American reacts to GERMAN UNIVERSITIES : From Finance To Fraternities
Vložit
- čas přidán 26. 07. 2022
- Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to Studying In Germany, From Finance To Fraternities. This was a great primer on German higher education. Thank you for subscribing!
As US citizen studying medicine in Germany, I alternate between tears and laughter every semester when I happily pay my 314EUR and reflect on how much this opportunity has changed my life. Before I left the US at 23, I was working 3 jobs and studying full-time at a relatively affordable state school (with a really great scholarship, as well!), and I was falling apart. It has been less stressful to literally learn another language in my mid-20s, move abroad, and get into medical school in another country than to survive the US system. Additionally, I should add that I have no plans to move back to the US after finishing my training. I'm genuinely grateful for the opportunities that Germany has given me, and, as cheesy as it sounds, I will happily work and pay my taxes here.
Then the system worked very well in your case. The offer of affordable studies should lead to bright minds and well-educated academics staying here in Germany and enriching our country, thank you!
A person's level of education should never depend on the wealth of their parents, that's a vicious circle and leads to social division in countries that have this system.
Freut mich, und herzlich willkommen hier 😄
Aww, so happy you found your new home here in Germany 😊
Your welcome
Good to have you, herzlich willkommen!
Of course, universities are not free, not even in Germany. We, the people, pay for them with our taxes. And that's a good thing. Because we, the people, have decided that it makes much more sense to keep the stupid out of university, and not the poor.
Nothing is free in this world, not even German universities. We just split the cost between all of us which makes it affordable to anyone who has the intellectual capacity.
It's even a good investment into the future. You do want other people, who's services you depend on, to be competent.
As to free universities for international students, if a person stays in Germany after their studies and works for 5 years, they have basically paid back what it costs to educate them. And quite a few stay longer.
@@merrydiscusser6793
A damn Mercedes doesn't engineer itself :)
We didn't just decide that. Generations fought hard for that right!
semesterbeitrag gibt es an jeder hochschule, so the idea of for free is false
@@jdktoo
Really? You have to pay for the water and electricity you use? Cry me a river.
There's another benefit of being a student in Germany: You don't have to worry about health insurance until the age of 25 either, because you are covered by your parents' insurance. And after that, there are special offers for students that are much more affordable than regular health insurance fees. So being a student as long as possible also pays off in this regard.
After 25 you have to pay for healthcare around 100€ per month but that covers pretty much everything. If you are in need of medicine or a doctors visit you don´t have to pay extra unless you need to stay in the hospital and even then it´s like 10€ per day
@@emilwandel Still 160€ isn't much and less than when you need to be insured by yourself
@@michi6486 110+
But if you want to work and study masters at the same time, I haven't seen a free program. Besides all MBA even at state universities are paid.
@@anneneville6255 Just work 20 hrs max per week, then you can attend normal free study programs
Also here in germany those "nice and private unis" don't usually have a better reputation (Goethe Uni in Frankfurt has a very very good rep and it's not private) because "well you just bought your degree with all the money you are able to spend"
I think that’s a very wrong thing… and I work very hard to be able to study at such university. The only thing saving me from debt is because with my parents. And no they aren’t paying the costs. I go to work and pay by myself. In the end of the month I only have maybe 100€ if I am lucky. And I am not the only one with such a situation. It’s just a popular belief that you buy yourself degree. People have to be more educated. And in Germany there are some courses only very very limited in public universities. So those courses have even 2-3 entrance tests before you can study there. As result you have to go to a private one if you can bring up the money or are ready to make debts… Of course it’s not for all courses but what I study it is like that…
Yes, the "free admission courses" are overcrowded, but only in the first 2 semesters or so. The homework and the exams are intentionally brutal in the first semesters, to encourage the weakest students to leave on their own. Additionally, there is a rule that you must pass certain basic exams before you reach a certain semester, otherwise you get automatically kicked out entirely.
eh it depends - some professors like to do that kind of thing, others wont... also some faculties are more prone to it
for example mathematics tend to do that a lot, mostly because analytics is a pretty damn hard topic to get your head around...and its pretty much one of the fundamentals, so a lot of people will fail out of maths in the first 1-2 semesters
meanwhile the comp-sci i went through was pretty straightforward and the harder topics mostly showed up in the 3rd-5th semester courses... but 1-2 years before i started, one of the first semester courses focused a LOT more on the theoretic fundamentals which are harder to grasp than the more practical oriented version i went through... the main difference was that a different professor was teaching the course that year
of course which prof does those courses is decided by the university, so in years with a TON of new students they might simply decide to field the more difficult version to thin out the numbers a bit, but thats speculation... im not part of that process, ive only been a student^^
@@SharienGaming it suffices when one professor (typically a math prof ;) ) does it
@@SharienGaming
I wish in chemical studies when I tried it, would be math to devide the good students from the bad ones. But they made mean psychological teases to get 50% out, because in 3. semester there were not enough practical places.
They did the mean behavior so well, not 50% but 70% stopped studying.
Child benefit payments is "Kindergeld" in German. It's governmental money all parents get each month for each child. It's 219 € for the first and second child, 225 € for the third and 250 € for each further child. I think all European countries have sort of a "Kindergeld".
The channel "My Merry Messy Life" has a playlist about raising kids in Germany with some videos about the school system. They are an American family with 4 kids who live in Germany.
A cat and a hamster
@@SuLilliy I was going to add that if you had not beaten me to it. (I guess everybody who follows that channel knows where the comment comes from ;-)).
Same in Netherlands. We call it "Kinderbijslag", or child allowance
Same Slovakia, only less money ..
Also in Belgium is child support
Many companys in germany even have dual systems where you learn your profession and study at the same time towards a bachelor degree while getting paid.
Our words are actually not longer than English, we just combine them together, so the meaning becomes one entity, to avoid misunderstandings, i.e. "In a land men ship" vs. "In a landmenship" (so do the men use a ship to ship on a lake or are they shipping packages or is it in a landmenship?) or other multiple interpretations. Like the word from the video above in "Landsmannschaften", would be literally in English "Land men ships" or "Country fellow ships". If English would use compound words, it would also look long like "Countryfellowships". See ... 😀 With compound words, however, you can always create new words, similar to a Lego system, if there is no previous equivalent for them yet.
Plus our grammar differs a bit, most sentences become clear at the very last word, so you have to listen and remember to the end. Maybe one of the reasons we breed so many inventors and scientists here ;)
Wie kommst du von Mannschaft auf Schiff? Das lässt sich im Englischen eher als Team übersetzen.
@@claudiakarl7888 Das Englische "ship" kann bekanntlich "Schiff "oder "versenden" bedeuten oder wie unsere Endung "-schaft". Wie in "friendship" - "Freundschaft". So gesehen kann man "In a land men ship" mehrdeutig lesen, wie oben ausgeführt. Im Deutschen, mit seinen zusammengesetzten Wörtern, wäre diese Mehrdeutigkeit nicht möglich. Insofern sind zusammengesetzte Wörter vorteilhafter, um keine Missverständnisse beim Lesen und Interpretieren auszulösen. Ja, "team" wäre auch möglich. Es ging aber, wie oben vorgetragen, um eine annähernd wortwörtliche Übersetzung, um besser zu verdeutlichen, warum zusammengesetze Wörter im Deutschen existieren und welche Vorteile sie haben können.
