Monday-Wednesday 16-18

Be ready this is a long one!

Monday March 16

Germany is divided into 16 states. The state that we have been staying is called Schleswig-Holstein. It borders Denmark. The border area has been an area of conflict in the past and the border has moved back and forth until 1920 where it has stayed as it is now. Since the border area possesses both German and Danish people, both groups of people live on both the German and Danish side. Today we visited a Danish school in the city of Flensburg (German side). Flensburg is a very beautiful town situated on the sea. It was untouched by any bombing during WWII, so there was no destruction from the war and the historic buildings are still standing and are beautiful. The Danish school we visited is called Duborg Scholen. It was once the castle of the city. We were given an orientation by the head Principal, but then groups of students told us about their day and what school is like in addition to giving us a tour. The two students who gave us the tour were Jelte Ossenbruggen grade 12 and Majbritt Bartelsen grade 13. High school includes grades 9-13. Interesting facts: Students complete about 2 hours of homework a night and are not given any homework points toward their grade. They do it because it will help them be successful in the course and pass the exams. They take only essay exams or short answer for each class. In order to graduate they complete 2 final exams days in grade 13 that cover all subjects that they learned throughout high school. Both exam days include 5 hours exams. Students do not participate in athletics or clubs that are school affiliated. Some play on club athletic teams. On our tour you can see the message board that students visit daily that gives the bulletin and other important information. Students do homework or socialize in the bottom area. After our school visit we went to the Danish Minority Building where we ate a traditional lunch. Afterward we drove across the border into Denmark (the trip was about 20 minutes) to see Flensburg, Germany from the other side of the sea. Then we went to a teacher training institute where we learned what it takes to be a teacher in Germany and the German school system. In Germany, students go to Kindergarten (preschool) then to Primary school grades 1-4, then middle school grades 5-8. In grades 6 and 8, students are tested and placed in one of 3 different high schools one for low, middle or high performing secondary school programs. The low and middle levels will go on to high school with an emphasis on job training finish at grade 12 and would be preparing for the job market the last two years. The high program would be preparing students to attend University and take an additional year of school. It was an interesting day to see how different their program is from ours.

Tuesday March 17

Today we went to the Parliament to see where they make the laws for the state of Schleswig-Holstein. Then we discussed current issues that the parliament members are facing with the press secretary. The press secretary is the buffer between the journalists and parliament. After we went to the local university to visit another professor of Education, he shared how his group prepares teachers for the profession. We then went on a long journey 3 train transfers to Hildesheim. This city is a small city with about 100,000 people. Our hotel was located in the forest. It looked like a country cottage. There we went met a wonderful couple Diedrich and Karin Lindemann who opened their home to us. We ate a traditional German meal and Diderich shared his story of living through WWII and unification. This is my interpretation of his story.

He was 8 years old when his village of Hildesheim was bombed by the British during WWII. Bombing was common during this time and the sirens to go into the basements for protection was a daily occurrence. On the day of the bombing (March 22, 1945) his family was trapped in their basement until his father was able to get them out. When they finally got out after several hours, his home was burned everything but the door frame was destroyed. Since the whole city was burning they fled to a neighboring village. After a few years, they returned home to a city that needed to be rebuilt. He remembered receiving the care packages that were dropped from the allies. These care packages included bananas(they didn’t know how to peel or eat until an American soldier showed them), Hershey’s chocolate (something they never had before), powdered milk, eggs, and planters peanuts. He said, his family and many other German families were so thankful because without the U.S. care packages they would have starved because they were living in such destruction and without any money. He said that many people felt like at the WWII period was much different than after WWI because the United States did not just leave Europe, but stayed and supported Germany. The Marshall Plan created by Truman set up this economic stimulus plan to support democracy in Europe. This plan sent in money, food and support to help Germany rebuild and maintain democracy. Germany used this plan to help rebuild their country meanwhile the Soviet Union moved into East Germany and this is when the Berlin wall went up dividing the country into West and East. Slowly the West Germany continued to rebuild, especially in Diedrich’s city of Hidesheim they rebuilt, but were able to fully restore their downtown to the way it looked before the war until 1988. Now the city looks just like it did before the war. After the wall came down and communism ended in the Soviet Union, Germany unified the north and south. However, he described that there was a lot that needed to be done because in the former communist East Germany they were very poor and lacked proper infrastructure. He discussed how nobody believed that Germany would be unified, but now they are able to have all their people together and are thankful the United State’s support because it helped them recover. There was a strong link between Germany and the United States and still is. This is part of the main reason why I am here is to understand the history of the relationship between the United States and Germany after WWII.

Wednesday March 18, 2009

This morning we spent the whole morning looking at a comprehensive school. Here all students low, medium and high are integrated until grade 10 (different that the school from Monday). Afterwards, Grades 11-13 study separately (prepare for the University) and grades 11-12 to a vocational school where they learn a skill (like ROP). They work 2 days a week and are trained the other 3 days. At the end of year 12 they leave school to go to work. This school was unique because it has many service learning projects and students participate in clubs, but still no athletics. Afterwards, we had lunch in a traditional restaurant in the center of town Knochenhaueramtshaus. As you can see the pictures show the city center that has been totally restored to the way it looked before the war. Then we went on a walking to tour through out the city. The last pictures are a memorial to a Jewish synagogue that was destroyed during Kristallnact “the night of broken glass.” This was when the Jewish people were persecuted prior to WWII. This is when the Nazi’s were trying to get them to leave Germany. The outline of the synagogue is still there to remember. The memorial shows several religious scenes but the last one here shows the burning of the city and the holocaust. This memorial was very moving and after talking to several people here… many people could not understand how such a terrible event like the Holocaust happened. Many didn’t realize what was happening, some thought the Jews were just moving to Poland, and others were so frightened by Hitler they didn’t want to believe it. The same feeling was evident, that the Germans and the Jewish people were neighbors and friends and feel very sad that this terrible event happened to them and want to do everything in their power to make sure it never happens again. After the tour, we left on the train heading for Berlin. On the way, we past the Volkswagen factory where they make some of the cars, we are going to another Volkswagen factory later in the week.