Anyone who, like me, has worked as a teacher in Berlin for almost a decade is amazed that Germany is arguing about a politician’s choice of words and not about how to solve the many problems in schools. There is a lack of money and suitable staff.
Friedrich Merz dared to call children and young people who act cheeky and rebellious towards teachers “little pashas”, and Germany is upside down. The wording is open to debate, as is the term “mini-machos” that I use. In any case, the CDU chairman hit the nail on the head and described an unfortunate fact. It amazes me that the country is now arguing about the choice of words and not about how to solve the many problems in schools that I know only too well from personal experience.
I was a teacher in Berlin for almost a decade, head of the Spreewald elementary school right next to the Schöneberg “Sozialpalast”, a neighborhood full of immigrant families in social poverty, with drug trafficking, prostitution and crime. The difficulties in the German education system, in schools and in integration are revealed here in an exemplary manner. There is a lack of money and suitable staff.
Bullying and violence among students and the religious culture clash in the classrooms went so far that I hired a private security service, which the red-red-green Senate viewed with suspicion. Children insulted my colleagues with expressions that are sometimes drowned out with “beep” signs in TV documentaries. A student said to a young teacher, “I have never seen an uglier person.”
No willingness to clarify fundamental questions
I liked working at the “Spreewald” precisely because it was a “hot spot school” whose children deserve just as much commitment as those at an elite high school. However, the narrow-mindedness of the red-red-green coalition made me resign. I gave up in frustration, returned to my home country of Austria and wrote a book about my time in Berlin. I received countless responses from parents and colleagues saying: finally someone dares to name things clearly.
No one from politics has contacted me, neither the SPD nor the Greens and Left Party, nor the CDU, by the way. So I’m not surprised that everything has stayed the same since then. Berlin politicians have always lacked understanding and willingness to clarify fundamental issues. Then as now, red-red-green practiced multicultural whitewashing. Just don’t do anything that could look like racism and Islamophobia, even if all the children suffer from the misery and there are only losers in the end.
Not even the violent excesses that resulted from disputes between hostile Arab, Turkish and Kurdish clans were noticed. As bitter as it sounds: for the parents of many children in Berlin’s problem areas – and I am sure that it is the same in other German educational institutions in socially disadvantaged areas – attending school has only the function of receiving cash benefits under the Social Welfare Act and, for some, the offspring hours to be gone.
It is crucial to give children equal educational opportunities
All of this has to do with poverty. There is an undeniable connection between social background and education that politics must address. Looking at a Muslim background is only of limited help. In my experience, especially in Arab families, Islam is perceived primarily as an expression of their own culture and identity – religion plays a subordinate role. Catholic customs in Bavaria are also first and foremost an expression of a personal or family homeland-oriented identity. There are Germans and immigrants with low and high IQs alike.
It is crucial to give children equal educational opportunities so that they can develop their potential. It is high time that Germany stopped talking and acted before the misery got worse. The fact that far too many parents, especially in socially deprived areas, see school as a safe place for their children must come to an end, as must violence and bullying – if necessary using private security services. Teachers need to be empowered to teach. It is clear that hardly anyone wants to take up the profession when week after week in the media you can read about violence, bullying, bureaucracy, toilets in need of renovation and other shortcomings in educational institutions.
Incentive systems and benchmarks must also be created for teachers to assess whether they have done a good job. Too much goes wrong in teacher training. It is unacceptable that qualified pedagogues cannot cope with twenty children. At best, students are randomly guided by adjunct faculty, but not trained by established teachers.
Schools need professionals
If schools are given access to qualified specialists such as psychotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, etc., educational problems can be tackled locally. School will never be able to fully compensate for a lack of parenting by mothers and fathers. It is of great importance to enable parents to qualify their children for the life of a society they have chosen.
Findings from conflict research must finally have consequences. Timely intervention involving the parents is necessary. This can be difficult if fathers do not want to come to school and mothers do not have the authority in the family to discuss measures with the teacher at home and then enforce them at home. Language deficits can no longer be an excuse – neither for teachers nor for parents. Every cell phone has a translation app that allows at least rudimentary communication.
If Joachim or Mahmoud cannot follow the lesson because they are not intellectually capable and therefore bored, they start provoking a classmate, which can lead to verbal and even physical arguments. It is known from research that unresolved conflicts lead to a constant increase in the potential for aggression, which can erupt at the first opportunity and be directed against “dominant strangers”. People in uniform are viewed as “enemies of the neighborhood” and attacked. In my opinion, it doesn’t help much to talk about Berlin children with or without a German passport. It is crucial that punishment follows immediately. That would have a deterrent effect, because a suspected rioter has a hard time presenting himself as “cool”.
These are just a few points to start with. It is time that Germany finally acted and did not discuss a politician’s unfortunate choice of words. However, this requires openness. Closing your eyes to bare facts does not help. It’s about nothing less than a prosperous future.