UBC July 2024 - Education

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Welcome back to July's UBC. This month I'm going to be talking about cultural differences between Switzerland and the USA.

Today's topic is the educational path I promised I was going to explain in my post about work.

Let's begin with school. 

And by school I mean an actual place you go to In Switzerland, only some 4,000+ children are being home schooled. (As a comparison, in the US it's 2.5 million, then again the US has some 333 million citizens, and Switzerland only 9.)

In the cantons (states) of Bern and Zurich, parents are allowed to teach without a teaching certificate. In most other cantons, home schooling is only approved for parents with a teaching diploma. The aim is to ensure that curriculum is implemented correctly.

Kindergarten in Switzerland is a full two years of "just playing" and learning social skills like sharing and setting and accepting boundaries. Americans are often surprised to hear that there's no reading, writing or doing simple math involved. Especially since many young kids are already very much into those things. Colin was, and after jumping through many loops, he was allowed to skip the second year and start first grade of elementary school. 

Apparently in the US the entire Kindergarten property is not only video surveilled, but also streamed, so parents can log on and watch their kids play, eat snacks and run around? That is not the case in Switzerland. First of all, video surveillance is not allowed in most public places because of privacy laws, and secondly, a growing number of parents don't want their kids to be photographed or filmed ever.

Elementary school lasts six years, and during this time you are always in the same class with the same children and attend the same subjects with them. 

After this, kids will be divided into three groups. Depending on the state their schools will be called differently, so I will just use our state's terms. 

Simply put, the kids with great grades will go to Bezirksschule, which will lead to high school, students that do well but are not overly academic, attend Sekundarschule and may apply for demanding apprenticeships, and children who struggle at school end up at Realschule where they are prepared for vocational training in a trade. 

What are apprenticeships / vocational trainings?

Three- or four-year apprenticeships combine practical work and learning at vocational schools. Depending on the specific apprenticeship, the young person works in the company for three or four days and attends the sector-specific school on the other one or two days. 

These can be commercial, technical or manual professions. The corresponding qualification enables the person to practice the profession later. So if you call a plumber or electrician to your home in Switzerland, you can be confident that they have sound knowledge and experience in the field. 

After such a vocational qualification, the person can decide to work as a specialist in the field, or to attend a further technical college, after which they will be at a similar level to someone who has studied the subject at university - with the advantage that they have actual work experience, whereas in extreme cases the university graduate has never done anything other than going to school. 

Kinderkarten and elementary school will typically be very close to where you live. Kids are expected to walk themselves there. Are you gasping? It's normal around here. Where I live, there are so many other kids and a lot of older sibling and even parents who will walk to school, you're never alone. 

Their schedule includes two or three half days off. Also kids come home for lunch. This goes back to times when Moms stayed at home. Today it's a real challenge for working Moms. Now you know why my blog is called Part-time working Hockey Mom. 

By the way you don't get to choose what school or what class your kid will attend. You're getting a letter letting you know your kid's assignment. These days every second post in the Facebook Mommy groups is about how to appeal. Geez, the school has to juggle a certain number of students, teachers and classrooms and can't accommodate the wishes of all the parents who think their child has a right to be in the same class as their best friend/neighbor. 

Middle school will usually take the kids to the closest larger town, which is reachable by bike or public bus. We don't have school busses for public schools. Some private schools offer minivans to pick up kids. 

A good 88% of kids in Switzerland attend public schools. 

What subjects will you usually attend in Middle school? 

The total comes to 34+ lessons:

• German
• English
• French
• Italian (voluntary)
• Math
• Nature and Technology
• Spaces, Times and Societies (basically Geography, History and Social Studies)
• Economy, Work and Household (formerly known / run as Cooking Classes?!)
• Ethics, Religions and Community 
• Creative Design
• Textile and Technical Creations (gotta love the fancy names they invent)
• Music
• Movings and Sports
• Media and IT

I think the broad spectrum of mandatory subjects also differs us from the average US classes.

What we don't have, however, and I think that's a shame: At no point, maybe except religion, do our kids get in touch with hands-on experiences relating to poverty, homelessness, mental illness and the like. We certainly never have to volunteer for organizations helping people that are less fortunate. 

Highschool and vocational students usually commute 15 - 30 minutes by train to the state's capital and stay there for lunch. Finally the Moms are getting a break!

Since Switzerland is so small, many university students will be able to live at home and go back and forth by public transportation within 60 to 90 minutes per way. Also there's very few costs for the individual, meaning the major financial burden is carried by tax payers. Tuition fees at public Swiss universities vary between CHF 400 and CHF 2000.  In addition, there are costs for teaching materials and study materials of CHF 100 - 300 per semester.

In Switzerland, every high school graduate can study at a university. For some degree courses there are restrictions. This mainly affects subjects that are in high demand, such as medicine, psychology and sports science. In such cases, students must pass an aptitude test or an entrance examination.

Speaking of graduation - this is not a big thing here. There will be a formal celebratory event, but nothing like pomp and circumstance in the US, which is kind of sad. 

School spirit? Pyjama day? Unheard of in Switzerland.

I feel like "the Swiss" as a people don't feel comfortable letting their hair down. Ever?!

The only place they're getting close to it is a sports events. More about that in an upcoming post.

That was a lot to take in. Did I forget anything? Let me know what you think.