"I am a little confused about whether my child should 'lie' or 'roll' when he goes to a Swiss public school..."

Known for its "elite education" and "expensive tuition", Swiss private schools attract the attention of wealthy families all over the world. In contrast, Switzerland's public education system is approachable and low-key. So, what is the experience of studying in a Swiss public school? In the following, Sarah, a Chinese mother, shares her experience of raising a baby in Switzerland. In this picturesque, liberal and liberal land, she also has some parenting confusion...

Text丨Zhou Yingying, ed.丨May

When it comes to Swiss education, the word "fine" and "expensive" is most likely in our minds.

In the young study abroad circle, Swiss private schools have always been known for their "elite education", even surpassing the United Kingdom and the United States, and becoming the first choice for many celebrities and wealthy people. Naturally, its tuition fees are not affordable, and Forbes once rated "the world's top ten most expensive private boarding schools", and the top 9 were actually occupied by Swiss private schools.

Compared with the "rich or expensive" of Swiss private schools, in recent years, Swiss public schools have become more "close to the people" in the eyes of Chinese parents. After all, if one of the parents applies for a residence permit in Switzerland for more than 3 months (e.g. by signing a labor contract or applying for a student visa), the child can attend a free public school.

What will it be like to raise a baby in the Swiss public system? Is it worth the "eagerness" of Chinese parents around the world?

In 2016, Sarah, a Chinese mother who moved from Beijing to settle in Switzerland, felt quite a felt.

Sarah and children in Switzerland

She studied and worked in Switzerland for a while. Later, she returned to China to work, and started a family and raised a baby in Beijing with her Swiss husband. It wasn't until their son was 3 years old that the couple returned to Switzerland with their children, and now they are studying in the Swiss public system with their children.

Although she is no stranger to the land of Switzerland, raising a baby in Switzerland and facing the country's basic education is a different feeling for Sarah.

Over the years, Sarah has experienced many ridiculous stories, such as,

At the parent-teacher meeting of the fifth grade of primary school, I witnessed the teacher being "attacked by a group of parents";

Before the exam, I found that there were no textbooks for a certain subject, and I didn't know what the baby had learned;

While weakening the competition, it has advanced the diversion track of vocational education to the graduation of primary school...

In short, behind the free and relaxed Buddhist education in Switzerland, there are also many things that confuse her, a Chinese mother.

As a parent of a fifth-grade student, should she "lie down" or "roll"?

Swiss landscape photographed by Sarah

Chinese Mother's "Homework Defense"

His son, Sha Xiaoen, is in the fifth grade at a public primary school in the German-speaking region of Zurich, Switzerland.

Unlike many elite families who send their children to study in Switzerland in order to use Swiss private schools as a springboard to enter the world's famous schools, Sarah's idea is very simple, that is, to let their children study in the Swiss public system and take the same educational path as ordinary Swiss families.

But as she walked, she found that as a Chinese parent, there were still many places where she was "unadaptable".

The most recent shock was the parent-teacher conference two weeks before the start of school.

Grace is at a Swiss school

In the new school year, a new teacher has come to my son's class to serve as a general teacher. In this parent-teacher meeting, the new teacher introduced herself and introduced the new subjects and learning goals of each subject to the parents.

As a result, before the new teacher could finish the introduction, the Swiss parents first began to complain, "Why is there so much homework when you are in the fifth grade?" Soon, the complaints and doubts in the classroom were overwhelming.

Some parents complain that their children need too much time to do homework every day;

Some complained that they wanted to give a lecture to their children, but they couldn't get it at all;

Some parents even complained that their children came home with homework every day, and their schoolbags were too heavy!

This made Sarah cry and laugh, "Is there a lot of homework? My son's time to complete his homework every day is obviously not as good as the time to play games." And the parents who complain about the heavy schoolbags of their children obviously live closest to the school, just across the road..."

In the face of some cross-examination from parents, the new young teacher did not refute, but just wrote down the questions one by one.

After the parent-teacher meeting, Sarah deliberately stayed until the end, expressed her understanding and support to the teacher, and also conveyed a "different" voice - for some children, the amount of homework is not much, such as her son Xiaoen. As a parent, I will help my child develop good homework habits and cooperate with the teacher's work.

This comfort almost brought tears to the eyes of the young teacher.

In the end, as a result of this "homework war", the teacher did not assign any homework for a long time.

