William Meijer@williameijer
Message from a German friend:
Germany is over. If you have time, read the following post from Reddit. Bear in mind, Germany's only resource was always education and good institutions.
r/DePi
Experiences as a teacher at a school with a high proportion of refugees - it is even worse than you think
Hello everyone,
I studied mathematics and am currently working as a secondary school teacher in the Ruhr area, partly due to the current precarious labor market situation. The proportion of refugees at my school, as at many other schools here in the region, is quite high.
Most refugees are taught in separate integration classes, as integration into regular classes is simply not possible due to the desolate level of education. I teach two such integration classes several times a week and just wanted to share my experiences with you here. Even before starting my current job, I was extremely critical of the current migration, but my experiences in the teaching profession make my worst fears at the time seem like a benevolent utopia.
For context: A large proportion of the integration classes consist of Marrocans born in Spain, but Syrians, Afghans and Roma are also strongly represented. The rest is a wild potpourri of Ukrainians and refugees from other Arab or Muslim countries such as Lebanon or Somalia. One class consists mainly of younger students between 11 and 13 years of age, the other class consists mainly of teenagers around 16 years of age.
Now a small summary of my observations:
In about half of the classes there is no significant literacy in their own language, just over half understand, even after years in the local school system, in about as good a German as I understand Mandarin.
At least in math (I can only judge the other subjects to a very limited extent), the level of education is an absolute fiasco, even among older students. Truly the simplest arithmetic problems (5+6 or 7-4) are already very difficult. The cause often seems to be cognitive, because even if I illustrate the numbers with objects, many students are unable to solve corresponding tasks.
It is currently Ramadan. Ukrainian students who do not fast must leave the room if they want to have a drink or eat. On the one hand, this is a rule imposed by the classes themselves, but on the other hand it is also tolerated or even actively supported by large parts of the other teaching staff and the social worker.
Some male students refuse to sit next to female students for religious reasons. This is also tolerated.
Fights are commonplace and that is no exaggeration. In fact, there is at least one fight almost every day.
There are no properly maintained school folders or generally a careful handling of school materials. Most come to class wearing only the clothes they wear on their bodies.
About half of the class with the older students is always delayed by at least 10 minutes at the first lesson, or sometimes 20 or 30 minutes. Even after the breaks, the class is actually only 10 minutes late each time.
During Ramadan, also tolerated by other school staff, a good proportion sleep regularly in class by placing their head on the table.
Female students are regularly labeled with highly obscene terms. The punishment of such statements either does not take place at all or is so restrained that repetition is encouraged.
On parent-teacher conferences, 90 percent of parents, even after several years of residence in Germany, can only communicate via interpreters.
A few days ago, some students proudly told me what new cell phone models their siblings and parents have, which, mind you, receive almost exclusively transfer payments.
Female colleagues generally have it more difficult than my gender counterparts, who are usually at least rudimentarily respected.
Some students often do not show up at school for months without apology.
A rejection of other religions is very clear in many situations.
For group work in other subjects that spans weeks, the results have a scope that can be achieved by those with normal abilities within five minutes.
There is no mixing with other students. You like to keep to yourself. Even among refugees, groups usually form according to their respective origins.
With all the negative impressions, there are a few positive experiences. A handful of students are actually making an effort and progress. These students are also the only reason why work doesn't seem completely pointless.
I myself try to counteract this to the best of my ability, but this is hardly possible if there is no support from the staff and the school administration. I have already capitulated on some points because a corresponding commitment only breaks your nerves without changing anything.
Many of the older students are leaving our education system anytime soon, and with that, the state is losing pretty much the only way to exert any influence. I fear that the situation in other schools often looks little better. This leads us to send school leavers into the wild year after year who neither write, read nor master the most basic primary school mathematics. Such people are not fit for any kind of work and are doomed to languish in our welfare system for life.
Muslim and African students, in particular, often have an absurd number of siblings by German standards. If one assumes that this reproduction rate will not break with the current generation, but perhaps even increase given the fantastic conditions here in Germany compared to their countries of origin (not for locals, but certainly for people from countries with a per capita GDP of $800), the problems are compounded exponentially.
I lack any imagination as to how the catastrophe that lies ahead could be averted in any way, and this is increasingly frustrating me. Just wanted to share this with you. Thanks to those who stuck with it until the end of the text and gave themselves my whining.