Genialer Vergleich mit Lego 😂👌
@@NeinDochOhh Ich bezweifle, dass du Englisch-Sprecher mit deinem Beispiel überzeugt hast. Ich glaube nicht, dass irgendjemand versteht, was du mit "land men ship" meinst. Ich auch nicht.
child benefit payment or Kindergeld is money you get for every child you have. for the first child you get 219 Euro per month, for the second 225 Euro per month and for every kid after that 250 Euro per month. every familie gets this money until the child is 18. If the child is still studying, doing an apprenticeship or is unemployed, then you can extend it to 25 years
3:00 Admission limitations are subject-based not institution based. At the same university you can successfully apply for Geography (because its unlimited access) but maybe not for Medicine or Law, if you don´t meet the minimum highschool exams average grade (Latin: Numerus clausus) that is required for the respective subject.
Consider this, teachers are among those college studies that need a state exam in Germany. Maybe that's why they are paid almost 4 times the wage of a UUS teacher. And the system is still cheaper then the US system... ;)
In addition, teachers here always have a master's degree and are trained in at least 2 subjects. Some even for 3+ (one of my teachers taught German, sports and religion)
teaching is kind of special. You have to get a master in at least two subjects you're going to teach and pass the state exam. The masters to make sure, you're qualified in the *subjects* and the two state exams to make sure you qualified in *teaching*. Teachers are pretty unsupervised in their work, so you don't want crazy people or people who can't handle children in a respectful way to teach you're future generations.
@Sir Typesalot 3450€ after taxes, must I add, and (private) health insurance is very cheap for teachers here. Most teachers are “verbeamtet” though, it can just become difficult if you’ve been mentally ill and in therapy in the past, for example. I don’t think that’s fair, they’d rather have a depressed person that hasnt seeked help teaching children than a motivated person that has had some minor issues five years ago, is completely cured and has learned how to be more resilient through therapy.
@Jan Rozsypal That is true, but I guess most (western) european countries are considered very progressive and different to americans.
Thanks for sharing your reaction! A few pointers if I may:
DW is short for Deutsche Welle (German Wave), a German broadcasting service aimed at intercultural efforts. The presenter, Rachel Stewart, is in fact a British journalist who has moved to Germany permanently after finding her life partner here.
The "Numerus Clausus" or minimum grade bar for entering certain university courses actually means that you have to reach a minimum grade to enter college the following semester. If you don't qualify, there is still a way to get in later if you wait long enough and keep your application open. The length of this wait depends on how much your grade is below the bar.
German nouns are frequently rather long because compounds are written as one word and using nouns instead of verbs is frequent. Bundesausbildungsförderungsgesetz consist of the nouns Bund for federation, Ausbildung for education, Förderung for promotion and Gesetz for law or bill. In English that would rather be "federal law for promoting education".
One of my distant cousins wanted to become a doctor, but unfortunately she didn't get the numerus clausus right away and first studied pharmacy and after a year in the pharmacist profession she was admitted to medical school. Later practiced as a pediatrician.
u dont need to applicate anywhere to lower the numerus clausus. The clock starts ticking the moment when u achieved ur abitur or fh-reife. Its a common thing to know wrong
@@Rubindy Thanks for pointing this out. I wasn't aware of this, partly because I never considered a subject matter that was NC restricted ;)
05:46 I feel that is also a bit of a culture difference here.
From what we are shown of the US, it is desired to go to college / University, no matter what you are doing afterwards in your life.
While that is also a thing in germany, waaaaaay more people will rather take an apprenticeship or learn a trade then attend college just for the purpose of having been to college.
Meaning: Way more college and University Students will actually make their master to DO something with it later.
Yeah, as far as I see it online, many people in the US study just for any degree, because lots of jobs seem to just require a degree, without specifics on what exactly. Whereas here, you study very targeted, and more things require a trade education instead.
The University of Bologna in Italy is the most ancient University (western concept) in the world and dates back in the 1080.
That's amazing
it's not Parme?
@@thunderbolt8409 The Schola of Parma was founded in 962, it's one of the oldest school in the world still open (Istanbul 425, Pavia 825), but it became an university only in 1412. In Bologna was invented the concept of university probably in 1088 (officially in 1158 when the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa granted it the statute).
"Staatsexamen" is not only there to test the educational requirements but also a judgement of character. The exam is for people who will be handling people without all around supervision. Like teachers, doctors, clerics, etc. You don't wand lunatics in such positions, specially not very smart or good educated one. :-)
Look up Gert Postel ... [he wasnt really a lunatic, but ...]
@@Muck006 yes he was a postman and worked in a hospital in Flensburg ...as a doctor with faked certificates ! until they got him..
It really isn't though... I'm sorry to say, but the Staatsexamen includes no part that would actually test your character. It's really only a written exam that tests your knowledge and wether you can apply it. It usually doesn't even include oral exams anymore (at least not for teaching and for medicine as far as I'm aware) like it used to.
One hugh difference to most US and english universities is, that germany doesn't have a campus style. Universities are usually seeded throughout the city with faculties, libraries and lecture halls often seperated by normal city blocks. There are no official dormitories offered by the university. The are dormitory like appartment housing but most students live scattered all over the city.
Depends on the University. I studied child psychology in Erfurt and while you're most likely correct with the scattered campus thing, my campus was actually pretty big for the size of the university. And there is a dormitory on the campus as well.
The dormitory block in yellow shown in the video is in Magdeburg and belongs to the "Studentenwerk" which is not directly a part of the university and also works for multiple "Hochschulen" in Saxony-Anhalt. They have the dorms but also food (Mensa), culture events, handle the BaFöG, give advice and a lot more. This even includes legal advice (I used it once), you can go there to have a short talk to a lawyer. They own multiple blocks of dorms and even the "Uni-Tower", is little 16 level skyscraper.
The reason 90% of German students do a Master's Degree is because employers tend to be more old-fashioned and you are unlikely to get a good job with just a Bachelor degree. In the old diploma system the diploma was roughly equivalent to a Master's while the Bachelor degree was equivalent to a worthless (in Germany) Vordiplom or pre-diploma.
A friend of mine moved to the USA after her Vordiplom (that was in the '80s) and the US authorities said it is the same as one of their Bachelor Degrees.
I did my Diplom during in the pre-Bologna phase and a friend of mine absolutely wanted the Bachelor - back then (2002 or so) all he had to do was write a bachelor-thesis to get his "Vordiplom" turned into a Bachelor.
@ Dont underestimate a bachelor thesis :)
@@standardsun I don't - times change and this was 20 years ago - but allow me this quick quip: Maybe you underestimate the old "Vordiplom" ;)
(my friend used one of his seminar work as the Bachelor thesis - he basically only had to add some more footnotes and a few more pages I think - that's why I said "only" - it was indeed no big deal back then)
A bachelor still isn't. It is not a real Hochschulabschluss, or university diploma. Schmalspurstudium 🤷♂️ That's about the only thing I hate about Europe, that all were forced to follow the US/UK system, which has shown time and time again its flaws.