The baby shouted long live, and Sarah was sad.

She admits that in Swiss schools, moving from the fourth grade to the fifth grade is indeed a "watershed".

Compared with the fourth grade, the fifth grade not only adds two new subjects, French and media, but also has more homework. On the first day of school, Xiao En went home with four or five books on his back, and he was tired to death. Because his schoolbag had been empty before, he didn't have to pack anything.

For a long time, Xiao En's schoolbag was an ornament

Sarah encouraged her son, "In the upper grades of primary school, it's normal to have more homework and homework, and we can't play around like we used to, we have to study seriously." Positive hints and encouragement make Xiao En have a positive attitude and are ready to go.

On the other hand, Sarah has indeed laid good study habits for Xiao En.

Assignments in Swiss schools are generally not assigned on the same day and completed on the same day. Even elementary school students' homework has a lot of "flexibility", for example, it will be completed by children in a few days.

Adults procrastinate, let alone children. At the beginning, Xiao En often staged the drama of "crazy homework the night before", or played until he forgot his homework at all. So, Sarah and her son made a rule - the homework left for the day must be completed on the same day.

In this way, Xiao En gradually developed the habit of using time efficiently and managing homework independently, such as every Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, when there is no school class, he will hurry up to complete his homework without Sarah worrying about it. And in the free time, Xiao En can still play games and relax.

"For fifth-grade students, the amount of homework per week does not add up to more than two hours. As long as the child has good study habits, there really isn't much homework. ”

Sarah's "Buddhist life" was shattered by this unexpected parent-teacher conference.

After the homework disappeared, she had to "add food" to her son by herself. This also means that she needs to understand the child's learning content that day, assign homework in a targeted manner, and also correct and explain, adding a lot of workload out of thin air.

In fact, the abolition of homework has always been a debate in the Swiss education system, and it is discussed every year, with some cantons supporting it and some opposing it.

Homework seems to be just a trivial matter, but it reflects the difference between the concept of family education in the East and the West.

In Sarah's view, the process of completing homework is not only about "learning from the past", but also about the qualities she values such as "self-management, self-discipline and restraint, and delayed gratification". Of course, free play time outside of homework and the cultivation of interpersonal skills should also be guaranteed.

As a Chinese child, in addition to subject assignments, Xiao En also has one more task than other students - learning Chinese.

Chinese teachers are scarce in Switzerland, and the Chinese tutoring institutions Sarah has access to are more club-style interest classes and lack systematization. Therefore, she had to serve as Xiao En's "Chinese private teacher", cooperate with the Chinese teaching materials brought from China, and take time to tutor Xiao En.

Although there is a Chinese language environment at home, reading and writing Chinese is the most challenging. Therefore, she insisted on letting Xiao En read a short Chinese essay every day, and set aside two hours every weekend to memorize new words and write silently.

Xiao En's weekend is both German reading and Chinese reading

Today, Xiao En, who is in the fifth grade, Chinese can almost reach the level of the second grade of primary school in China.

Sarah is still difficult to explain to Xiao En what it means for him to learn Chinese well. Although he left Beijing at the age of 3 and came to Switzerland, like his father, Sarah always believes that learning Chinese is her son's life lesson.

When the child gets on a "slow train"

In fact, before the "homework defense war", there were many educational moments that slowly fermented in the heart of this Chinese mother.

Sarah recalls that when she was in third grade, there was a time when she was taking online classes at home, and the school sent an email to her parents assigning them a task for the week – asking them to memorize the third and sixth lines of the multiplication table.

It made her feel unbelievable: a week and only need to memorize two lines of multiplication tables?

"When I was in kindergarten, I was able to deduce some simple multiplication operations. No matter how slow the teaching progress is, such a simple content should be memorized by the second grade. She couldn't help but wonder, what is the child learning all day long?

There's also a little thing about reading.

Many schools in Switzerland have an Antolin reading point system, which encourages children to read consistently from the first grade of primary school.

This is something Sarah recognizes. After all, for young children, the means and tool of school reading points are very helpful to stimulate children's reading motivation and sense of achievement.

But the reality is that the actual implementation of different schools is too different. At my son's school, reading points have not been put on the agenda until now, while my friends' children who go to school in other states have thousands of points on the campus reading point system... In contrast, Sarah was a little anxious.

She didn't expect that in the same public system, there are so many differences between schools in different states. It is not surprising to add to the current state of education in the Swiss cantons.

