It doesn't always have to be grammar school
I was recently a guest at a panel discussion. It was about schools and education. I enjoyed lively discussions, during which I realised once again that there is a two-tier mentality in our minds when it comes to educational pathways. The baccalaureate is obviously still regarded as the ideal route for all school careers. The view that it is worth more than a vocational baccalaureate or a certificate of proficiency obtained through an apprenticeship persists.
Even teachers often believe that particularly talented young people are only to be found at grammar school. However, research shows that there are just as many bright minds among graduates of vocational apprenticeships. The entrance examination to a grammar school merely ensures that those with poorer academic performance are not admitted. Which in turn does not mean that those who fail the grammar school exam are not gifted - sometimes you just have a bad day.
Cognitive abilities are just one of many intelligences
My suggestion would be that we start to think beyond the classic concept of intelligence. The work of US educational scientist Howard Gardner, for example, provides inspiration for this. According to Gardner, classic intelligence tests, which only measure our cognitive abilities, are inadequate when it comes to recognising other skills that, depending on the social situation or cultural context, are also crucial for a successful life.
Based on this conviction, he developed the theory of multiple intelligences in the 1980s. It encompasses the logical-mathematical, linguistic and visual-spatial abilities that are represented in the classical intelligence model - but also those that are not included in the latter. For example, musical-rhythmic, interpersonal and social intelligence or physical-kinesthetic intelligence. According to Gardner, the latter enables people to achieve extraordinary things with their bodies, as athletes or dancers do, but also stands for manual talent, as is typical of artists, craftspeople or surgeons.
Even though Gardner's model has been criticised by academics, it expresses the fact that life is about more than just academic knowledge. However, the standard entrance examinations continue to emphasise the old school approach. They test maths, German and French. Talents in music, design or sport do not count, let alone social or physical skills. And even if the latter should be the focus of a sports degree programme, a high school diploma is still a prerequisite for admission.
An insurmountable hurdle
A few years ago, I had a pupil who suffered from a reading and spelling disorder. Quite a few people with these symptoms have a pronounced spatial imagination. This pupil was no exception: his talent in maths and physics was extraordinary. He could certainly have studied at university. But the grammar school learning targets in German and foreign languages were an insurmountable hurdle for him.
Our society should do much more to ensure that children can discover, develop and utilise their talents.
My enquiries at the cantonal school revealed that there was no possibility of exempting him from language subjects or adjusting his learning objectives. So my former pupil opted for a technical apprenticeship, which he has since completed. Today he is a successful professional.
Secondary school or vocational training: many roads lead to Rome
Meanwhile, my eldest son consciously decided against the so-called royal road. After the second secondary school, he passed the entrance exam to the cantonal school so that he could have transferred to grammar school. He decided against it - and chose an apprenticeship as an automation technician with a vocational baccalaureate. Some may now think that he wasted an opportunity or even wasted his intelligence. My wife and I are convinced that he has found the right place. His passion for his job and the satisfaction he radiates from it encourage us in this view.
It is time to break with the cliché that a school-leaving certificate is a prerequisite for professional success. In my opinion, our society should be much more concerned - and schools have a great responsibility here - that children and young people have the opportunity to discover their talents, develop them further and utilise them in a targeted manner when they enter the world of work. However, this can only be achieved if we also give the next generation the freedom to pursue their own ideas and inclinations - be it at the drawing table, on the farm, in the workshop or out in the forest.
