximum of some small fruits. If you put yogurt to a child, then if you please put a teaspoon - they are not given to kindergarten. You can add more juice in a bottle that can be easily opened by a child and from which he will not spill it on himself or on other children. From drinking in the kindergarten give ordinary water and water with gas. No tea, no compote, no kefir ...
2. children in kindergarten do not teach anything except learning to communicate with their peers. There is no account, no surrounding world, no music, no pool (in our kindergarten in Russia it was all this and it was an ordinary state kindergarten). Yes, they play with children (but far from all caregivers - some stupidly sit and lyasy sharpen while the children are on their own), draw, mold, watch over them so that they do not harm themselves and others (because as soon as the child came for the gate - the tutors are fully responsible for his life and health). Yes, there are excellent tutors in whom the children of the soul do not like: they both play with them, and sing songs and so on.
But the training we are used to in Russia is not here as a class. Preparations for school either. Such initiatives of parents (as preparation for school), on the contrary, are hostile to both kindergarten and school. It is considered that the child should have a childhood and he should be able to play enough, hang on, “but learning will still have time.” But it seems to us (and many other people from the “Eastern Camp”) that is already overkill, when a child who has gone to the first class cannot draw or sculpt, cannot count at least until 10, does not know the commonplace alphabet. he is not able to quietly listen to the teacher for at least 10-15 minutes, he cannot solve the banal problems of logic ... It is customary to teach all this in the first and second grades.
Therefore, it is not uncommon that when passing through the physical examination before the school (we had it just a couple of weeks ago), it turns out that the child does not know and cannot do anything at all and these are sent to the “zero” classes. Literally with us, out of 10 people sitting in the queue, more than half were sent to “zero” - they were not given the go-ahead to the “first”.
3. since children are not taught anything in kindergarten and there is no normal food there, then there are no additional rooms, such as a gym, a kitchen, classrooms of mathematics, music ... not needed. The kindergarten (at least ours) is a common hall, 3 rooms for children, a toilet, an office for the manager, a warehouse and a room for teachers, in which there is a microwave in which lunch is heated. If a child in kindergarten is up to 15-17 and wants to sleep - mats from the warehouse are dragged to one of the rooms, and children who want to sleep are just lying on them andare asleep.
4. On the other hand, there are positive points. In contrast to the lack of a normal diet, every 2-3 days (of course, according to a predetermined schedule - where can I go without it) another child brings a package of fruits to the kindergarten (a bunch of bananas, a kilo of apples or pears, oranges, tangerines) - on average, something then about 1-2 kilos. And before the usual breakfast, the whole group gathers in dry bread and cooks and, under the guidance of an educator, prepares a common such of these fruits tomorrow (à la buffet). Children are given knives, other cutlery, they themselves cut everything, take off the skins and then eat it all together.
Once a month, the entire kindergarten (not all children - only at the request of the parents, because for this it is necessary to pay an additional fee separately) goes somewhere. We had the last such trips:
To be honest, this is very cool - the child is shown a world that he, even with his parents, is unlikely to see. After each such “excursion” they show interest in different things, children are beginning to be interested in different aspects of life not at all childishly.
But ... because children are not taught anything in kindergartens, because they are allowed absolutely everything (literally everything — their parents are responsible for all their misdeeds) and no one dares to object to them (at least publicly ), it seems to me, they grow up the way we see teenagers 12-17 years old here: they can ride the tram and shout at the whole tram, run back and forth, walk in crowds along the sidewalk and not give way to mom stroller, etc.
Do not think - I am not a supporter of “education with a belt”, but to allow absolutely all of this is also not correct - some kind of balance is needed, but here it is clearly not there. And then these children in 2nd grade become their favorite subject, “Right”, in which they are told what they have the right to by the Law, but for some reason they don’t tell about their duties, that if their mother shouted at them, they have the right complain to the Jugendamt (a body dedicated to taking care of children - in fact, often playing the role of juvenile justice).
As I wrote above, depending on the time the child was in, the amounts are different. We until the last school year (remember - from 7:00 to 13:00) paid 64 euros. If you leave the child until 17:00 (and you still need to prove that you need to leave it there for so long), then the amount will be 128 for a kindergarten and plus 10 for dinners (this is all a month).
