Anna, school and God

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Anna, the school and the good Lord: The betrayal of the education system to our children is a non-fiction book published in 2013 by the German philosopher and publicist Richard David Precht . In it Precht calls for an "educational revolution" for the German school system , among other things with a new version of the role of teachers and teacher training as well as with the targeted promotion of intrinsic learning motivation of students while eliminating the conventional grading system . In connection with the individualization of teaching and learning processes in cross-year projects and in all-day school operations , Precht would also move away from the scheme of subject-specific 45-minute lessons . The book received a predominantly critical reception in the media.

Structure of the substance

The two main parts of the book follow on from the introduction under the heading Anna, the School and the Dear God , designed as an anticipation and outline .

The first main part under the title The Education Catastrophe consists of five sub-chapters: 1. What is education? ; 2. class struggle in school ; 3. PISA, G8 and other stupid things ; 4. The dilemma of our schools ; 5. Teacher as a profession .

The second main part, entitled The Educational Revolution, contains six subsections: 1. Education in the 21st Century ; 2. How does the learning work? ; 3. Individualized learning ; 4. Beyond subject and grade ; 5. Better schools ; 6. Education for everyone!

In the introduction, Precht outlines, among other things, the target group for his program: teachers who are dissatisfied with the current situation; Pupils who hope for new, exciting schools for their future children; Parents who are looking for arguments to protest against existing school practice; and education politicians who are facing the “biggest structural change in our education system since the 1960s”. (P. 10 f.) According to OECD studies, Germany meanwhile has "one of the worst school and education systems of all industrial nations in the world". (P. 15) If nothing changes, there is a risk of progressive disintegration into a two-class system. “Those who can afford it send their child to a private school . And the public schools degenerate into residual schools for the underprivileged. ”(P. 17) Also the conventional state school is not up to the challenges of the future professional world, in which there are professions “ like travel agent, pharmacist, librarian, conductor, tax advisor etc. ”in progress the digital revolution will no longer exist. (P. 18) Precht considers the traditional, supposed contrast between labor market-bound and purely individual education to be only apparent and overcome. (P. 20) Ultimately, he would like to achieve that “in two or three decades” we will look back in amazement at the current education system “as we are amazed today that women in almost all of Western Europe had no right to vote until the beginning of the 20th century or were not allowed to open an account independently in Germany at the beginning of the 1960s and were not allowed to sign a rental agreement without their husband's signature. "(p. 22)

Content accents

Inspirational educational reformers

Precht prefers the detailed presentation of his own future model by reflecting on earlier educational reform approaches in Germany. With regard to Wilhelm von Humboldt's work , he emphasizes that he accorded all people, regardless of their occupation and status , a need and a right to education, whereby general human education had to precede vocational training . Because Humboldt's most important goal - according to Precht "new, intelligent and modern" - was "participation and participation in a general bourgeois public". (P. 33 f.) After Humboldt's early resignation as a reform designer, the reformed high school education remained reserved for a small upper class. Humboldt's focus on the ancient languages Greek and Latin “far removed from the reality of Prussian life” had a particularly exclusive effect on the children of farmers and craftsmen.

Precht sees another inspiring educational reformer in Georg Kerschensteiner with his motto: “Political education for everyone!” The personality of the child at Kerschensteiner should develop not primarily through knowledge, but through action. “The children should learn to cook and work, garden and experiment. Only what is practically mastered is known and skilled ”. More than the introduction of the vocational school was not implemented by this approach, which was conducive to the emancipation of working-class children, complains Precht. (P. 42 f.)

According to Precht - after Wilhelm von Humboldt at the beginning of the 19th century and Kerschensteiner at the beginning of the 20th century - Georg Picht achieved a success that was surprising for the author himself with his book The German Educational Catastrophe, thus triggering an "educational revolution" . Picht combined his complaints about the impending shortage of teachers, survived high schools and universities that were too small with the denunciation of a continuing class structure in the school system and education system. "For Picht it was a scandal that the German system of elementary school , secondary school and grammar school established in early childhood what could become of one or the other later". (P. 50 f.) Since there was a general conviction that economic reasons also spoke in favor of a broad higher qualification of young generation, there was a broad expansion of educational expenditure and educational institutions at the end of the 1960s and in the 1970s, for Precht with the result that in During this period and the following years, nowhere in Europe did children from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds have better opportunities for advancement than in Germany. (P. 53 f.)

