Vision of the future
Interviews with German students
Many of the German students were very satisfied with their school system. Their school system was very similar to the one here in Sweden, however, it seemed as the students had more responsibility to finish their assignments in Germany. However, this may be because they didn't seem to have such a good idea of how other schools worked. For example, they were shocked when they found out what school hours are like in Sweden. In Germany, school hours are roughly from 8am to 3pm every day. So it was a shock to them when we told them what our 4-6 hour days are like.
The financial aspect is also different, both we and them get free schooling but the little things like the quality of the lunch, the price of the lunch and our study allowance was idffrent. The lunch was very sad to see and hear, this as many of them don't eat the school food as it was often not of good quality and it cost 4 euros.
- How does your school prepare and talk about the EU and what comes with being an EU citizen?
The school we visited was an EU school so there was a major effort to spread information about the EU, for example we spoke to their ambassador Stefan about what they were doing to help spread the word and they told us about their Europe corner and the EU motto that was plastered on the windows.
The school was very good at creating opportunities outside of school where students could learn more about the EU, for example some had been to visit a parliament to see and hear how things work there.
- Do you think it's important to follow news around the world? Why/why not?
There were mixed answers here with a smaller proportion thinking it was important to keep up with the news, to know more about their surroundings and to gain a wider general knowledge of the world.
A larger proportion of students were not that interested in the news as they found it both boring and long-winded, and also felt that most of the news had no impact on their lives.
-Where do you read/listen to the news?
Mainly they used different kinds of media sources. Everything from instagram to reddit and twitter. Then if it's something major, they talk about it at school with teachers.
- Do you use social media? Which ones?
Just like here in Sweden, the majority of young people consume social media. The most common social media was Youtube, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat was the most popular ones.
-Are you politically active? And if so, in what party? Group? Or something else?
Many people answered that they weren't for the reason that they couldn't be bothered. But what many people did mention was an initiative called "Fridays For Future",which is an environmental initiative started by Greta Thunberg where people go on school strikes on Fridays to protest against the direction we are going in today with environmental issues.
- What is your opinion on the political developments in Europe?
Like the answer to the last question, not many people were involved with politics on that scale but with this question, many mentioned the situation in Ukraine and that we were heading for a worse time with less cooperation and less trade. Compared to Sweden, we didn't feel that the Germans had the same kind of fear of Russia that we perceive we have here in Sweden.
-What major challenges does Germany face in the future?
There were three answers here: legalization of cannabis, gender equality and racism.
The legalization of cannabis is a debate politicians in Germany are having at the moment where they are trying to figure out if the consequences of cannabis are bad or if it would work and have positive consequences. When we asked them what they thought, they joked and said "It would be nice". This is something that Sweden still hasn't addressed yet but is a known discussion around the world.
Equality and racism are the same problems we have in Sweden and therefore we did not ask many follow-up questions. The problem was mainly that people are treated differently depending on factors that should not define a person such as gender, name or skin color.