And since Last year, in the kindergarten, children are formally considered “school-obliged”, although they still do not attend school (I don’t know how to say this in Russian normally - Schulpflichtig), since September we have only paid 18 euros per month.
Perhaps I will write about the school in the next post - so quite a lot has already happened.
UPD: the final part is transferred to the Megamind and is available here.
Part 2.
As promised in the second part - this post is about kindergartens and schools. I can’t write anything about universities yet - I haven’t come across it. Children will grow up - we will face and then I will write if I don’t forget.
Again, everything that is written below refers to the region of my residence. Perhaps in another land the situation is better, but judging by the feedback from friends from the land of Baden-Württemberg - they have the same thing.
Kindergarten
Getting a place
Theoretically, all children from the age of 3 should go to kindergarten (Kindergarten). In practice, the places in the state are sorely lacking and the queue is common. On the other hand (at least in small towns, where there are 3-5 gardens for all), in total, 1-2 vacant places are often specially left for all kindergartens “just in case”. Thank God, we successfully got on such a "case." But in order to qualify for such a place in the garden, you need to prove that there is no one with the kindergarten age to sit at home. In our situation, the wife was given an order to go to integration courses (as the wife of the Blau Karte owner, this is not necessary, as opposed to if you have a usual residence permit for work), but in Rathaus it turned out to be a “proof”. After that, we were asked to find out in the courses, at what exact time the wife would not be able to look after the child (and we had not even explored the courses yet!). I had to urgently look for courses, register, take a piece of paper from there, which said on which days and at what time she needed to attend them. The result - the child was taken from 7:00 to 13:00.
')
Groups in kindergarten
There is no such thing that if you were given a place in kindergarten, then you can bring a child to 7-9 and pick up around 17-18. We have 4 groups "in time":
- 7:00 - 12:00
- 7:00 - 13:00 Includes warm lunch
- 7:00 - 15:00 Includes warm lunch
- 7:00 - 17:00 Includes warm lunch and quiet time (optional)
Each such group costs a different amount per month. Accordingly, if a child is in kindergarten from 7 to 12, then you pay the least, if up to 17 - the most.
Bring the child need to 9:00. Late for a minute - turn from the gate. I do not exaggerate - here is exactly the punctuality.
In terms of age groups, as in Russia (junior, middle, senior, preparatory), it is not here. Maximum there is a separate group for the smallest - 2-3 years. All the rest, though rastasovany rooms (formally the group with their cheerful children's names), but they play all together or in the common hall, or can move from room to room.
Special features
As already wrote above - brought the child at 9:01 - you will not be allowed. But if you took the child a minute later, without warning about it in advance - within a month you will receive a letter in the mail with a bill for the time you were late. We have a similar "fine" if the memory does not change 3 or 5 euros for every 5 minutes (rounded up).
If you really need to pick up the child later, then it needs to be planned (yes, everything is planned here, including delays - otherwise you will pay with a wallet). At least one day you need to warn one of the teachers in the kindergarten, he fills out a special form, where he indicates on what day and how much later you are going to pick up the child, whether you need to give him lunch. If, say, you are going to pick him up 2-3 hours later, he will die there with hunger, but if you did not indicate that you need to provide lunch, no one will feed him -
And now just “horror is quiet” for parents who are used to kindergartens in the former Soviet Union / present-day Russia:
1. normal nutrition, as in Russian kindergartens with cereals, jelly for breakfast, the first and second for lunch, sweets and tea for lunch there is not here at all . The “warm lunches” that I mentioned above are only the main course (well, at least heated).
In kindergartens here are not fed. Remember this. All children carry with them in the morning in special plastic boxes (Dose) breakfasts, which usually consist of sandwiches of varying degrees of fullness, yogurt, a maximum of some small fruits. If you put yogurt to a child, then if you please put a teaspoon - they are not given to kindergarten. You can add more juice in a bottle that can be easily opened by a child and from which he will not spill it on himself or on other children. From drinking in the kindergarten give ordinary water and water with gas. No tea, no compote, no kefir ...
2. children in kindergarten do not teach anything except learning to communicate with their peers. There is no account, no surrounding world, no music, no pool (in our kindergarten in Russia it was all this and it was an ordinary state kindergarten). Yes, they play with children (but far from all caregivers - some stupidly sit and lyasy sharpen while the children are on their own), draw, mold, watch over them so that they do not harm themselves and others (because as soon as the child came for the gate - the tutors are fully responsible for his life and health). Yes, there are excellent tutors in whom the children of the soul do not like: they both play with them, and sing songs and so on.
