Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2015 18:09:06 GMT
The holidays have begun in some states of Germany and parents are preparing for sending their 6-year olds to first grade after the holidays. Something I have observed throughout the past years is that German parents and German elementary school teachers ar quite extreme in their views of what first-grade kids need. And it starts with schoolbags. For German kids in elementary schools, just using an average backpack seems to be a no-go. They need to have proper "Schulranzen". Today, they look like this:
If kids are lucky, they get some which look a little more like backpacks and are a little less bulky which then look like this:
They used to be even worse when I was a child and I absolutely hated mine. It was blue and considered to be a boy's "Schulranzen" and it was square and very bulky and uncomfortable.
But apparently children need these very special schoolbags to prevent back damage and a certain percentage of a "Schulranzen" needs to be covered by reflectors so the kids will be seen in the dark - in itself a sensible thing, but you could just buy extra ones and put them on a normal backpack. The problem is that these things are expensive. If you are lucky, you might get a "Schulranzen" for around 110 €, but then it is probably a less-known brand. The prices mostly seem to range from 150 € to 200 €. From what I have heard, parents who sent their kids to school with a (high quality) backpack have been criticized by the teachers because the child had something different from what the others had. After fourth grade, children change schools and by that time, if not earlier, they have become sick of those "Schulranzen" with the childish pictures and want a backpack. This means parents pay 150 € to 200 € for a schoolbag which the children will use for 3 or maybe 4 years. I had to use mine for longer since my parents didn't have money to buy me a new backpack, but because it was so bulky, it was ucomfortable on the schoolbus and almost every child in my class had a backpack.
It doesn't end there, either. I have seen parents complain on German forums because on their childrens' first school day, they get a long list of things they need to buy. Special pens, brushes and watercolours (even my teacher told my parents my water colours needed to be the ones from a certain brand, which my parents couldn't afford and so I was criticized for using different ones), exercise books and covers for those in certain colours (some teachers insisted on paper covers because they were more environmentally friendly), certain kinds of glue (not the cheap one, but, again, a certain brand), special fountain pens for kids, colour pencils and crayons from a certain brand and I think one teacher a mother had complained about even wanted the child to have trainers from a certain brand for PE classes. Parents usually get the stuff because if they don't, their children will stand out, will be criticized for that by the teachers or the parents will be told off for buying the wrong things.
One mother also wrote that he nephew was told off in elementary school because he had a sandwich with liver sausage. The teacher told him it was too unhealthy and he was not allowed to bring that again. The little boy was so anxious he didn't want any kind of meat on his sandwiches.
I'm getting the impression that it's not like that in other countries and that German elementary schools are extreme in telling parents what to buy for their kids and making them feel like they are bad parents if they don't buy the expensive things. Plus, the kids are not supposed to stand out by having pens or a schoolbag or watercolours which are different from what the other kids have.
I would be interested to know whether it's like that in other countries. Frank said in England kids used any kind of backpack and nobody cared, at least when he was going to school, and an American friend told me the same about her kids and their schools. I'm beginning to think that, should we ever have children, we will either have to emigrate before they enter school or they will just need to learn to stand out. Frank would never put up with being forced to buy special brands or expensive schoolbags and to be honest, I am beginning to think I would not just want to submit to these ridiculous demands, either. Sometimes it seems that German parents are so scared of them or their kids "standing out" or "being different" that they spend almost any ammount of money to make sure their kids are the same as all the others. And it seems like quite a few elementary school teachers use that.
If kids are lucky, they get some which look a little more like backpacks and are a little less bulky which then look like this:
They used to be even worse when I was a child and I absolutely hated mine. It was blue and considered to be a boy's "Schulranzen" and it was square and very bulky and uncomfortable.
But apparently children need these very special schoolbags to prevent back damage and a certain percentage of a "Schulranzen" needs to be covered by reflectors so the kids will be seen in the dark - in itself a sensible thing, but you could just buy extra ones and put them on a normal backpack. The problem is that these things are expensive. If you are lucky, you might get a "Schulranzen" for around 110 €, but then it is probably a less-known brand. The prices mostly seem to range from 150 € to 200 €. From what I have heard, parents who sent their kids to school with a (high quality) backpack have been criticized by the teachers because the child had something different from what the others had. After fourth grade, children change schools and by that time, if not earlier, they have become sick of those "Schulranzen" with the childish pictures and want a backpack. This means parents pay 150 € to 200 € for a schoolbag which the children will use for 3 or maybe 4 years. I had to use mine for longer since my parents didn't have money to buy me a new backpack, but because it was so bulky, it was ucomfortable on the schoolbus and almost every child in my class had a backpack.
It doesn't end there, either. I have seen parents complain on German forums because on their childrens' first school day, they get a long list of things they need to buy. Special pens, brushes and watercolours (even my teacher told my parents my water colours needed to be the ones from a certain brand, which my parents couldn't afford and so I was criticized for using different ones), exercise books and covers for those in certain colours (some teachers insisted on paper covers because they were more environmentally friendly), certain kinds of glue (not the cheap one, but, again, a certain brand), special fountain pens for kids, colour pencils and crayons from a certain brand and I think one teacher a mother had complained about even wanted the child to have trainers from a certain brand for PE classes. Parents usually get the stuff because if they don't, their children will stand out, will be criticized for that by the teachers or the parents will be told off for buying the wrong things.
One mother also wrote that he nephew was told off in elementary school because he had a sandwich with liver sausage. The teacher told him it was too unhealthy and he was not allowed to bring that again. The little boy was so anxious he didn't want any kind of meat on his sandwiches.
I'm getting the impression that it's not like that in other countries and that German elementary schools are extreme in telling parents what to buy for their kids and making them feel like they are bad parents if they don't buy the expensive things. Plus, the kids are not supposed to stand out by having pens or a schoolbag or watercolours which are different from what the other kids have.
I would be interested to know whether it's like that in other countries. Frank said in England kids used any kind of backpack and nobody cared, at least when he was going to school, and an American friend told me the same about her kids and their schools. I'm beginning to think that, should we ever have children, we will either have to emigrate before they enter school or they will just need to learn to stand out. Frank would never put up with being forced to buy special brands or expensive schoolbags and to be honest, I am beginning to think I would not just want to submit to these ridiculous demands, either. Sometimes it seems that German parents are so scared of them or their kids "standing out" or "being different" that they spend almost any ammount of money to make sure their kids are the same as all the others. And it seems like quite a few elementary school teachers use that.