Although the canton of Zurich, where I live, is the most economically developed state, it has a pass rate of only 13%, ranking last among the cantons. The state of education in Switzerland varies widely, with a great deal of autonomy from subjects to textbooks to learning progress.

In other words, if the education level and academic performance of the Swiss cantons are compared to different types of trains, then some cantons are high-speed rail, some cantons are general express, and their own cantons are like slow trains.

Xiao-en

What should I do when my child gets on a "slow train"?

Sarah can't be as Buddhist as other Swiss parents, so she has to do it herself, not only caring about her child's homework, but also paying attention to every exam in school.

Starting from the fifth grade of primary school, Xiao En's school has a "quiz" every week. Of course, the test results will not be announced, only the children and their parents will know. Xiao En, who has studied solidly, can basically get full marks back.

Sarah said that the school performance of Swiss primary schools actually has the role of "going on to higher education".

There is a policy in Switzerland that there is a "stream" from primary school to lower secondary school, which depends on the usual grades in school at the primary level.

Every year, only a part of the children enter the general junior high school, and the rest enter a similar vocational junior high school, where they learn some vocational skills in addition to studying. Of course, both types of junior high schools are compulsory and compulsory. Eventually, about two-thirds of students go on to vocational education.

As can be seen from the figure below, in the Swiss dual-track vocational education system, the vocational education path represented by the red part and the general education path represented by the blue part are separate systems, but they also overlap, leaving some channels.

Dual vocational education system in Switzerland

Sarah naturally does not want her children to be "shunted" so early and embark on the path of vocational education. "A primary school student, where does he know what career he wants to do in the future. ”

However, in urging children to "prepare for the exam", Sarah often has some moments of weakness.

In the school's main subjects, there are German, mathematics, English, French, media, social humanities and science. (By the way, Switzerland has four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh, and the language of instruction in public schools is the official language of the canton.) As a result, German is the main language of instruction at the German-speaking school, while English and French are equivalent to foreign languages. ）

Among them, the course of social humanities and sciences is equivalent to a "hodgepodge", which is completely based on the personal interests of teachers, and the content is all-encompassing, but there is no unified textbook and syllabus.

One semester, Xiao En's teacher was interested in "butterflies", so he talked about butterflies for a whole semester in this class, involving various types of butterflies, living habits and other aspects, and even taught some songs about butterflies. There is also a semester in which the class is all about "Freedom and Equality".

What made Sarah even more laughable was that when the exam was approaching, she found that there were no textbooks and syllabus for this course, and even after a semester, the child could not get a single note and review material related to this lesson.

What did you learn in this course? Didn't you grasp it thoroughly in class? The child himself couldn't tell.

Sarah originally planned to give feedback to the teacher and make some suggestions, but unexpectedly, the teacher was soon "complained" by other parents, and the reason is still unknown.

To her relief, the new teacher has at least begun to prepare the courseware. In the new semester, the content of the study is "Religions of the World", and the teacher not only printed and distributed relevant materials to the children, but also assigned some classroom tasks - for example, to study in small groups, and to give speeches and presentations on stage. Parents can also come to the public class at any time.

Eun is reviewing his homework

Let's look at the "freedom and relaxation" of Swiss education

It has been 8 years since I brought my children to Switzerland to study in 2016. Sarah also has a lot more to learn about the "freedom and relaxation" of Swiss education.

First of all, it is undeniable that Swiss parents are relatively loose in education.

As a high-welfare country with one of the world's highest per capita GDP, Swiss families spend very little on education because of the very large amount of education expenditure.

Grace in the chess club

Take Xiao En's interest class as an example, the schedule is very full, but it doesn't cost money.

Monday is football lessons. You only need to pay a membership fee of 200 Swiss francs a year, you can train twice a week, you can participate in competitions for free, and you can give away team uniforms for free;

Tuesday is a chess club that's completely free;

Wednesday is a tennis lesson of CHF 20 per class with only 4 students per class;

Thursday is a piano lesson, one-on-one lesson, 40 minutes per lesson, about 40 Swiss francs (this is the most expensive of the interest classes, since the local conservatory has a half-price discount for children, the original price is estimated to be 80 Swiss francs)

Saturday is a Chinese class, with two lessons totaling 36 Swiss francs.

