“Merkel offen fuer tuerkische Schulen in Deutschland” (Merkel is open towards Turkish schools in Germany)
The article “Merkel offen fuer tuerkische Schulen in Deutschland” (Merkel is open towards Turkish schools in Germany) talks about how chancellor Angela Merkel met with Minister-President Erdogan in Turkey this past week. They discussed the topic of Turkish schools in Germany, stating that schools in which Turkish is taught already exist in Germany. This offering […]
Teach First makes the grade in Germany
Similar to the United States’ “Teach for America” program, Germany’s “Teach First” organization focuses on improving the education of challenged, mostly low-income schools. Graduates from elite Universities who wish to give back to the community are placed almost as (it seems to me) communication teachers – bridging the gap between the students, mostly from multicultural […]
Merkel gegen türkische Gymnasien in Deutschland
Angela Merkel spoke out against the suggestion by Tayyip Erdogan to open solely Turkish high schools in Germany. Not only German politicians were against his suggestions; the Türkischen Gemeinde in Deutschland also said that exclusive high schools were counterproductive towards integration. Read the full article here.
Bewerber-Diskriminierung
This was an interesting article in the online addition of Der Spiegel where students sent fictitious resumes to German companies under a Turkish and a German alias. The study proved that discrimination existed in the job market regardless of qualification, though it was also counteracted by things like recommendations. Read the full article here.
Berlin’s Ruetli School – Campus of Hope
In February of 2006, at Berlin’s Ruetli School ,students erupted into a violent mob after teachers of the school wrote a letter in protest of their students’ lack of concern for academics and their dangerous behavior towards educators. Now, four years later, the school has been converted from a Hauptschule to a Gemeinschaftsschule and was given over 25 […]
The Kampf for ‘Mein Kampf’
Following the fall of the Nazi Regime, the publishing rights to Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ in Germany have been the ownership of the state of Bavaria, which obtained the copyright as part of the Allies’ de-Nazification program. Once Bavaria obtained the right, they barred further publication of the work. Since then, however, multiple groups and organizations have […]
Right-Wing Extremism: Far-right party allowed to distribute CDs to students
I included this article because upon first reading I found it surprising that such far-right ideology was still being exposed in Germany. Given its history over the last 80 or so years i would have thought such extremist rhetoric would be far more taboo; yet I suppose it also caters to the fears of many […]
Report Backs Teaching Of Islam at German Universities
This article discusses a German advisory council’s recommendation that centers for Islamic studies be set up at universities throughout the country. The Council also recommended that Muslim authorities be given the power to choose who teaches these courses. Despite Germany’s large Muslim population there are few outlets in universities to educate individuals regarding Muslim theology. […]
German Home-Schoolers Granted Political Asylum in US
This article examines a fundamental difference between the educational culture of the United States and Germany. The Romeike family of Germany, who are Evangelical Christians, took their children out of mainstream school and attempted to homeschool their children. After hefty fines and harassment from German authorities, the Romeike family fled to the United States where […]
Berlin’s Museum of Islamic art reaches out to new audiences
Berlin’s Museum of Islamic art is vastly expanding. The museum plans to reach out to non-Islamic people by “making sense of the present through the past”. In this article, Stefan Weber, in charge of the expansion, seems to genuinely want to reach out to the German people and teach them about Muslim culture. His ideas […]