100 years of a Modern Grammar School

On 25th February 1913 the building of what was to become Oberursel’s Grammar School was officially opened.

Just over 100 years later, on Saturday, 29th June, 2013, it was the school’s headmaster, Volker Räuber, who addressed an audience of around 300 guests first about that occasion, and took a moment to look back at what the school had achieved and plans for the future.  “If not know, then when?” he asked.

Taking the audience on a journey through the educational and sometimes political topics of those years, he described the school as an island, and criticised in particular the Pisa study that took place some years ago, saying that it was typical in Germany to look at things that go wrong, rather than achievements.

Referring to this as “red pen education”, he looked at how modern technology has taken away the importance of pupils doing calculations in their head in maths.  “With a slide rule we could not have built an airbus” he commented.

He also highlighted how important the role of the teacher in education is, saying the teachers are role models for their pupils.  “It has become a trend to remove problems out of the way of our offspring” he criticised, saying “one has to learn to deal with negative factors” and that it was the job of experienced teachers to help their pupils deal with the dangers of life.

It was left to the guest speaker, Prof. Dr. Siegfried Quandt from Gießen University to delve more into the history of the school, one which in 1913 was meant to have forward-looking and take advantage of the modernisation taking place in Germany at the time, whilst the Mayor of the day – Josef Füller – also wanted to the pupils to “be prepared to die for their Kaiser and Fatherland”.

Professor Quandt pointed out that just one year after the school had opened, they had plenty of opportunity to do just that.

Continuing through into the 1950s, 60s and 70s, he looked at the effects of social change on education and in particular the effects that educational reforms had on the school, eventually leading to it becoming a comprehensive for a number of years before regaining Grammar School status.

But whilst the headmaster had highlighted the need to move with current technology, Professor Quandt warned of the digital “infection”.  “The place for education is in the head and not in the computer” he stated, whilst quoting from a study that claimed digital media was damaging education.

In his opinion, “Links” are the key to education – links connecting things up in the heads of the pupils.  “We as teachers must know how the brain works” he commented, and told the pupils present “pester your teachers with your questions!”

Of course you only need to look at the new school buildings to see just how modern the school is, and one look inside the new classrooms makes it obvious how much new technology plays a role in them.

Less technology was required for the musical accompaniment which was provided by the various orchestras of the school and one of their choirs, all of which performed spectacular pieces of classical music including, perhaps rather appropriately, the Symphony from the New World.  There were no doubt a number of very proud parents in the audience.

And the town of Oberursel is proud of their school, even though unlike in 1913 they are no longer directly responsible for it.  Mayor Hans-Georg Brum was particularly proud of the fact, that the school carries the town’s name as “Gymnasium Oberursel”.  He was just a little unhappy with the idea of the school being an island.

“If the school is an island, then it is one with lots of bridges that lead into the town” he commented.