In addition, coupled with some seasonal sports, such as ski classes, skating classes, and various holiday camps, Sarah calculated that the annual education expenditure of about 3,000 Swiss francs, totaling about 25,000 yuan, is a "poly-cost-effective".

You know, this is in Switzerland, where prices are high, compared to the cost of living such as accommodation, food, transportation, shopping, etc., the education expenses of ordinary people are simply not worth mentioning.

For example, because of the high cost of parking and fuel, an average Swiss family spends nearly 60,000 yuan a year on transportation, and due to the high price of ingredients and labor costs, the average annual food cost is more than 100,000 yuan.

Nick En at the ski camp

Secondly, the mature vocational education system allows Swiss parents to calmly deal with the "diversion".

In the Swiss public education system, there are streams from primary school to junior high school and junior high school to high school, and a considerable number of children will enter the vocational education system to receive skills training. There is even a fair part of it that comes from active choice.

Sarah said that when she was studying in Switzerland 20 years ago, there was already a situation where "ordinary university graduates are not as popular as blue-collar workers". Whether you go to college or not, there is not much difference in salary after graduation.

For example, the average starting salary for the average university graduate is CHF 4,000, while front-line workers are about the same. The salary gap in all walks of life is mainly about whether you can move up to management.

Vocational education pathways in Switzerland are also flexible. For example, 45% of apprentices complete further training after graduation, 29% complete a higher vocational education course, and 16% complete a bachelor's degree at a university of applied sciences.

Career change after five years of apprenticeship

Sarah's nephew chose to pursue vocational education, and after graduation, he worked in an auto insurance company, and later continued his education, earning a bachelor's degree from a university of applied sciences at the age of 25, and is now an expert in the field of auto insurance.

Since both paths can be taken, in the minds of most Swiss parents, the future depends mainly on their children's talents and interests - if it is the material for reading, they will go all the way to further their studies, and if it is not for reading, they should learn the craft as soon as possible.

This is why in the Swiss public system, especially in primary and junior high schools, parents are almost very Buddhist. Parents like Sarah, who are a little bit of a snack for their children's learning, are already the "volume king" in the parent circle.

However, with an in-depth understanding of Swiss education, Sarah was also a little confused.

1. Is the "diversion" that is too front-loaded really a kind of "making the best use of talents"?

She does not deny that some children have indeed found jobs and positions that suit them after being diverted. However, there must be a considerable number of children who need more time and space for exploration and trial and error.

Of course, there is a culture of encouraging "social practice" in Swiss education, and Xiaoen's school will also ask everyone to experience "a day in the XX profession". In many Swiss companies, it is also common to see 15- and 16-year-old students working and studying.

However, the opportunity for career experience is not provided by the school, but requires parents to inquire in the circle of acquaintances and help their children apply. What kind of industry and enterprise can be experienced depends not only on the interests of children, but also on the network resources of the family.

This semester, my son Xiaoen has just experienced a "day in the life of an insurance company". At the moment, he is curious about the financial sector.

As for what kind of work he wants to do in the future, he still doesn't know, but he knows that he is very bad at handicraft subjects, and he is not interested in common skill positions such as pastry chef and florist.

And what Sarah can do is try to keep her son from being shunted out prematurely until he has a direction that interests him.

Xiao-en

2. On the one hand, there is too loose basic education, and on the other hand, there is higher education with a high elimination rate

Unlike in China, Switzerland's higher education stage adopts a "wide entry and strict exit", and the pressure to graduate from university is far greater than the pressure to enroll. Therefore, in Swiss universities, the proportion of students who fail or even be eliminated every year is very high, and there are many students who can only change majors because they can't adapt to the pressure.

This makes Sarah worry, if Xiao En continues to be "free-ranged" by the school, will he be able to cope with the academic competition pressure at the university level in the future?

And the reality of education in various states also made her feel that her worries were not unnecessary.

In Switzerland, due to the educational autonomy of the cantons, the educational policies of the different cantons are relatively independent, and there is no uniform standard for textbooks, teaching objectives and syllabuses. Some states may be strict about teaching, reading, homework, etc., while others are more lax and more casual in homework and subject arrangements.

However, on the whole, the educational environment in Switzerland is relatively liberal and relaxed, just like its tranquil and tranquil natural scenery.

Right now, Sarah thinks what she can do is to keep a clear understanding of her needs in a Buddhist environment, recognize her needs, and strike a good balance.