The current educational misery

Since the mid-1990s, says Precht, the trend towards giving everyone an educational opportunity has been going backwards again. Meanwhile, the educational opportunities of many are distributed similarly unevenly as at the time of Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer . “You don't have to pull studies out of the basement to prove how scandalously close academic performance and social background are related in Germany. The numerus clausus is inherited in this country in the same way as the five-year certificate. ”(Pp. 56 f. And 78) In addition, Precht notes a tendency to undermine the public school system, as high-earning people have recently increasingly sent their children to private schools. The public school system will become “the department of the less well-off and the less well-off with a further drop in performance” - as is currently the case in most public schools in the USA. (Pp. 77–79)

As the driving force behind the undesirable developments, Precht sees short-sighted economic interests taken over by politics, which would have led to the German educational system being restructured since the 1990s according to the "half-understood and fleeting needs of corporations". All measures aimed at promoting excellence in the educational system are aimed at maintaining economic competitiveness , including the Bologna Process , “in which our students have forgotten what it means to study in a good sense.” Rather, they are aimed at “clever, sophisticated ones Specialists with a whole portfolio of degrees and certificates. "(P. 86 f.)

Precht is also critical of the “entire multinational test industry” with regard to the PISA studies, among other things . Basically only quantities can be measured, not quality. If you follow Kerschensteiner, according to which education is what remains, if you have forgotten everything you have learned, then education turns out to be immeasurable. (P. 88) “In any case, however, we do not store memories in isolation,” notes Precht on another occasion, “but always as part of a context that has left traces on us. Lais - track, track or furrow - is the Indo-European root of the word 'learning'. "(P. 200)

The high esteem and overestimation of the MINT subjects in education policy is due not only to their professional usability, but also to the fact that they seem particularly suitable for performance measurements. "How smart our students are, how smoothly they think and combine, how sensually or musically they grasp the world, how creatively they can deal with their knowledge, what transfer achievements they make and, last but not least, how happy they are with their ten, twelve or thirteen enormously influential Spending years of life in school - all of that is left out completely. "(P. 94 f.)

Precht also believes that a grave mistake would be to shorten school time by one year ( Abitur after the twelfth grade or G8 for the eight-year grammar school), which in turn would meet demands from the economy for younger high school graduates who would then be correspondingly longer until retirement the social security funds paid. At no point in time was the children's welfare in mind, especially since the amount of material involved remained almost the same. “Children who attend a turbo school today have 1200 hours more during their high school than the children before. 1200 hours that were free time just a few years ago. "(P. 99 f.)

The necessary renewal of the teaching staff

A Precht teacher has to meet two basic requirements in order to be considered good: He has to be someone who loves children and, secondly, someone who is a pleasure to listen to. You can't learn both. It is about an artistic profession that requires a special talent: to inspire, motivate and empower. “Good teachers are social artists; they are performers and mediators. And good teaching is a feat that every teacher should try to achieve together with his or her students. ”(P. 140 f.) In today's living environment, teachers need completely different skills in teaching than in the past so that students would even listen to them and accept something from them. The civil servant status should definitely be removed from the system so that not too many unsuitable people opt for this profession. (P. 142 f.)

Instead of the conventional educational faculties , Precht considers art colleges to be more suitable institutions for teacher training . The recording should be preceded by a casting (e.g. based on a 30-minute lecture on relevant school material), which only allows suitable people. (P. 154 f.)

Conventional teacher training appears to Precht to be far too theory-heavy. Practicing and mastering didactic tricks makes sense in the teaching profession; but the “monstrous overload” with theory is not in proportion to its value in practice. Rather, should student teachers in future be given more time for "in the psychological situation of the classroom to prove." The necessary training of established teachers, also the burning and the numerous early retirement is to prevent, Precht proposes a rotational basis every four years a six-month sabbatical before during which the exempted persons could pursue their own questions or research interests, combined with a single requirement “to visit and get to know an educational institution other than their own during this time” (pp. 153 and 161).

