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I'm from Switzerland and the reality that you miss is that a lot of students will be thrown into the Realschule (lowest tier of secondary education in Switzerla

I'm from Switzerland and the reality that you miss is that a lot of students will be thrown into the Realschule (lowest tier of secondary education in Switzerland) for a variety of reasons, including spiteful teachers or foreign parents who fail to understand the magnitude of this decision. Often the path is already being set at the Kindergarten age with inept teachers who are unable to properly educate foreign speaking pupils. From then on it's a direct path to the Realschule and later a string of two or three failed attempts at getting a professional education (as a semi-skilled cook, hair stylist, whatever) My brother was sent to the Realschule because of a primary teacher who habitually hit the pupils he hated - he was a sadistic tyrant. Roughly a decade later, My brother graduated in law and is now on path of becoming a very successful (and rich) international arbitration specialist. Now obviously, not everyone will be able to turn the tide. Another reality you seem to ignore is the fact that even intelligent people can be rowdy assholes. My Gymnasium (high school) class was filled with them. They smoked blunts all day, lighted up books in front of the teachers, even brought some teachers to tears, they bullied kids and so on. They were very excellent students and didn't have to learn for exams. As an introverted nerd this had the following effect on me: In order to fit in I started to smoke joints myself and missed 50% of the last year. I didn't have problems getting good grades so I didn't prepare for the Matura. In hindsight it was also dumb luck, not just my ingenuity that made me pass the Matura with good grades still. While I was still introverted, it helped ease tensions and I made a couple of good friends in the process. In conclusion, from personal experience the Swiss education system has deep flaws.

nickik 15y ago
> I'm from Switzerland and the reality that you miss is that a lot of students will be thrown into the Realschule (lowest tier of secondary education in Switzerland) for a variety of reasons, including spiteful teachers or foreign parents who fail to understand the magnitude of this decision. Often the path is already being set at the Kindergarten age with inept teachers who are unable to properly educate foreign speaking pupils. From then on it's a direct path to the Realschule and later a string of two or three failed attempts at getting a professional education (as a semi-skilled cook, hair stylist, whatever) This is true and it is a problem with this splitting up system. What has to be said is that when you have the will you can still move out of it. There are briges at every level. Even when you are one your way to become a hairdresser you can to the "matura" and get into some universety. This has to be added to the list of problems, with this kind of system. > Another reality you seem to ignore is the fact that even intelligent people can be rowdy assholes. My Gymnasium (high school) class was filled with them. They smoked blunts all day, lighted up books in front of the teachers, even brought some teachers to tears, they bullied kids and so on. They were very excellent students and didn't have to learn for exams. Sure there allways assholes but I think its fair to say that less of that stuff goes on in such a split system. Smart kids slacking of is pretty common (I would guess that weed is more popular in these schools), the question is how bad would it have been in a uniform high school. What form of bulling? Was there really physical stuff? Im really into individual learning its the only way to prevent better studends from slacking of and distrupting class, bored people always act stupid. > In conclusion, from personal experience the Swiss education system has deep flaws. I had more or less good experiences. I just wanted to show the diffrence in the system, not praise it. In my opinion its time for a huge reform in most education systems but that not really the thread to talk about that.

nickik 15y ago

> I'm from Switzerland and the reality that you miss is that a lot of students will be thrown into the Realschule (lowest tier of secondary education in Switzerland) for a variety of reasons, including spiteful teachers or foreign parents who fail to understand the magnitude of this decision. Often the path is already being set at the Kindergarten age with inept teachers who are unable to properly educate foreign speaking pupils. From then on it's a direct path to the Realschule and later a string of two or three failed attempts at getting a professional education (as a semi-skilled cook, hair stylist, whatever) This is true and it is a problem with this splitting up system. What has to be said is that when you have the will you can still move out of it. There are briges at every level. Even when you are one your way to become a hairdresser you can to the "matura" and get into some universety. This has to be added to the list of problems, with this kind of system. > Another reality you seem to ignore is the fact that even intelligent people can be rowdy assholes. My Gymnasium (high school) class was filled with them. They smoked blunts all day, lighted up books in front of the teachers, even brought some teachers to tears, they bullied kids and so on. They were very excellent students and didn't have to learn for exams. Sure there allways assholes but I think its fair to say that less of that stuff goes on in such a split system. Smart kids slacking of is pretty common (I would guess that weed is more popular in these schools), the question is how bad would it have been in a uniform high school. What form of bulling? Was there really physical stuff? Im really into individual learning its the only way to prevent better studends from slacking of and distrupting class, bored people always act stupid. > In conclusion, from personal experience the Swiss education system has deep flaws. I had more or less good experiences. I just wanted to show the diffrence in the system, not praise it. In my opinion its time for a huge reform in most education systems but that not really the thread to talk about that.