First day of school

Elias began third grade today at the public elementary school on the other side of our backyard fence. He is delighted to have regular contact with other kids again. This morning, several kids from his two-week summer camp materialized as if from nowhere and said cheerful Hallos before disappearing again into the first-day chaos. Elias's teacher seems friendly and confident, and the classroom is bright, comfortable, and spacious.

Parents don't seem to do the same amount of hand-wringing here as in the U.S., and the teachers don't seem to be under the same autonomy-crushing degree of curricular over-prescription. No proof of vaccinations is required; administrators figure if the kid hasn't caught anything awful yet, he's good to go.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, school starts at 8:40 a.m. Every other weekday it starts at 7:50 a.m. On Tuesdays, it lets out at 12:10 p.m.; every other day it lets out at 1:00 p.m. "I've never had such a short school day!", Elias said brightly this evening. Oh dear.

What better way to ensure a good start to the year than walking over to the Evangelische (Protestant) church for a service? German schools alternate the opening service every year between Catholic or Protestant churches. Because these are the two dominant religions in Germany, and because they run well-organized ships, they have a constitutional right to help educate the country's youth (and to tax Catholic and Protestant citizens)--thereby ensuring they will remain the two dominant religions.

Tuesdays and Thursdays Elias will get 45 minutes of religious education. Elias can choose between Catholic and Protestant, but since the Catholic third graders are all preparing for first communion, the school recommends he go with the Protestant kids. Or he can opt out and do, I dunno, something else during that time. (Regarding this, the principal said, "it's very convenient that he lives so close to the school!"). The reasoning is that religion is so integral to German culture and history, it has to be taught in the schools for everything else to make sense. Wonder what German Jews, Muslims, and other religious minorities--including Christian ones--think about that. Probably the same thing Native Americans think about being taught Christopher Columbus discovered their continent. (Incidentally, we have a Freiburger to thank for America being called America rather than Columbia, but that's a story for another time.) Officially, Germany separates church and state; thus priests and pastors, rather than teachers, handle religious education in the schools. Oh dear.