Modern learning opportunities

Since subject-specific detailed knowledge is available via the Internet, storage of learning material in memory is largely unnecessary for Precht. Rather, the intelligence has to be used to "read between the lines of a text, to evaluate a context or to distinguish opinions from factual information." The available knowledge of the world appears at the click of a mouse. “But it only gets a sense, a timbre, a meaning and a depth through our orientation knowledge - the true education of the 21st century.” (P. 180) In addition, Precht refers to the decreasing half-life of reliable knowledge in today's knowledge society . This forces you to “be able to and have to learn all your life.” The motivation to enjoy learning over the long term, however, must already be conveyed in school. (P. 187)

Research on learning shows that physical activity promotes learning by stimulating the synaptic connections in the brain. "The idea of ​​stowing thirty children on chairs in benches for several hours with minimal breaks is definitely no longer up-to-date and not 'child-friendly'." (P. 207) Precht also rejects the conventional grading system as harmful to the intrinsic and thus for the permanent motivation to learn : "A school system that rewards (or punishes) its students with the prospect of grades devalues ​​the desire to learn into a means to an end." (p. 213)

So that individualized learning in normal operation does not just remain a noble goal and empty phrase, Precht relies on a fundamental restructuring of teaching offers and learning organization. Elements of the Carleton Washburne Winnetka plan provide him with important inspiration . The educational package is designed so that every child his personal circumstances and his pace is in accordance helps specific learning objective to achieve minimum standards of the course of his educational program - without refinancing with central and offset printing . "For the strong pupils there is the chance to go far beyond the minimum into the almost unlimited and to learn so much more than in any classroom lesson." (P. 233) Overloading a teacher in such a framework can be avoided by not having a individual teachers stand in front of the individually learning students, but a coaching team can be approached. In such a school, too, goals would be defined and ambition rewarded. "But it is not the opposition that counts, as in the conventional school model, but the cooperation in mutual help - precisely those qualities of teamwork and team spirit that are important in the 21st century." (Pp. 224–234)

In the all-day school , which is required as a regular operation , the morning for Precht is dedicated to individualized learning with the weighty inclusion of digital media and learning software (p. 239), while afterwards people work and learn on projects that also promote social learning . “Non- cognitive skills such as helpfulness, reliability, fairness and team spirit cannot be learned in theory, but only in physical practice. You have to meet, organize, get things done together, make music, paint, work, dance, cook or play theater together - and not just as an additional offer, but as an integral part of the lesson. "(P. 249)

Building blocks of an educational revolution

In view of the current conditions in the German education system and with a view to future challenges, it is not enough for Precht to classify his ideas under terms such as educational reform or educational transformation . "Without passion, emotion and sometimes even without one or the other escalation, it will not work if there are actually to be structural changes." For what is pending in education, he sees parallels in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and in the current digital revolution . (P. 327)

One of Precht's proposals, which are also perceived as radical by the media, is the “adventure project year”, which he sets up in the eighth school year instead of regular lessons. Among other things, Precht writes about the reasons: “Every teacher who wants to teach children of the appropriate age knows the problem of absent people, lack of concentration , erratic behavior, aggression or openly displayed listlessness. But what can you do about it? Since puberty cannot be abolished, there is basically only one solution: You have to change the framework and conditions of teaching. ”Precht mentions the reform pedagogues at the beginning of the 20th century and Hartmut von Hentig as masterminds in this regard . In addition to well-known school ship trips, Precht also mentions less spectacular projects in adventure education : making a film, studying a play, exploring a district, recreating a city in all its functions, offices, authorities, etc., assembling vehicles, cultivating a piece of forest. In their eighth grade, the young people should choose two or three projects. "The adventure year is then a very big boost for motivation in the ninth and tenth grades." (Pp. 304–307)

Precht summarizes ten principles for a holistic conversion towards a modern new school system (pp. 288–295):