7:54 No, a WG is literally any 2 or more people living in a shared appartment, students or not. It's a relatively popular form of living for younger people, also bc people tend to rent rather than buy in Germany. Dorms also exist but those are usually state owned and subsidised and for students only. Okay, just watched the next seconds and yeah, that's what dorms look like. Some have shared kitchen and even bathroom spaces (extremely cheap but also quite rare), some are tiny appartments with their own kitchen areas and bathrooms (the most common version, I'd think) and some actually offer fairly large flats, for a student anyways. I used to live in one of the middle ones, which was modernised and turned into a dorm of the latter much larger variety after I moved out.
I am 48 now and still live in a shared house with five other people my age, and I didn't know any of them before. It is just sooo much cheaper and a lot less to worry about :)
I know student WGs, youngster WGs, professional WGs, family WGs and Senior WGs. It is more about sharing lifestyle and having better place for less money.
Studying law at the highest level in Germany also concludes with a state exam, or rather the first state exam (because there is another state exam if you want to become a lawyer, judge or state attorney and you take that exam after 2 years of clerkship with your state, i.e. Bavaria, Hamburg, Berlin or another state in Germany). Both state exams are absolutely brutal and rightfully feared, at least in Bavaria.
@Jan Rozsypal No. Studying law in Germany with two state exams is actually the one degree in Germany that almost no foreign student will even come close to achieving because it is A literally the hardest exam in the German higher education system that even Germans struggle immensely with (on average more than 30% do not pass) and a none native speaker will most likely fail because of language barriers as you cannot study this in English and B no one that is not German actually wants to study law with two state exams because this degree is internationally not comparable to the Bachelor/Master law degrees. The German grading system ranges from 0 to 18 (the best) points whilst the average achieved grade in both state exams settles at around 5 to 7 points. However you allready get a distinction if you achieve 9 points and you are treated by employers as a top tier graduate. 9 points is a 2,3 in the Bologna system, not to bad but not really good either. So no, there is actually no competition between German and international graduates when it comes to the law degree with two state exams.
To work as a judge in Germany you even need German citizenship.
@Jan Rozsypal German students learn english since first grade and learn to more languages while still in school. Most often French, Latin, Russian, Italian or Spanish while most Americans only speak english and a little spanish. Also the American people most of the time only work in english speaking countries so they do the same
@@notyou5594 well I used to live with two international students from Venezuela and Georgia who were studying law in Germany. One of them has already passed the state exam, the other one's preparing for it - and they are by far not the only ones... Especially international and European law are very popular with foreign law students
@@karenn.8810 There is always an exception. I did not say that there are no foreign students at all and I also was talking about the TWO state exams, not only the first one. International students are definitely very rare in law schools that do not offer LL.B. and LL.M. If you ask around at any German law school you will only find a hand full foreign students that study on the state exam path. During the Referendariat, which is a two year state service at a local court before taking the second state exam, you will find only a hand full in the entire country... As I explained above, the two state exam degree is not usefull for anyone who is not German and is not planning on living and working here. Even in other European countries you cannot work as a lawyer with only the German degrees.
Btw if we are basing facts on our own experiences: I studied at two universities with the biggest law faculties in Germany and I have solely come across two foreigners in about seven years who made it to the preparation phase for the first state exam. All others either did not even want to try in the first place for the reasons above or dropped out or failed.
1:56 The historic ones are to small for the masses of students. So a lot of the old universitys still use the old building but they also have a lot of new building added for space. A university library 400 years ago needed a lot less space. So some citys you travel from building to building through the city during the day. The classical Yale campus you won`t find here. The newly esablished ones have a lot more campus feeling.
3:10 Same University, but courses with high demand put the NC (score) in front because they do not have enough capacity. Typical NC studies are jura (lawyers) & Medicin (Doktors). But there are ways around, a lot of people enroll for other courses and then just change fiel of studies after a year or so when;inevetable; some of the students ;who got a place; drop out of those courses. If you try this way your score doesn`t matter.
4:39 Doctors, Teachers, Lawyers, pharmacists and psychologists have state exams. I might have forgotten one group, not sure.
6:26 Okay, not an expert on child Benefit money(Kindergeld). As far as I know you get 219+ Euros per month from the state per child , to take care of your child.(books, Cloths, Food, etc Healthcare is independent of Kindergeld.)
This Ends with 25 years or when your child completes his first job education/studies. The + with the 219 means, that there are people who get more because of poverty, immigration status, handicaps, etc.
8:19 Microwaving something is NOT cooking. One of my coworkers in Nevada was a mom of two kids, she couldn`t cook noodles. I mean you have these crazy preppers next to people who wouldn`t survive a 3 days blackout. Weird
8:32 My second studies were entirely in english, which was okay. What I resent was the language approach.
I am german, I speak german.
I had to learn a language with my 2. studies.
I learned Russian/English.
I had to make a vocabluary book with 3 lines russian/english/german.
We had no expat student in that class, just germans. To teach it that way was bonkers and felt needlessly complicated.
10:12 Oh yeah! I learned kapoera, fenching, medivial showfighting, cooking, rugby, video editing and python coding on the side. University sponsored, so super cheap or free. Not a privat one!
11:35 In theory you can be a carefree student here until you die. We have some of the 40+ years eternal students here. Recently a lot of early retirees also studie because they still want to learn. Some of them have a specific idea (livelong dream, invention, buisness idea) other just do not want to rot away and feel stimulated (in a good way you perverts) being sourounded by young people. They natrually fall into the mom/dad of the group role in their studie circles. Mostly this is pretty holesome mixed with some generation conflict.
DW means Deutsche Welle/German (Radio)Wave that is state TV to promote german cultur. They are quiet accurate but keep in mind that this is advertisment.
Heidelberg, e.g. has both. The historic part in the city and the new campus on the fringe of the city.
I enjoyed studying there a LOT. :)
In my university we had an "Old Technik" and a "New Technik" (building). But new means only 1921. And there are more buildings which were added later farther outside.
You don't get more Kindergeld for factors as poverty, immigration status or handicaps. The amount is entirely up to the number of children your family has. First and second child each get one amount, third child a little higher and so on. The only thing on your list that is not completely wrong is handicaps, but it just refers to the time how long you get the Kindergeld. If your child is severely handicapped you can get Kindergeld above the age of 25 up to lifelong depending on the severeness of the handicap.
What I like about my uni (University of Bonn, which is incidentally also the uni from the video) is that a very large part of it takes place in quite old buildings. I study biology and philosophy and many classes take place either in the main building (philosophy) or in the Poppelsdorfer Schloss or the institutes for mathematics, microbiology, or geography (for biology). But there are also some very modern buildings like Hörsaalzentrum Poppelsdorf where I have a lot of lectures as well.
Compared to other unis (like Ruhr Uni Bochum) it is really much preferable, IMO.
Can you enroll in a university program at state University if you work full time ? Are there programs dedicated to people working already ?
Yeh see, this way a kid with poor parents who could become a brilliant neurosurgeon CAN actually become a brilliant neurosurgeon!
That is the THEORY, the PROPAGANDA, but the REALITY is that children NEED TO BE STIMULATED by lots of different experiences to become "brilliant" and poor parents cant afford that. [Obviously there COULD BE a poor kid who is basically "living in the public library constantly educating itself", but our local public library has become quite s.h.i.t.e. because they only keep new books and get rid of older stuff quite quickly.] It is FAR better to READ about ancient greek myths in a book than to learn fake versions from Disney cartoons.