But the training we are used to in Russia is not here as a class. Preparations for school either. Such initiatives of parents (as preparation for school), on the contrary, are hostile to both kindergarten and school. It is considered that the child should have a childhood and he should be able to play enough, hang on, “but learning will still have time.” But it seems to us (and many other people from the “Eastern Camp”) that is already overkill, when a child who has gone to the first class cannot draw or sculpt, cannot count at least until 10, does not know the commonplace alphabet. he is not able to quietly listen to the teacher for at least 10-15 minutes, he cannot solve the banal problems of logic ... It is customary to teach all this in the first and second grades.
Therefore, it is not uncommon that when passing through the physical examination before the school (we had it just a couple of weeks ago), it turns out that the child does not know and cannot do anything at all and these are sent to the “zero” classes. Literally with us, out of 10 people sitting in the queue, more than half were sent to “zero” - they were not given the go-ahead to the “first”.
3. since children are not taught anything in kindergarten and there is no normal food there, then there are no additional rooms, such as a gym, a kitchen, classrooms of mathematics, music ... not needed. The kindergarten (at least ours) is a common hall, 3 rooms for children, a toilet, an office for the manager, a warehouse and a room for teachers, in which there is a microwave in which lunch is heated. If a child in kindergarten is up to 15-17 and wants to sleep - mats from the warehouse are dragged to one of the rooms, and children who want to sleep are just lying on them and
4. On the other hand, there are positive points. In contrast to the lack of a normal diet, every 2-3 days (of course, according to a predetermined schedule - where can I go without it) another child brings a package of fruits to the kindergarten (a bunch of bananas, a kilo of apples or pears, oranges, tangerines) - on average, something then about 1-2 kilos. And before the usual breakfast, the whole group gathers in dry bread and cooks and, under the guidance of an educator, prepares a common such of these fruits tomorrow (à la buffet). Children are given knives, other cutlery, they themselves cut everything, take off the skins and then eat it all together.
Once a month, the entire kindergarten (not all children - only at the request of the parents, because for this it is necessary to pay an additional fee separately) goes somewhere. We had the last such trips:
- to the library - all the children were told about the library, about books, how to take books there, how to return them, etc. - Now docha drags us there, because she liked the picture books there
- in the fire department - the boys were wildly delighted, the girls did not like it (it is understandable)
- in the butcher shop - showed how sausages, sausages, etc.
- tomorrow they are going to the Darmstadt theater - I don’t know what they will be shown there, but it’s not about any child’s performance
To be honest, this is very cool - the child is shown a world that he, even with his parents, is unlikely to see. After each such “excursion” they show interest in different things, children are beginning to be interested in different aspects of life not at all childishly.
But ... because children are not taught anything in kindergartens, because they are allowed absolutely everything (literally everything — their parents are responsible for all their misdeeds) and no one dares to object to them (at least publicly ), it seems to me, they grow up the way we see teenagers 12-17 years old here: they can ride the tram and shout at the whole tram, run back and forth, walk in crowds along the sidewalk and not give way to mom stroller, etc.
Do not think - I am not a supporter of “education with a belt”, but to allow absolutely all of this is also not correct - some kind of balance is needed, but here it is clearly not there. And then these children in 2nd grade become their favorite subject, “Right”, in which they are told what they have the right to by the Law, but for some reason they don’t tell about their duties, that if their mother shouted at them, they have the right complain to the Jugendamt (a body dedicated to taking care of children - in fact, often playing the role of juvenile justice).
The cost of kindergarten
As I wrote above, depending on the time the child was in, the amounts are different. We until the last school year (remember - from 7:00 to 13:00) paid 64 euros. If you leave the child until 17:00 (and you still need to prove that you need to leave it there for so long), then the amount will be 128 for a kindergarten and plus 10 for dinners (this is all a month).
And since Last year, in the kindergarten, children are formally considered “school-obliged”, although they still do not attend school (I don’t know how to say this in Russian normally - Schulpflichtig), since September we have only paid 18 euros per month.
Perhaps I will write about the school in the next post - so quite a lot has already happened.
UPD: the final part is transferred to the Megamind and is available here.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/285696/
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