  1. The child's intrinsic motivation is to be given priority .
  2. Individual learning should be made possible and supported according to one's own talent and learning pace.
  3. Not just learning material, but the understanding of the meaning and sensuality of things and the context of this world is to be conveyed, primarily in projects.
  4. The bond of the individual in the community should be considered as an important learning factor.
  5. The organization of school operations should promote a culture of relationships and responsibility , for example by subdividing the operation into various “learning houses”.
  6. Values ​​and appreciation for one's own learning environment are to be promoted through rituals, among other things.
  7. A learner-friendly school architecture with a campus as the center can and should contribute to a positive school and learning climate.
  8. The ability to concentrate must be trained and maintained throughout school.
  9. A personal evaluation with the help of monitoring related to the individuality of the child is intended to replace the conventional number system.
  10. The all-day school enables educational equality, as all learning relevant for the school takes place in the school (and not also with homework or in extracurricular tutoring ).

Reviews

Peter Praschl described the book in Die Welt as "pointless, superfluous, a 352-page annoyance". Precht's diagnosis is true, but nothing is original about her. “But the craziest thing is: Just as one has known Precht's diagnoses for a long time, one has also known for a long time how one could help schools. [...] None of the cures that Precht suggests are exotic, violent, naive, untested, fueled by political narrow-mindedness (unless one considers the democratic conviction that all children, including the poor, immigrant, overwhelmed or disinterested, offensive) Parents who deserve a good education). ”Nevertheless, Precht's improvement list is“ disgusting ”. It is suggested to the reader that “one could actually think seriously about how to cure the German school system. But in Germany the schools will remain as they are. There will be no educational revolution that Precht is demanding, not even the slightest hint of reform. "

Katja Weise, on the other hand, gave a positive verdict on the NDR . The “ideal school”, as Precht describes it, is fun and in some ways reminds of the Harry Potter boarding school at Hogwarts . Precht provokes and inspires with an idea that is largely not so new in its facets. “But: It bundles approaches and brings a breath of fresh air to a deadlocked debate in an entertaining way. Many will work their way through it, downplaying his ideas, considering them utopian or maybe even stupid, but it is worth looking through the windows that he opens. "

In his review for Kulturradio, Gerrit Bartels speaks of a book worth considering “despite all the popular furor”. In the first part it is “a kind of doom scenario - and Precht is a shrewd nonfiction author who comes to a head, who polemicises, who looks for and finds the exact numbers and the reform educators and school and educational critics that he needs for his disaster description.” Many of them Suggestions sound plausible, have already been considered and occasionally implemented. "Some of it is actually utopian to absurd, such as the introduction of an 8th school year, an 'adventure project year', because pubescent children are less likely to be able to attend school and be receptive." But have the required radicalism with which our current school system should be rebuilt, something likeable. When Hamburg's Senator for Education Ties Rabe speaks of Precht's "devastating messages", it is "overly alarmist"; Precht did not even make the "promise of salvation for all educational problems" assumed by Rabe. “It doesn't always have to stay the same as before,” concludes Bartels.

From the point of view of Nina May in the Oberhessische Presse , the book reads more like the “unrealistic vision of a self-proclaimed savior who sells well-known things as a sensation with fashionable terms and media hype”. Although Precht's arguments sounded good, they were "easy to question". His suggestions for improvement for a “school of the future” are also not really revolutionary.

Jürgen Kaube attested Precht in the FAZ a "consistent intellectual sloppiness". He made “correct observations”, which, however, only repeated familiar things: “That the curricula are too crammed, that there is too much“ teaching to the test ”, that grade inflation makes the certificates uninformative, that there are too many useless didactics and teacher training is in a mess - everything has long been established, Precht says it again. And buried it full-bodied under mere assertions. What follows from the fact that the future is unknown? For Precht that one gives up school subjects in favor of “projects”. ”Most of what Precht refers to, he knows“ more from hearsay ”. He claims that Humboldt's school did not need any exams because you couldn't test your personality either. In fact, Wilhelm von Humboldt was a “real exam enthusiast”, as this reduced social inequalities.

Regina Mönch discussed Precht's presentation of ideas on school education on May 5, 2013 with Günther Jauch in the FAZ . Precht had not been able to clarify any fuzziness; he raved about creativity, but what he meant by that remained vague. "What can be seen, however, is that Richard David Precht doesn't know too much about today's school and its students, probably not even much about previous educational systems."

