by Laylah Denton
Q: Question
A: Answer
G: German student
Recently, Mount View had several German exchange students come to shadow our students and see what life is like in the United States. They did many activities and experienced many new things here in the United States. I had the opportunity to sit down with Stilla Andres, Merle Wolf, and Henriette Pellny to ask them questions.
Q: “Would you say your school is more urban or rural? Do a lot of students go there?”
A: “Yeah, a lot of students from around can come to our school because it is easy to get to the train station.”
Q: “How is school different here than it is in Germany?”
A: “I think we have more discussion in our class. We have oral marks for speaking with the teacher and we have more students in a class, we have about 22”
G: “Also, it’s kind of differently organized. The teachers don’t have their own classrooms, the students have their own homeroom and the teachers that teach the different subjects come to us.”
G: “Also the relationship between students and teachers is not so relaxed like it is here.”
Q: “Do you like the more relaxed part or do you like a more rigid style?”
A: “I think it’s a bit odd at first but it is nice because you don’t feel that much pressure talking to a teacher because we get graded for how we perform in talking to a teacher in class in a discussion. Here the teachers don’t expect that much from you and they also see you as human.”
“We also have a very small school, our school is very small compared to other schools in America.”
G: “I think we have about 1,000 students”
Q: “What are some differences between Germany and Maine?”
A: “Everything is so far apart. For example when you say you live in a small village it’s probably three houses with long distances in between the houses. When I say I live in a small village it’s probably around 400 people and the houses are actually next to each other.”
G: “I think a big difference is that you have mountains here because we live in the north of Germany and it is absolutely flat. I thought it was crazy when you’re on top of the mountain and you see all, but in the north of Germany that’s not possible. It’s just flat.”
Q: “Are there any cultural differences that surprised you or anything that was unexpected?”
A: “The pledge of allegiance. I was absolutely- not terrified but my face was like shocked. We were warned that you do that so we could get a heads up but it was still kind of a shock.”
Q: “Do you have anything that’s equivalent to that that you do?”
A: “No.”
“Nothing?”
G: “Nope.”
Q: “Do you celebrate your country at all?”
A: “No.”
G: “We just hang our flags up for maybe soccer games but with our history it’s not so easy to do.”
G: “We’re always scared to be considered a Nazi because of that. Patriotism is… not a good topic.”
Q: “It seems like Germany has one of the best Holocaust education systems and I wondered if that was helping you rebuild as a nation and be more patriotic. Have you seen any of that?”
A: “No, showing patriotism is not a big thing.”
Q: “Is there anything else that is surprising?”
A: “I don’t want to sound rude but we just talked about how we are at different points in our education. For example, I went to chemistry class the other day and they told me they just boiled water last week and that was something we did in 5th grade.”
“That’s not rude at all, it even differs from state to state here.”
G: “Yes, but when it comes to math the math team does stuff that I’m like ‘that’s what I’m gonna do next year when I graduate’. Also that you have so many things that we would consider extracurriculars. For example journalism that would be more like a school club.”