Day 11 - Frankfurt

The schedule started with group looking in on a realschule, which in America we would call a middle school, but it's students are 5-10th grades. It's a little different from ours though because the kids attending this type of school is not headed for college, but vocational school. It is possible to get to university from realschule, but only about 10% of this school saw their students be successful at that. School starts at 8:30 and usually ends no later than 1:00 p.m. They have an extended day "homework class", but most of the students go home. I was told that German mothers feel that their kids need time away from heavy thinking, so they don't want their kids in school as long as the English or Americans. There's one other type of "high school/middle school" called the hauptschule where students are prepared to be clerks and other such vocations. We sat in on a social studies lesson and an English lesson. The principal was really animated and energetic; it looked like a great place for learning.

Our afternoon was left open for us and we scattered to the wind!