Education: [A process] which makes one rogue cleverer than another.

- Oscar Wilde -

If children’s prayer had any effect, there wouldn’t be a single teacher alive.

- Persian -

During English class, while reading the International Herald Tribune’s article End Bonuses for Bankers, my student and I both questioned the plural form of bonus.

We reviewed the common form of nouns ending with -us getting the plural form of -i, e.g. cactus (cacti), octopus (octopi), alumnus (alumni), and we both confirmed the German plural of Bonus as being Boni. From bonuses in English, we then proceeded to the German translation for alumnus, where I had to pass.

Strange, I thought. It sometimes happens that I can’t even remember a word in my own mother tongue, but this one went further. Was there a word for alumnus in German? If so, what significance did it carry in the world of German academia?

First, I consulted the online dictionary, Leo. The result was a lot of ehemalige (former) student, co-worker, school, college student and also graduate.

In most countries, alumnus stands for having attended the same university, but the meaning in German is a bit broader.

I then went on to search in German for alumni groups around Germany with two results coming up. There are 40 university student alumni groups in Germany (source: wikipedia), with many other old orders, about 900,  either of a religious, political or drinking fraternity kind.

The Allies, after WWII, prohibited student alumni groups due to their sometimes pro-Nazi position. This ban was lifted in West Germany in the late 1940s, but remained in East Germany. Studentenverbindungen (college student alumni groups) were often associated with revolt.

On bdvb (network for economics majors), I learned that the act of former university students setting up alumni group (without any political attachment) was reestablished in Germany in the late 1980s.

Quoting from their page:

Im angelsächsischem Raum sind “Alumni”-Organisationen seit fast 200 Jahren fester Bestandteil vieler Universitäten. In Deutschland etablieren sich Ehemaligen-Netzwerke seit Ende der 80er Jahre des vergangenen Jahrhunderts.

Absolventinnen und Absolventen haben so die Möglichkeit, die während des Studiums gewonnenen Kontakte zu Kommilitonen und zur Hochschule zu halten und auszubauen.

“In Anglo-Saxon countries, alumni groups have been an integral part of universities for almost 200 years. In Germany, alumni networks got set up in the late 80s of the previous century.

Graduates have the opportunity to keep and develop contacts to other alumni and their university.”

Networking is a fairly new idea to most university graduates. Why, you might wonder. In my opinion, attending university free of tuition charge leaves students without feeling any kind of commitment. A certain sense of entitlement to free education is prevalent and further contact has not been seen of much value to one’s career. Of course, students remain friends over the years, but since most universities are state-run, there really is no need for any alumni groups to help support the university.

My husband, on the other hand, gets frequent mail from his former university in the U.S. Most often it is asking for donations to help build something new on campus. Tell that to a German: Please give money to help finance your university facilities. This idea actually makes me smile as I ponder the reaction.

Another fact is the relaxed attitude of repaying student loans (BAföG). Two good friends of mine have never even attempted to repay the loan. One offered me the solution of how to get away with it – just never make your first payment. The mistake of making a first payment results in having to pay everything back. I was saddened to recognize this lack of dignity on her behalf. Then again, some Germans feel wholly entitled to most benefits.

A life of tuition free university education and the chance of defaulting your student loan leaves little room for appreciating your college education.

A child miseducated is a child lost.

- John F. Kennedy -

Fall in Germany

The New York Times, carrying the article In Honor of Teachers by Charles M. Blow, made me remember my favorite teacher at the German Gymnasium – Frau Feinbier, our native French teacher. She was married to a German, hence the very German name.

It was her teaching in my very first year of French, which helped me develop a life-long passion for the language. She made the language and the subject come alive and even today in business, I still benefit from it.

On the other hand,  Mr. Blow writes about the drawbacks of being a teacher. Among those is the fairly low pay for this  academic position. About 20 years ago, I saw an  unforgettable advertisement at a local department store in  the U.S.A., which read:      Help wanted! Ideal for students, housewives and teachers.

In contrast to teachers in the German system, taking on any paid employment outside their teaching job is strictly forbidden ( allowances are made in special cases). Many  public school teachers are government employees and fairly well reimbursed for their work.

In addition, add on a general public resentment of teachers based on a preconception of short working hours, good pay, long breaks, etc. Just the other day, I was at a German get-together, where one of the women complained about the laziness of her daughter’s German teachers. All eyes were on my when one of the friends pointed out I was a teacher. I was excused from this tribunal when I said I was a private teacher.

I don’t know when this all started. In the 60s, attending Volksschule (elementary school), teachers still carried a high status and earned a lot of respect. In the early 70s,  starting Gymnasium (prep college school), I heard the first complaints about German teachers.

German teachers generally do not have a work desk at school. They do their outside-of- the- classroom work at home. So walking your dog in broad daylight lets Germans assume you are done working for the day, when the teacher might just be taking a break.

It might be a good idea to give teachers in the German system a regular desk at school to work after-hours. It would also be good to make teachers more accessible to parents, when contact between parents and teachers is strictly limited to parent-teacher conferences (in general).

I would not want to be a teacher in the German school system – there is very little appreciation, the teachers can or have to be as rigid as the system, and both sides – parents and teachers alike – are often on the defensive side.

There is no ode for German teachers.