Trump talks trade and education with Swiss president

US President-elect Donald Trump expressed his “respect” for Switzerland to Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann in a phone call on Wednesday.

The Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (WBF) confirmed the anticipated phone call took place, saying in a statement that Schneider-Ammann “congratulated the future US president on the election and reaffirmed the strong economic and political partnership between the ‘sister republics’.”

The Swiss president “spoke of Switzerland’s strengths and its unique dual-track education system — which meets with great interest in the US — and its strong capacity for innovation,” said the WBF. …

Whatever you do DO NOT LET America’s Education system become like the Swiss.

1. Children attend primary school, like ours, for 5 or 6 years (it varies by Canton). They have 13 weeks of vacation. They have the same teacher for the first three years, then the next three another. The school day varies day to day, but is constant for a semester. On average, a child spends about 20 hours / week in school.
2. in the fifth Grade, THE TEACHER decides whether you will later attend “Real”, “Sek” or “Bez” - the is no such thing as “objective grading”. The first of the three being the lowest secondary level. This is the “Junior High / Middle School level and that teachers assessment will affect you child essentially forever. These last three years and you have the same teacher all three of them.
3. You “*can* move up, but the path is extremely difficult. You basically have to have the knowledge that was not taught to get there.
4. That is the END of state “guaranteed” education (9 years). If you are a very good “Bez” Student, you can go on to “High School”. Otherwise you must find an employer willing to train you for a job and obtain your “diploma”. If you can’t find one willing to train you in a profession you like, or at all, well ...

My youngest must find an employer next year. We were told at a parent / teacher conference that 30% of the Children at the Real level do NOT find an employer.

Any system that knowing allows that many children to NOT receive a full education is a bad one. These children have no chance. We have Diplomas here for “Retail Sales Specialist” (can operate a cash register and stock shelves) - 3 years and requires at least “Sek”, “Gardner” requires “Bez” (they have to learn latin names!!) etc ... So you can imageing what jobs are avaliable for “Real” ....

IQ is one thing - being denied an education because an employer is unwilling to sponsor you is quite another. But that is the system here.

You CAN NOT go to school and get a diploma (i.e. 10 - 12th Grade) unless you
1. had very good grades in “BEZ” level (and generally are going to go to college), or
2. you find an employer willing to sponsor you for 3 to 4 years. You will work full time, for very little pay and attend school once or twice a week.

>You CAN NOT go to school and get a diploma (i.e. 10 - 12th Grade) unless you
1. had very good grades in “BEZ” level (and generally are going to go to college), or
2. you find an employer willing to sponsor you for 3 to 4 years. You will work full time, for very little pay and attend school once or twice a week.

Sounds like an internship program. Those work out great for Germany and worked out very well in America for ages. Our current system where everyone goes to college doesn’t work.

Sounds like an internship program.

Except that it is not. A child in the 5th grade is already set on a course which is almost impossible to change and there are no objective criteria by which they are scored. It changes from city to city, school to school, even classroom to classroom.

Our current system where everyone goes to college doesn’t work.

Funny, most of the Swiss are so impressed with their system that now, if you DONT go to college, you aren't worth anything. Just to be a gardner, most employers require a "BEZ" level because plant names are in latin! Not that they actually learn latin.

Learning a vocation and completing your education can work well. The Schools that they attend are vocationally oriented schools. BUT this should not be predicated on
1. how good you were in 5th grade, and
2. that you need an employer to sponsor you

Instead of having businesses "hire" the "interns" - let them invest in the schools themselves with time / money etc ... and let the students follow their own path to success. There will still be dropouts and failure and no system is perfect. But what I have experienced and witnessed here makes me want to scream sometimes.

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