About School.

This is my personal opinion and someone else might see it completely different.

All my life I heard people around me saying "The Austrian education system isn't good at all, in fact it's shit." I heard teachers sides, I heard parents sides and above all I heard students sides. But no matter which side that statement came from it never went any further than "It's shit" 

People never continued with "because...". That way I grew up with the opinion that our education system isn't good without knowing why. I mean how should I have know, no one ever told me and I never had a comparison. As I got a little bit older and decided to study abroad for a year the topic of studying and education systems got really big again as getting part of a completely different system isn't something you do every day. I started to actually compare ways the different school systems work and I saw that there indeed is another way of studying. Now that I have actually experienced and lived an alternative to the Austrian education system I want to share my opinion about both of the system with you.

In Austria children start school at the age of six with four years of primary school and after that students start visiting lower school for four years continued with four years of upper school or one year of upper school and then starting to learn a job. The Austrian system offers many different types of schools and the options a broad.

In the UK the students enter primary school at the age of 5 until they are 11 years old continued with secondary school from 11 to 16 where students complete their GSCE's. After that visiting school is optional but for students who want to visit University it is necessary to stay in further education and visit sixth form to study their A-Level's (which I'm doing at the minute).

You can't judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree. Sadly this is how the system in Austria works. Although students have the option to visit a school that focuses on a special area - like art in my chase - they still don't finish their general education until they finish school. A student might be the best painter in the world or an amazing sportsman or sportswoman yet if they are unable to be excellent in science or german or maths they have "failed" and no one sees their actual talent because it's "not academic". However it is a good thing to achieve lots of detailed general education because even as an freelance artist or a professional musician maths or general geographic knowledge for example isn't a disadvantage. 

On the other hand the British school system doesn't give students the option of choosing different types of school, there is the same school type for every student. Yet the education focuses a lot more one the students as individuals by letting the students choose their subjects. While they have to take certain subjects in terms of general education before entering sixth form when studying A-Level's students are free to choose any subject they like. Studying only 3-5 subjects sounds like nothing for someone being involved in Austrian Education studying up to 16 subjects but the subjects in England are studied in a lot more detail. Students pick subjects regarding to what they want to study at university which means the students are supposed to be interested in their subjects. Furthermore especially sixth form leads students towards independence and independent studying.

Austrian working society and society in general almost demands the "Reifeprüfung" or "Matura" (end of school exams; equal to A-Levels) from people although it is only really needed when wanting to attend university nevertheless society judges you if you haven't completed these exams which in my opinion is wrong because someone that achieved education from the real working world by learning a job can be equally as good but the talent stays hidden because of the blindness of society and the fact that people on judge what is written on a piece of paper.

Moreover Austria offer students to visit a school depending on their academic level which leads to judgements by society because someone who attended a "lower level school" isn't seen as academic as some else who visited a school with a higher level which in my opinion causes false prejudices that shouldn't exist at all. With students all attending the same type of school in the UK there is no judgement in certain academic levels of individuals and they are not classed as "stupid" or "intelligent" because of the type of school they attend.

I personally prefer the English system to the Austrian one because I like to work on my own without needing my teachers approval after every word I put on paper, in other words I'm someone who likes to work independently and I also enjoy with how less pressure (at least on me) the system works in the UK. There are some things that I still don't reeeally get about school here like school uniforms or detention but that is because I haven't grown up experiencing that I guess.

It might be hard to compare two completely different systems and after all I still think you need to experience school in each of the two countries to actually judge it but I hope I was able to give you a little (also if a n´bit superficial) glance into the advantages and disadvantages. If you are planning on doing an exchange year I definitely think the British school system supports your academic performance in general and for your life.

Lots of Love,

LeaLila

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