In theory. In practice most of the kids out of poor and immigrant families won't get a recommendation for Gymnasium (high school), because they start their life with significantly less educational support. Germany has one of the worst school systems in the EU, if you review the connection between educational results and the child's household wealth and education levels.
@@Psi-Storm Let's be honest here, that's mostly a result of their environment or having different goals in life (ingrained poor work ethics in a lot of cases when it comes to studying). Doing the Allgemeine Hochschulreife or Fachhochschulreife after graduation is open to everyone and really not hard at all (at least it's a lot easier than studying at a good university).
@@thegreatjambo100 deshalb Theorie und Praxis mein Freund...
@@madspaghetti In der Praxis holt so ziemlich jeder der studieren will sein Abi nach oder geht einen der vielen Fachhochschulreife (Ich hab z.B. nach der mittleren Reife parallel zur Ausbildung meine Fachhochschulreife gemacht), Techniker, ... Wege zum Studienplatz.
Sorry wer es nichtmal hinbekommt sich für ein Studium zu qualifizieren, wenn er zufällig unbedingt studieren will, ist dort echt falsch aufgehoben.
Bologna is a very beautiful city in Italy - and yes, they make great charcuterie there that does NOT compare to the awful crap they sell us in the US as Bologna - but in the EU government compacts and treaties are often named after the cities were they were negotiated. For instance the agreement to abolish border controls in EU is know as the "Schengen-Protocol" after the village in Luxemburg.
The "Bologna-Agreement" on the other hand set universal diploma standards for all uni exams across the EU.
Also it is a fitting place as Bologna is the place of the oldest university of Europe and the world. And while it is a fitting name for a system for common university standards, the old Diploma system the Germans and for that matter many others used had its benefits compared to the Bachelor/Master/PhD system we have now - for one the old system tended to give much more freedom to the students to structure their studies to their interests and desires but at the same time were more demanding in the sense of being more dependent on yourself, instead of getting a very strongly prestructured plan of lectures and courses you had to take to get your degree. Part of the perks you gained with an old diploma (Magister) degree was to be able to organise yourself and to maneuver the insane burocracies of European universities back then.
The free admission courses might be easier to get into - but there not only the lecture halls are full. You might have to take courses with only a limited amount of places (like practical courses in laboratories in scientific programs) and if a big number of students were admitted... You might get a place this semester, or not... you have to wait a semester (or even a year), an unnecessary delay for your graduation.
bafög is a really great support system. it will assess how much money your family has/is earning and factor in things like siblings of school age, existing debt, etc. the highest level of bafög you can get is 934€/month. if it turns out that your family is able to support you with 200€/month, this amount will be subtracted from the 934€ and bafög will transfer the remaining 734€ into your bank account every month (there are terms and conditions for duration etc, but generally you are eligible throughout your entire degree)
half of these payments are just gifted to you and half is considered debt. however, this debt is capped at 10 000€ max so even if you receive more support, you will never have to pay more than that. you are free to spend this money on books, rent, groceries, clothes, whatever you want or need.
as a headmistress of a German primary school I'd love to see what you think about them 😄
Na ja, ich als Arbeiterkind, dass kein Bafög bekam, hab schon ganz schön gestaunt, dass da so viel Akademikerkinder, Leute mit Haus usw. welches bekamen. Zugegeben ich bin Einzelkind, aber das schien mir doch etwas unfair. Meine Eltern konnten keine Hausraten, Verluste in der eigenen Firma eben nicht angeben, weil sie sich beides von vornherein nicht leisten konnten. 7% Arbeiterkinder sprach eine deutliche Sprache. Ist lange her, es gab ja etwas Reformen, aber wenn ich raten müsste, würde ich sagen im Verhältnis zu ihrer Anzahl an der Gesamtbevölkerung sind es immer noch viel zu wenige.
@@dagmarbubolz7999 Es gibt mittlerweile Faktoren im Bafög, die auch Arbeiterkindern mehr gerecht werden, jedoch liegt der Schnitt heute immer noch niedriger als der Populationsdurchschnitt hergeben würde. Dafür gibt es mehrere Gründe, die nicht im Bafög liegen, aber beispielsweise die Regelstudienzeitregelung, weshalb man ab dem 4. Semester Leistungsnachweise bringen muss, können für Arbeiterkinder, die vielleicht nicht dieselbe Ausstattung erfahren wie Akademikerkinder oder generell alle die nebenbei noch arbeiten müssen, eine große Hürde im Studium sein, die zu Abbrüchen führt.
I prefere the Danish system , where students get a wage like people in Germany that do vocational training also get a wage.
Plus, It's weird to expect parents to be exposed to the costs of their childrens bad decisions! Like if you child allways has high goals and also allways put's in low effort, you have to pay the costs and the consequences for that dreams from 18 to 25 years. That realy should be costs a grown-up should carry for it-self.
Especially if you have other children that indirectly also have to pay these costs.
Wrong! I had to pay back 100%, so after "Diplom" I had to pay back 50.000DM/25.000€.
Just found out about your videos and I‘m really enjoying your reactions to German things. It‘s actually pretty interesting when you compare those things to the U.S. and explain your POV.
The fencing in the fraternities started because even in the early days of universities, students were changing universities or studying for a while somewhere else - and needed to be able to protect themselves on the road. Students were therefore allowed to carry weapons. And the fraternities were providing some level of training on them. That's at least what I remember from the lecture I heard about it while studying :)
(German) fraternities are a great example how certain stances can stay the same but are percieved differently through history. Back in ye olden days fraternities saw nat*on as a value. They helped uniting all this little pief- and kingdoms into one state. Nowadays their stance seems sometimes symbolic for everything we long left past behind us, alrighty maybe not thaat long. American fraternities doesn't seem to ever take part in actual politics, except in the loud and rude fights about what wo*en have to expect when visiting a frat house, like, dudes, why you even open your mouths. Their silent bro handshakes always did without this. 🤣
Rachel's videos are top notch, highly entertaining besides the information value.
3:08 The difference, though, is not the same. Free admission, if you wanna call it that, is only free bc not enough people apply for a spot. The important bit is that every programme has a set number of spaces available. If more people apply, they're selected via their grades (and sometimes other qualifications). If not, everyone gets in. But the same course can be either or, depending on the university you go to (some cities being more popular and such).
I think an information that's interesting for non-Germans is that even though university is free, a lot of people don't go to university at all. That's because in order to apply, you usually need an "Abitur", which you get after graduating the "Gymnasium", the "highest" form of high school, which you'd finish at the age of around 18/19. At other forms of high school you can graduate at around 15/16. You can then choose to do the Abitur at a specialised school (the "FOS") or do an "Ausbildung" (apprenticeships/trade school?). A lot of people choose the latter, even people with Abitur, because you usually earn money from the beginning and can make a decent living with a lot of the jobs that "only" require an "Ausbildung" as well.
Requiring a set of grades to get into university is far better than "one single test at the end of school", because you can simply "learn for the test only", but the school grades mean you need to have "the basic understanding/mastery" ... due to being tested over a longer time period.
Hey just foudn your channel via suggestions.
Really like your style of reacting. Seems very natural! Keep it up
The thing with international students is that most of them are from other european countries which offer similar conditions to german students.