Franz-Jürgen Blumenberg gives a detailed presentation of Precht's book. It certifies that the author treats school and school development “very knowledgeably and with a wealth of facts”. It is astonishing how quickly some critics can deal with Precht; But Mark Twain's word applies here as well : “People with a new idea are considered crankies until the matter has prevailed.” Blumenberg sees great merit for Precht in the fact that he has the endless discussion “about scientifically hard foundations of teaching and the Teacher training and its corresponding theorising "in such a way that the teacher must mainly be a" presentation and communication artist ". It is particularly important to inspire difficult children from a harsh social reality. Precht turns a “big social wheel” with passion and certainly not only receives approval. "When it comes to basic content and topics, it is often inevitable to generalize, generalize or exaggerate, and Precht accepts that he might provoke and annoy some of his readers and also wrongly hit some of them." Formulations “go beyond the goal if he takes politicians or school representatives across the board in joint liability for the state of the school system and imputes them with intent. But that does not reduce the value of “his important general and specific suggestions from a sharp eagle show on school and society.” The very easy to read and generally understandable written book is a lot of fun reading with its successful formulations.

Uwe Wittstock also rated the work positively in the Focus Special “The Best Books 2013”. Precht's book is a "brilliantly sorted arsenal of arguments for the radical restructuring of our pedagogy". Precht shows that our ideas about school still date back to the 19th century.

expenditure

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ News4Teachers - the educational magazine: Precht stirs up politics - and insults Wanka , from July 22, 2013; accessed on June 4, 2020.
  2. ↑ “While countries like Finland actually organize castings in which about as few candidates get through as at a German drama or art college, in Germany we take them all. Perhaps that is one reason why every fifth student in our country needs private tutoring, whereas in Finland only one in fifty. "(P. 156)
  3. ↑ Precht's examples of using such a sabbatical: “To go to Australia for six months to learn more about the life of the Aborigines; work half a year on a book about your own area of ​​interest, live half a year in a wooden house by a fjord and observe and document nature, etc. "(p. 161)
  4. ↑ In this regard, Precht considers individual learning based on mathematics programs to be particularly suitable, so that this subject practically no longer requires any school lessons. (Pp. 240–245)
  5. ↑ “Great changes are not achieved through endlessly sought middle paths and years of balanced thoughts. Anyone who believes that basically doesn't want to change anything. "(Precht ibid, p. 327)
  6. ↑ Katja Weise: School should be fun! ( Memento of October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). In: Norddeutscher Rundfunk (April 22, 2013); accessed on June 4, 2020.
  7. ^ Pre- print (complete) under the title: School can do more. (Principles for an educational reform) In: Die Zeit , April 11, 2013; accessed on June 4, 2020.
  8. ↑ Peter Praschl: Your book is a pointless nuisance, Mr. Precht! In: Die Welt (April 22, 2013); accessed on June 4, 2020.
  9. ↑ Katja Weise: School should be fun! ( Memento of October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). In: Norddeutscher Rundfunk (April 22, 2013); accessed on June 4, 2020.
  10. ↑ Kulturradio rbb: Richard David Precht: "Anna, the school and the love of God" ( Memento of October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ); accessed on June 4, 2020.
  11. ↑ Nina May: Computers instead of math teachers? In: Oberhessische Presse (April 25, 2013); accessed on June 4, 2020. May questions the following as an example: “The Faust example sounds exciting as a project day, but as a utopia for everyday life, it is far from reality. Should five teachers teach at the same time? In addition, it remains to be doubted whether there will be enough time for an intensive interpretation of "Faust" when the chemistry teacher pulls out the Bunsen burner in the next moment. "
  12. ↑ Jürgen Kaube: Oh you racehorses, just eat more oats! . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (April 28, 2013); accessed on June 4, 2020.
  13. ↑ Regina Mönch: Forget Precht! . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (May 6, 2013); accessed on June 4, 2020.
  14. ↑ in Dialog Erziehungshilfe for the AFET - Federal Association for Educational Aid ; accessed on June 4, 2020.
  15. ↑ Uwe Wittstock: The school needs a revolution! In: Focus Special . S. 68-69 .