Friday, October 25, 2019

Book Chatter

There's a book which came out around four weeks ago in Germany....entitled: 'A Teacher Sees Red', by Doris Unzeitig.  250 pages, but only available in German and in paperback form.

It's the story of this Austrian woman (Unzeitig herself) who left the homeland and came to Germany to be a teacher (around a decade ago).  She came to Berlin and quickly was accepted as a teacher.  She quit in 2018, and the landscape for that decision is quietly laid out in this book.

I read a good long review of the book over at Focus today.

What Unzeitig talks about is the violence, and failures of the school system in Berlin.  The term 'ghetto school' probably fits very well into the landscape.

Police operations are now considered the norm in these urbanized schools.  Teachers are fearful and worried.  Kids are out-of-control.  Students are marginally progressing, and the minimum use of German as a language promises to hinder society in the future.

The book will be discussed a good bit....maybe even get a public TV forum show, but it's revealing itself to be one of those top five problems facing the German public today. 

Recruiting teachers into these urbanized areas now?  One might wonder how they can accomplish this, and if they have to start leaving Germany to find non-Germans to teach. 


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