Well, everyone should know already that I was an foreign exchange student in the Us. Because of this, I’m pretty much capable of telling you the differences of American and German high schools!
Keep in mind that this article will just compare high school systems. We won't compare colleges/Universities, middle schools or elementary schools.
Let’s start with the school dances: The American schools are known for their big dances every year. Prom is definitely the biggest and fanciest one. There were four dances at my school in the US. It was so much fun to dress up and to go with my friends to have a good time., because in Germany, we don’t have dances like Homecoming, Winterfest, Sadie Hawkins, or Prom. We just have one big dance, either in 12th or 13th grade (depending on what kind of school you go to). Instead of celebrating the end of the school year, the Germans celebrate the graduation of the abitur class ( abitur= highest degree of high school you can get in Germany), where only the graduates are wear fancy dresses or suits. This dance is part graduation day, where the students are getting their degree.
Another difference is the motivation the teachers give to the students. Depending on the school in Germany you have little to no motivation. Actually, depending on the definition of motivation, there might be a lot of it, in form of negative reinforcement. Maybe the German teachers don’t know how to kindly motivate their students or this tactic was replaced instead by some military education that we don’t know about. The teachers tell you, “ You are not good enough”, they tell the class, “Half of you will not get the abitur, if you keep working like this.” However, to be successful, the school system really has to work on giving their students a POSITIVE motivation. A little pressure is good and some students including myself need that, but sometimes it’s a little to much. I guess it also depends on the school you go to.
On the other hand, the students in America are treated with respect and your teachers are pretty much your friends. Most of the time they are helpful. They listen to you and they try to connect with the class to have a better student-teacher relationship. If you don’t understand something in class you can always talk to them in study hall, which is really helpful! The bad thing about the good student-teacher relationship is that it sometimes neglects the necessary pressure that is needed to get students to work. Some students really need some pressure to do something, otherwise they get lazy.
All in all, a combination of pressure and positive reinforcement is the best.
I noticed that I barely had homework in America and the homework I did get was easy for me. Most of them were finished in 30 minutes or an hour. Gosh, I loved that part about the US school system. Compared to the work load I had to do each day in Colorado, I swim in homework assignments in Germany. The teachers in America would respect that the students are busy with sports seasons or clubs, but in Germany, they don’t care. Most of the time you don’t even have time to do a club sport after school. The teachers always give homework as soon you reach 11th grade. Then, they never let you go home without homework!
But the thing I like the most about the German school system is that we always have class related field trips. We go to museums, historical places like memorials, art exhibits, and a lot more. But the best are the trips to other countries like Italy, Spain, France, Greece, etc. I missed that in America.
All in all, I really enjoied the school year in America. I had time to try out sports I haven’t tried before and I had time after school to do things I like. Of course I still had to do homework but it wasn’t as much as I had to do in Germany. What I absolutely love about the American high school is the sports and how the school supports every season. We don’t have that in Germany.
Each school system has its pros and cons and I can’t tell which school system I like the best. I can say that I really like how the American teachers motivate the students and support the school sports. I also like the dances each year, it’s just so much fun, but I also like my German school because we have class related field trips that help to understand the class material. I would like to learn with a little pressure, if it just wouldn’t be so much.