1:55: "That looks like Harvard" is the University of Rostock, one of the oldest universities in the Baltic area.
that was really cool ryan.
I love your reaction videos.
11:59: The main building of the University of Bonn was the palace of the Prince Elector of Cologne before the Napoleonic Wars. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the whole area fell to Prussia, and the university was founded in 1818.
by the way, the channel DW means "deutsche welle" and used to be a tv channel for foreign countries about germany. seems that they switched with the internet now to youtube and made all those informative videos. thats really good!
To the fencing in fraternity groups, it's / was (idk) without protection gear, so the members often had scars in their face or on other parts of their body. If you see a german with a big scar in his face he's most likely a member of a fraternity group.
Also they are a difficult but interresting topic today
06:12 This fee covers lectures only, no food, no dormitory, no medical services or any other kind ot services (the only service is that you can have a lunch for better price than usual). In Czechia (country next to Germany) we have one additional rule - state pays your first attempt only, then you have to pay full price. Full price can be 500 USD to 4000 USD per semestr (school is then no longer allowed to ask any money from state for that student, therefore they want to cover all expenses by student himself), dropping out can be very expensive here.
06:19 In Europe in general you have to pay quite high taxes, if you have kids, it lowers your tax for you and you have more money (in Czechia it is about 85 USD every month per kid)
I am a student in Germany my tuition is 310,15€ for 6 month the biggest part is 201,05€ for mobility of which I got some back last semester because of the government ticket normally a ticket for that time witch covers may whole bundesland(state) would cost more and I actually can use certain buses in the Netherlands because my uni is close to the boarder it also included is a social fee which fiances programs for mental health and legal counciling and the student representation
Child benefit payments are a benefit paid by social security to the parents for every kid until the age of 25, it's like an incentive to help with their education or overall expenses. A lot of European countries have this and also very low college tuition. Not just Germany. In my country, us students get all sorts of discounts everywhere too - concerts, public transport monthly tickets, etc.
Great reaction again 👍🏻👍🏻
The uni she's filmed this video at is the university of Bonn and it's an old castle. I live in Bonn and have also studied in this building. It's beautiful!
Parents get a child-benefit payment from the state. It's an amount of money you receive for every kid you have that is under a certain age or fulfills special requirements (e.g. going to school or university). The amount is regulated and I believe it only changes with the number of children. It shall help to pay for food, shelter or school supplies (although the money is not enough to take care of the whole costs)
The Semesterbeitrag as far as I remember is something you to the Uni, but it'll be for lots of different things, i.e. you usually get access to public transport for free in your area meaning if still so in the Frankfurt area getting to all major cities in the surrounding areas like Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Mainz. Correct me if I am wrong as it was long time ago.
8:16 out of the 10 "Wohnheime" i've been to, every single one had kitchens in every appartment. one of them had a shared cooking area in addition to that.
Numerus Clausus is latin and means "closed number". It just means that there is a maximum number of people that can be admitted every year. In a way, all subjects the uni offers are numerus clausus, it just doesn't matter in some cases because fewer people apply than could be admitted.
In the case where there are more applications than open spots, most universities basically just follow the grade average.
What most germans call the NC is the lowest possible grade average that still gets you in.
Entrance exams are rare, except for arts and music colleges and sports degrees.
Oh, and the fencing the fraternities do is not really related to sport fencing. They use actual sharp sabers and aim for the face (they do wear protective goggles).
The point is not about winning, but about not flinching away. If you get hit, there is a doctor on site who will sew the wound shut in a way that leaves a visible scar. That scar is supposed to be a mark of honour, showing people you are "a real man". In reality, most people will think you're a twat if you have this scar.
You‘re right, there is more freedom in choosing what to study, not just because of the - in comparison to the US - low amount of debt at the end, but also because simply the proof that you are committed enough to complete a degree counts towards getting a job. Employers know that you have a certain set of skills, because of the way studying works here, too. I’m at Heidelberg University, doing a Master’s part time. It’s unbelievably cool, I love it.
Maybe to add to the answers about Kindergeld. Parents in Germany have to support their kids financially until they finished their first secondary education - e.g. by finishing their apprenticeship or their degree. That is why they still get Kindergeld after the kid turns 18. For families that are financially not able to do that there is BAFÖG. A consecutive way from apprenticeship to e.g. the Fachhochschule (university that is subject bound and does not have a full Abitur as requirement but has different entrance rules - to go into every detail is too extensive) can be seen like this, too.
The duration you get BAFÖG is limited to a maximum length depending on the subject you try to get a degree in. So even if the university does not require any fees or very low fees you cannot live of the air and parents usually do not want to finance their kids until pension age...
You want to know something, the Frankish king Charlemagene /Karel der Grosse /Karel de Grote or for the english speakers Charles the great . Passed it in to law that every citizen should be educated as he felt it was the only way to ensure a properous ,economic strong and inovative empire that could adapt to changing times. This was almost 1300 years ago .
And that law never changed , every child had the right and duty to go to school . and could be fined if they didnt atent.
? So alt ist die Schulpflicht aber nicht
@@dagmarbubolz7999 depends on what nations , the region what is now the benelux , and several german states surounding the benelux always had laws of children going to school and learn to read and write ,
1:30 Actually the first German university was not in Germany, but in Prague, founded in 1348 by KIng (and later Emperor) Karl (Karel) IV. (born as Wentscheslav or Vaclav of Luxemburg, Roman-German KIng since 1346, King of Bohemia since 1347, King of Italy and Roman Emperor since 1355). The Prague University was divided in four "nationes": Bohemia (including Sorbians, Yugoslavians and Hungarians), Poland (including Silesians and Ruthenians), Bavaria (including Austrians, Swabians, Franconians and Rhinelanders) and Saxony (Meißen, Upper and Lower Saxony, Thuringians, Danes and Swedes).
6:20 The German child benefit program consists by either a certain tax allowance per child (if the parents' income is above some threshold) or a child allowance directly paid by the state for lower-income families. It starts with about 219 Euro per month and child; the third child gets an allowance of 225 Euro, the fourth and all following children 250 Euro.
7:00 You'll get discount as student with many private businesses like movie theaters, other theaters, some amusement parks and so on. But at most universities nowadays the semester fee includes a network ticket for the local public transportation system. And universities can and will exclude "students" who do not study anymore = attend no courses, take no exams within the mandatory period, have no medical certificate to do so and are not in some special program.
8:20 Shared bathrooms you'll find mostly in very old dormitories or in dormitories designed to emulate a shared apartment for up to 6 people which then share the bathrooms (but still having each separate bedrooms). Most students will have their own room (often only about 10 to 12 sq. meter) with a cubicle holding a toilet and a shower and share a common combined kitchen/living room per floor.
8:50 Not all courses at all universities are free for foreigners from all foreign countries (only for most), but even then tuition fees are far lower than in e.g. the US.
10:10 The university I work with offers its students, members and alumni e.g a lot of sporting activities (sailing, rowing, surfing, diving courses, mountain hiking and climbing, snowshoeing, ski touring, bouldering, karate, jduo, taekwondo, Krav Maga, dancing and a well-equipped gym).
