Miteinander

I'm excited by a story one of the German diplomats told our German conversation group on Thursday when she brought us an article to read about schools in Germany for German-Turkish youngsters, particularly focussing on such schools in and around Berlin.

Before we read that excellent article from Der Spiegel, Cristina, who used to live in the Turkish-dominated district of Kreuzberg, told us about one Berlin school whose name until very recently had been synonymous with violent aggression and lack of discipline among its multi-ethnic pupils (80% of them the children of recent immigrants), but which in the last two years has turned itself around. The story of the Rütlischule in Neukölln is a thrilling one. In 2006 the members of staff couldn't face entering a classroom without the means to dial for police intervention in case they got beaten up by their pupils. In the end the threat became so overwhelming that the teachers went on strike, thus making national headlines. Everyone at the school seemed to be "against" everyone else:

Im Chaos handelte fast jeder gegen jeden, jetzt lautet das Zauberwort "Miteinander"...

Nowadays, directed by Hr. Aleksander Dzembritzki, it's a model school, as described here in Die Zeit. There are numerous music and sports societies. Its proud, self-confident pupils have designed their own, trend-setting uniform, calling it Rütli-Wear. Their "magic" slogan is "Together" -- "Miteinander".

How has Dzembritzki achieved this miracle? When new pupils join the school they and their parents are made to sign a contract in which they promise to conform to three simple rules:

1. Jeder Schüler hat das Recht, ungestört zu lernen.
   
2. Jeder Lehrer hat das Recht, ungestört zu unterrichten.
   
3. Jeder muss stets die Rechte des anderen beachten.

(i.e. Every pupil has the right to learn without being disturbed by others. Every teacher has the right to teach without being disturbed. Everyone must always respect the rights of others.) If they misbehave they are immediately sent to a Trainingsraum for private, individual correction. If five visits to the Trainingsraum do not improve their behaviour they are then suspended from attending the school.

The article read by our group did not mention the Rütlischule, but told similar success stories about private schools. In a former British army barracks in Spandau the Tüdesb-Schule (a privately funded Gymnasium for children of the well-integrated Turkish middle-class) is in operation. Some parts of German society are suspicious of schools like this, thinking they might be a breeding ground for Turkish separatism and Islamic extremism, but they should look at the facts. At the Tüdesb-Schule, less than a fifth of the teachers are of Turkish background. German is the language of instruction and the primary foreign language taught is English; Turkish comes second. The school is, according to the article, a "religionsneutrale Zone" where Islam is not on the syllabus. The children learn "Ethics" instead.