Ravensburg (dpa / lsw) - The Tübingen educational researcher Ulrich Trautwein has warned of a division in society because of the students left behind. Those who cannot read, write and do arithmetic properly in the fourth grade will probably continue to be left behind and end up in precarious jobs in the long term, said the chairman of the scientific advisory board of the Ministry of Education for the reorganization of the quality development of the Baden-Württemberg school system of the "Schwäbische Zeitung" (Saturday /Ravensburg). "This in turn endangers our open, democratic society: Anyone who wants to observe how society is becoming dangerously divided can observe this - almost in slow motion - by looking at the school careers of children in Baden-Württemberg."
With a view to the moderate performance of Baden-Württemberg children in educational tests, Trautwein said: "Perhaps the biggest mistake of the past 15 years was not reacting consistently to the changed student body."
The proportion of students with an immigrant background has risen from around 30 to around 50 percent in ten years - after Bremen, this is the highest value of all federal states. Their learning requirements are poorer, "and the average performance falls automatically if these children do not get particularly good learning opportunities. Unfortunately, Baden-Württemberg failed miserably here," he said. Things are different in Hamburg, for example.
"Some problems can be solved with the experts we already have, for other things we have to invest more money in the short, medium and long term, there's no question about it," explained Trautwein. According to the newspaper report, he described the current shortage of teachers as a "mortgage of the past" and as a shame. "For years to come, it will make it extremely difficult for us to offer children and young people what they are entitled to: the best possible support for their learning."
The right approaches, such as funding programs for mathematics and German, already exist. The fact that schools with special challenges should get more money than others is also good. In addition, from the point of view of the expert, day-care centers should be taken into account. "Here, the playful but systematic acquisition of the German language must succeed in all children. Unfortunately, we are a long way from that."