12:30 Most of those fraternities are rather conservative or even right-wing. A few have a long republican tradition going back into the 19th century, when student fraternities were the heart and motor of the 1848/49 revolution leading to the first democratic parliament in Germany, which introduced the black-red-gold national flag. (The 1848/49 revolutions in Europe were comparable to the Arab Spring in 2010 - and like them they mostly failed in the end, followed by a restaurative and militaristic era leading to WW I. Many of the German revolutionists had then to emigrate into the US.) Some of them lost some of their liberal-democratic ideas and became more nationalistic, others were founded later during the time of the Prussian-German Empire and were never much involved with democratic ideas and principles.
all correct. You forgot to mention, that non-fencing christian fraternities are in the majority. They were established in the mid 1850s and 60s in defense to German nationalism. German nationalists suspected catholics to be directed by the pope and started harassment. Some of these christian fraternities started off as closed catholic reading clubs.
Fencing fraternities are rare in germany. "Verbindung" literally means connection, and a fencing fraternity is called a "schlagende Verbindung" (hitting connection). The fencing is not the type of sports fencing, it is only for one purpose: to get a "Schmiss", a scar on your cheek, that recognizes you as a member of such a fraternity.
well, I wouldn't say rare, as besides the catholic fraternities mostly all other big fraternity associatons are fencing, at least in parts. So I would say around 50% of all fraternities are still fencing.
i can say out of my time for 4 years as an fraternity student in a fencing one the perception has changed. Most fencing students dont want to get scars. I and many other in my fraternity have 4 rounds without any scars.
@@Tosse901 In numbers the non fencing are more. In all citys i was for every fencing fraternity there where 3times the amouth of non fencing fraternitys. In Münster for example we have 6 fencing and around 30 non fencing fraternitys.
Higher education is also free here in Finland. Wow, you really have a talent for pronunciation of foreign languages! 👏👏
I have to say: for someone who hears and pronounces all these german words for the first time your pronounciation is REALLY good!
1:33 The university with the 2 white flags is university Tübingen and was established 1477. Its pretty close to where I live.
Numerus clausus classes and free admission classes are taught at the same university. Typical Numerus clausus classes are medicine, psychology and law among others. For those Numerus clausus classes you have to apply at a central institution and they decide whether you are allowed to start that year and where you study. For the free admission classes you apply at the university you want to study at directly. So it is not like the difference between community college and Harvard or Yale etc.
9:04: Dedicated research institutes: Max Planck Society, Fraunhofer Society, Helmholtz Association, Academies of Science, German Research Foundation…
IT's pretty normal for education to be free here in Europe. Some countries even pay students. Like here in Denmark. You get paid SU, free public transport and if you live on your own, extra money to help with rent.
Every parent in Ireland no matter their income get a child benefit payment every month an amount per child. Usually 150 euros for each child. Until 18 or older if still in education probably same in most of Europe
Regarding to free tuition for foreigners, they've made a study, based of that they conclude that if a foreign student will work in Germany for a minimum of x years (I don't remember the number) then he will somehow, Germany, will recover the tuition cost from taxes and being young also they are not a burden for the health care system but they still have to contribute to it.
06:38
Companies in Germany also do this voluntarily. It's not standardized.
This is probably based on the same basic idea as in the States. They want to help the upcoming generation with a small inheritance.
Btw - Child Benefit Payments are payments that you get, because you raise your child or children in Germany per child. There is 219 euros per month for the first two children, 225 euros for the third child and 250 euros for the fourth child. In 2020 there were aid packages for families over 300 per child, in 2021 over 150 per child and in 2022 100 once.
This payment is given to the parents also until the student is 25 or starts working in earlier years without studying..
13:13 "Aww, that's a shame..."
Well, by "Dueling Rituals" Rachel not only meant the fencing part there. You see, some fraternities (by being elitist and having a bit too much "right wing mentality") forbade to wear protective gear and enforced the use of sharp rapiers - I recall a particular doctor-oriented fraternity from Heidelberg doing this. If not accepting those terms you'd be kicked out, and when wounded during the duels you were supposed to serve as a sort of "treatment practice dummy" and keep your mouth shut about it. Also regarding conservative... just ask yourself what was required of female students wanting to join and why those would be a rare sight there, although not absolutely unheard of if she struggles through it.
Why the university would even remotely tolerate this you might ask now? Rachel answered the question already - because some few former members of every batch yearly tend to be highly influential later, donate huge sums to the university and/ or even serve in the administration board.
NC is often misunderstood. It's not that you need to get a certain grade, but rather that for popular courses what they'll often do is just throw all applications on a couple of piles and sort by criteria. Some spots are given to people who got the highest grades. Some are given to people who waited for a spot the longest. Some may be distributed according to other criteria.
Its only particular correct... you do have to pay for your study on private universites and if you changed too often.
But even then its considerable less expensive than in the USA - private uni costs about 280-500€ per month.
The idea that foreign students can also study for free here as quite a simple reason that benefit Germany. Germany has two problems: Too little skilled labour and that we are an extremely export focused nation. Both issues can be helped by having free universities for foreigners. First, foreigners have to live here, they get used to German, most likleyl will start to learn German, make their first working experience here, and have because of that a high likelyhood of staying here, increasing the population of skilled labor.
Even if they go back, it still helps us, as we need representatives of the German system in foreign nations to benefit our foreign trade. Basically, the people already know german, are used to German and have already business contacts here. This leads to a higher likelyhood that if they do international trade (which is higher with an international academics degree), they will trade with Germany.
Almost free for the students. The Tax-Payers are paying the most of the costs and most universities are now going to third-party funding from industry, too.
Even on the small colleges you will find many social events.
I’m first studying psychology here in Germany. After one year I switched to education/teacher and it was the best choice. I think I didn’t did in when it’s very expensive, because it’s a waste of money. But here I only pay 250€ for 6 Months includes a ticket for bus/train/subway in the hole Bundesland and Hamburg. So I didn’t have to pay any tickets, can visit my parents, who are living away 80km for free. I think it’s a good deal. A friend if me is on a private university and pay 400+ € per month. That’s very hard for her, because she have to work a lot.
Im German and love to watch you. Thanks :)
Sometimes it's so strange how different everything is.
The most important was not mentioned of course like in the USA a University in German does provide great science work and research, some great discoveries in History and science are done by German Universities.
Yes Bologna is a city in Italy. Yes Bolognese sauce comes from there. Bologna process introduced a standard diploma system throughout all EU university to encourage exchange between EU universities. Student exchange. E.g Erasmus program
State has national exams for doctors and TEACHERS! Shows how high teachers and teaching in schools is valued!
I was surprised to learn that almost twice as high a percentage of US schoolkids go to private, as opposed to public schools, as do so in the UK (where private schools are called public schools and public schools are called state schools, by the way). However, having experienced private education on both sides of the Pond, there is a massive difference between them. This might make an interesting video. BTW, I lived in Germany for six years, and observed schools there as an outsider. Facilities were poor, but teaching standards were generally excellent.
When I was in a Fachhochschule (which I guess would be somewhat close to a college, if a Universität matches a university), after 3 years I had accrued a little over 9500€ student debt. IIRC the hard ceiling is 10000€ no matter what, specifically so younger people don't end up in slaving debts they can't reasonably ever pay back.
I studied and only got my Bachelors in germany because i felt to old to do a masters after and wanted to get into working. Nomally you go for like 9-10 years to school and go to study if you attend gymnasium (school type). The basic requirement to study in germany is the Fachabitur which you get attanding the gymnasium or other high education schools. I went to the lowest form of education in germany 9 years, then switch to a another school for 2 years to get the Mittlere Reife, which is like the middle education and after that to a higher education school for 3 years to get my Fachabitur. So i was already lets say 5 years older then most of the normal people who go to study in germany and switched my field tof education etc. I then finished with 27 and was like maybe i should start to work. I only had to py 85€ per Semester. One thing what isnt mentioned in the video about the Bafög is, like said its a loan but you only have to pay half of it back with 0 interest and you dont have to pay it immediately you get a notice in like 5byears to pay back because they assume or expect you to have settled on a job in that time
11:03 Regarding studying because there are no other "meaningful" jobs, there is a very big difference between Europe and the US. While you "learn" a job in the USA where you just work there for a while, there are real apprenticeships here, depending on the apprenticeship these last 2-4 years, you go to the vocational school a few days a week where you do the theoretical The basics of your job are taught, the other days you work in your training company. Once you have taken and passed the professional exam, you will receive an official certificate. This is recognized throughout Europe, which means that as a trained electrician from Germany, your training will also be recognized in Spain, where you could apply for a job.
After that, there is also the possibility, with a few years of professional experience, to aim for the higher professional examination (master craftsman's certificate or similar). With us (Switzerland), at least, you are then also admitted to the course, i.e. a possible lateral entry into the course.
Free education at German universities does not apply to all foreign students, just some. Mainly those from the EU. Under EU law an EU state cannot distinguish between its own citizens and citizens of another EU country with respect to access to services and exercise of rights (except for some specific exemptions). Education is not an exempted service, so a student coming from another EU country is treated exactly the same as a German student.
Yeah Bundesausbildungsförderungsgesetz is one of the hardest word in german for foreigners or non nativ speakers the other one witch I really love is Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz xD in germany we tend to make long words that are hard to pronounce but they are precise to say the least xD
German has a lot of words that are very long because many of them are compoud words. For example instead of saying fridge door you would write it just as one word fridgedoor. kühlschranktür is literally kühl (cool) schrank (closet) tür (door) coolclosetdoor.
The woman btw was at the university in Bonn, the former German capital.
I just looked it up. In Baden-Württemberg non-EU-foreigners (including americans ;-) ) do have to pay 1500 Euro per semester. In the other federal states it is free. In some of the federal states a second study costs some fee. In most not. In five federal states long-time-students have to pay a fee, if they study too long.
globally it's the same in France
public university is free (300€ per year for admitance)
you have CROUS that manage students appartments and bedrooms but also scholarship and food inside university
you have a different system
for exemple after baccalauréat (final test in high school)
you can go in
BTS (2years technician degree)
DUT (superior technicien)
Licence (3 years degree in university)
or Prepa (2 years of preparation for engineering school but also exist for letter or business)
and after master or engineering school or business school
and we have a big culture for "passerelle" for exemple you can start with a DUT and continue in Engineering School
or BTS/DUT and go in Licence and continue in Master
1:45 Yale is a private, very expensive university. The ones you see there are public, and are for free... The only fee is about 150-400/year, for using every bus, train or tram in the whole region for free, and trip around, go to work or even visit the universities of distant cities... So, you pay only for a vastly-reduced-price-transport-ticket for the whole state...
U get it wrong: She speaks only about public ones. If a course has 200places, but 2000 students want those, it´s not free-admission (for those, u have to bring good notes from the final-school-exam). If a course has 200 places and usually just 199 people want those, then it´s free-admission (even bad school-notes don´t matter), all in the public university of one single city, valid for every city...
11:18 But students in Germany don´t get in any kind of debt... If your parents cannot support u, u´ll get Bafög, and pay it back, when u start working, and if u have enough money left to pay it back, at each month´s end (and there´s no interest on the loan). Sometimes people start paying back that loan decades after they ended the university, if it takes them too long to find a good-paid-job...
The building you say looks like harvard is the University of Rostock in northern Germany. It was founded in the year 1419.
Surprised she didn't mention how the fencing is actually done.
Considering it's done with sharp blades about 3 feet long and both contestants aim for the (mostly) unprotected head, I would've thought it might garner foreigners' interest.
But before anyone asks, there haven't been any major injuries in decades and decades -- despite there being thousands of these highly regulated fights per year in Germany and Austria.
Reckless ... maybe. But not insane.
I know I'm a bit late for the game. But a little bit for German grammar which is as far as I know pretty unique in all languages.
In German you can add words together to form a longer word as long as the longer Word.
Here we have a "law". In German it's called "Gesetz".
It is not a state law or a county law but a "national law". In German a "Bundesgesetz".
Than it is a "national law for education" or "Bundesausbildungsgesetz".
And last but not least it is a "national law for funding of education" or "Bundesausbildungsfördrungsgesetz".
You see we just put the four words together to form a very long but very precise term.
And now while English is much easier which is shorter and more efficient?
"National law for the funding of education" or "Bundesausbildungsförderungsgesetz" with its acronym "BAFöG"
German words can get long because they are compound words. We do the same thing in Scandinavia. Air Port (fly plass) becomes “flyplass”. Parking house (parkerings hus) becomes “parkeringshus”. Train ticket prices (tog billett priser) becomes “togbillettpriser” and so on.. Not as difficult as it seems..
Here is a nice short word in german: Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz.
Yes that is a real word
Funny thing here in Austria almost all degrees are zulassungsfrei which means they are admission free and everyone can apply and study this degree. In Austria compared to Germany we have no NC which means the university does not care about your grades in high-school at all. Some degrees have an entrance exam, like medical universities, but most oft them actually don't. Even law schools were completely admission free and this has just changed in recent years and we're not talking about smaller community colleges but rather huge universities like the University of Vienna.
the bachelor degree is basically worthless here in Germany, so you more or less have to attend a masters degree.
When u cant afford the semester tution (200€/6 months) you dont have to pay it, and also the rent you can get paid by the state, more like a scholarship and not a loan
The DW " Deutsche Welle" (it´s a world wide broadcaster)videos are good for foreigners to learn a lot about Germany!!
An important difference to the USA is not shown here. Many courses in the USA do not exist in Germany. They are offered as vocational training. Vocational training takes place as a dual system. Half the time the students are at work and the other half at school and they get paid for it.
DW is Deutsche Welle, the German External TV and Radio Service.
MINT is the german abbreviation for Mathematik (maths), Informatik (computer science), Naturwissenschaften (natural sciences) and Technik (engineering)
As germany does not have much resources we need to invest in other stuff like education. So when PISA showed that we are not even in the Top 10 (IDK if that has changd for the better) it was kinda punch in the guts. But we are working on it.
The Albert-Ludwigs-Universität (Albert-Ludwigs-University) in Freiburg im Breisgau (Baden-Württemberg) was founded in 1457 from the Archduke Albrecht VI from Austria.
Hi Ryan, hi YT.
First of all, thanks for this video! I really liked your reactions and your take on things... and btw: you did quite well on the long German words ;)
My comment however is going to adress the topic of Fraternities / Sororities (yes those exist, too!) since these are completely different to the 'Greek Way' Frats, that are common in the US. There is quite some text coming up... you have been warned :)
So first of all, the German Frat System is completely different from the US and also has different backgrounds and 'reasons to exist'. The oldest German Frat (gonna call them GeF now) dates back to 1798 and is still existing today. A very important fact is, that there are several kinds of GeFs with different ideas and political positioning. The range goes from Religious Focus (mainly Christian Frats) over Regional aspects (Landsmannschaften), exercise and sports focussed (Turnerschaften), centered around music and singing (Singer's Frats - Saengerschaften), the Corps, and the most known, though not the most common, the Burschenschaften (Bursche lit. just means a boy). The word Bursch goes back to 'Burse' a communal sleeping dormitory. So the 'Burschen' were the male students, that used to sleep in these dormitories when in their university city. This led to students that came from the same region to a university usually trying to end up in the same Burse to be around their fellow people, with same dialect etc. this is how the whole idea kinda started.
Another important fact that is reflected in the fencing even practised today, is that only nobles and students were allowed to carry weapons like rapier, foil, sabers when travelling abroad. This was to be able to defend themselves, when travelling to their university cities that sometimes were really far from home. This led to a situation, were you have a lot of male students, all armed, that stuck together with 'their kin' (i.e. other students from the same region) and gave a breeding ground for all kinds of rivalries.
It was not uncommon for students to get into a quarrel over some minor issues, (and often being drunk) that ended with two of them fighting it out, blades drawn, right there and then.
Of course this also ended up with quite a lot of students receiving major injuries and even dying due to these sponataneous clashes and the government stepped in, first by banning all kinds of duels, and later to create a very strict ruleset to avoid fatal injuries.
Long story short: this very specific Frat Fencing, the 'Mensur' (mensura - measurement, since the distance between the fencers is measured and fix) still exists today and is applied in different scenarios, from just proving you have the guts to stand your ground, to settling personal or frat related quarrels.
Also as mentioned in the video, not all GeFs are into fencing, and the individual style and weapon changes from region to region. The christian GeFs e.g. are not fencing at all, afaik.
Political wise the GeFs also cover a very wide spectrum. Some are per se unpolitical (like Corps), some are not exactly political but have their own set of more or less dogmatic rules that are to be followed (e.g. Christian Frats). The Burschenschaften are defined as a political Frat, though this does not mean they are automatically in the right-wing corner.
The internal structures of the GeFs are more or less similar across the board, and can be related to an MC, for those of you that have seen 'Sons of Anarchy' ;)
Usually people get attracted to a GeF because most of them have quite big and often really old Hogwart's style houses in the vicinity of the local University, and they offer a room at really low prices, about 20-30% of a regular room in a community flat etc. - if you get one of those rooms and you move there you become a house guest, like a hangaround with the MC. You do not have colours, nor rank, no rights, but also no real obligations. This starts a trial period that goes from 3-6 months, in that time both sides can decide if it fits or not. If not: clear out the room and leave... if yes: welcome, you can apply to join and usually become a Fux (fox, though not exactly the animal... whatevs) basically you are a Prospect then.
With the Prospect time, sometimes you pay even less for your room, but therefore there are a lot of things you have to do: attend meetings, organize events, in some GeFs you will have your first fencing lessons etc. - the room is cheap, but you will pay the rest of your rent with your personal time and engagement. You will also have theory lessons with your Fux-Major, or sometime FKL etc. the coordinator of the Prospects, and you will learn the history of the GeFs in general and your specific Frat in detail. Then after about 1-2 years and sometimes some fencing you will take an exam and if you pass you will become a Fullmember. Just like Sons o. A. :) sometimes this takes a bit longer, sometimes it happens faster... depends.
As a Fullmember you can then take specific functions (like the afore mentioned Fox-Major, or Fencing Coordinator etc.) and basically your voice has more weight in discussions and internal polls. Once you are close to finishing your studies with the university you can usually apply to be 'inactive' meaning you are excused from nearly all activities to focus on your final studies, since the GeF takes up a lot of personal time. And if you are done with your studies, got a job, moved out of the house, you then become a Philistine or Old Mister and you support you GeF with a monthly fee, so that the room that is now empty can be offered to the next generation at a very cheap rate.
This is a rough draft of the German Fraternity system and structure and there are a metric ton of details I have just ignored or skipped. (Luetzow and Napoleon, the Wartburg Festivity...) The baseline is, that it differs vastly from the Greek Way and many GeFs are not primarily focussed on an internal elitist network for high ranking positions, at least not anymore. Of course, you will have a potentially great network in your Frat, and if you need a specific skill or a quick info, you can tap it and usually you get some valuable advice for free.
The big takeaways should be:
- the rooms are cheap, but you pay with a lot of time and engagement.
- fencing is still a thing, even today with some of the Frats
- not all fencing is a duel, can also be a trial
- not all Frats are right-wing or very conservative
- there are great female and mixed Sororities / Orgs out there
Thanks for reading.
Love & Peace
Very good written history lesson!
Nette Fuxenstunde, Herr Farbenbruder Z!
@@kimrah01 Recht herzlichen Dank, werter Herr Farbenbruder Z!Z!
(Many thanks, dear Mr. Brother in Couleur 'placeholder for individual GeF-Sign' and yes, regarding GeFs the colours are called 'Couleur'. Members of an other Frat, that wears couleur are called brothers/sisters in couleur, if you and they are in a Frat that also practices the Mensur-fencing they are Brothers in Arms.)
Maybe just a typo but the oldest existing student corps dates back to 1789, so 1798 cant be right as the date for the oldest German frat. :)
@@famine92 no, seems about right...
Ask Wikipedia
@@kimrah01 de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corps_Guestphalia_Halle
NC (numerus clausus) is the average grades of everyone applying in a year that get admitted... that means it changes every year and you don't know what it will be beforehand, however, the NC's usually don't differ much from year to year. NC's are required for popular or very hard subjects... they don't bother with maths though... since 80% quit maths during the first 2 semesters, they just take everyone they can XD
There are a few subjects where, if you only get a bachelors degree, there's not much one can do with that... a teachers degree for example. I don't know, how it is in other countries, but if you want to become a teacher, you need to get a masters.... or get VERY creative, to be able to actually work as a teacher.
If you take a step back and think about student tuition logically then it makes sense to make it free. In the US a student will leave college with huge college debt. That means that even though they might get one of the higher paying jobs instead of spending their income on goods and services a sizable portion goes to paying off those student debts. In the long term the student may benefit but the only real beneficiaries are the Universities and those who loan money to the students. Now that is assuming that all students will leave university with a degree, however that is not the case; in 2020 at four year institutions 24.1 % of all freshmen dropped out but they still have to pay back any debt, in the case of two year institutions that number rises to 39%. As the courses progress over 50% of students eventually drop out all still carrying student debt. In Germany those same students the drop out rate over the full course is 29% but for both those that leave with a degree and those that don't from the moment they get their first job they begin contributing to the economy of Germany. So while in the US a few benefit from university education in Germany everybody does.
She got it wrong. Before the much hated Bologna process, there was no Bachelor in Germany. We didn't consider having such degree as having a university degree. A uni ended with a Master, every degree was min 5 years long: 8 Semester plus Prüfungsphase. Your thesis alone had to have around 100 pages and it was a timeframe of 6 months for that alone. It was just different.
Another thing that wasn't mentioned here is that university applications in Germany are free. There are no application fees.