So what about Remus?

[donnaimmaculata]

You know, before OotP and HBP respectively, I was totally sure (and very freaked out) that Remus would die. Now, that DH is approaching fast, I no longer am. I wonder why. It's either a) a false sense of security or b) I assume that now, with the Tonks plotline, JKR has something else for him in store than dying or c) I stopped caring about Remus. Hm. (Well, I'm certainly no longer madly in love with him like I used to. Now, it's more the comfortable "Oh-we've-been-married-forever-and-of-course-we-love-each-other-we'll-spend-the-rest-of-our-lives-together" feeling rather than burning hot passion, which is a bit sad, but not unusual.)

It is a bit sad, though, that I seem to use LJ only to talk about my crushes on fictional men. And that there are so many of them. What am I, twelve?

Anyway. If Remus isn't dying - who is? And why? (Apart from Snape, because - duh!)

Comments

[maelwaedd.livejournal.com]

Hello, poppet!

I don't have anything to add on topic, but I've been meaning to ask you what the education system in Germany is like. Do you know? I secretly want to know what it's like in Norway, but Germany is good too. I've heard bad things and want to know if it's as horrid as everybody seems to say.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Is that really what everyone says? I don't know whether it's horrid or not - didn't seem too bad to me, but I went to a "good" school. So here's some facts:

Children start primary school at the age of 5, 6 or 7, depending on their degree of maturity and their birthday, basically. After four years of primary school, they are evaluated by the teachers who then decide on the further form of education. This is the bit which I personally resent - though it might make sense from a teacher's point of view. Parents don't really have a say any more (it used to be different) on the kind of secondary school their children are to attend.

There are (basically) three types of secondary school: Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium. More about that on Wikipedia, from where I copied the following: "the Gymnasium includes the most gifted children and prepares students for university studies; the Realschule has a broader range of emphasis for intermediary students; the Hauptschule prepares pupils for vocational education." This is true in theory; in fact, Hauptschule is a dump for those poor kids who are (considered) too stupid to learn anything and are just shoved in there until their old enough to work or become unemployed. Hauptschule students almost exclusively come from poor or foreign (or both) families, and the schools are frequently just there to keep the kids off the streets for a few hours a day.

This is the crux of the problem with German education: It is free of charge (until recently university studies used to be free, too), but that doesn't mean that everyone's got the same chances. Kids from a lower social background almost never get the chance to get a better education - which is partly the parents' fault, but partly also the education system's fault, as it doesn't encourage these kids to pursue a Gymnasium/university career.

Gymnasium is often pretty good, and most Gymnasium students enroll at universities after finishing school. They finish school at the age of 18-20 (I was twenty), which makes them pretty old when compared with students in other countries.

The university system is currently being heavily restructured. As I said, university used to be free, but now they're starting to charge a bi-annual fee, which has pissed off a lot of students and caused mass demonstrations and protest. (The problem is that students from poorer social background have even less chances for a good education, as a proper financial-support network doesn't exist yet. It will be set up at some point, but at present it's all a bit provisory.)

Until recently, a university degree was generally acquired after five years. Today, is has been changed as the German system adapts to international standards: we have BA and MA studies now, with degrees being acquired after three and five (I think) years.

I hope that helps. As I said, I can't really judge on whether it's worse than in other countries, beause I've got no frame of reference. If you're lucky and show potential and have good grades in primary school and have supportive parents - you're in for a decent school and university career. Currently, it's all a bit of a mess, because of all the educational reforms that are going on, but this will settle down. I don't really know whether German students enjoy a good education or not. Studies have shown that they are far behind the European average. Discussions are now going on whether it makes more sense to start specialisation earlier, because this is what prepares students for the international job market.

Anyway. These are, broadly speaking, the facts. My personal impression was that the German education system is not all that bad, but, as I said, I went to a privileged school; most of the kids came from a well-off, bourgeois, educated family background, there was hardly any crime and violence in our school, we played nice and most of us went to university afterwards. We're a very respectable lot.

I don't know if that helps. If you've got any specific questions, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer them as good as I can :-)

[maelwaedd.livejournal.com]

That's really fantastic, thank you so much!

Another probably random question that may or may not be answerable is whether or not this free education is available to foreigners. I'm thinking specifically primary school here is free, but I don't know if I'd need to pay for Della to go to school in a different country or if I could just randomly enrol her.

Oh, and when does the school year start? It's February here, or sometimes late January.

Thanks again. :)

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I've honestly no idea how the education system works for foreigners. If you're a foreigner living in the country, it's free, but I don't know what the conditions are if you want to send your child to school in Germany if you don't live here. - You don't have to pay, that's for sure, but I'm likewise sure that there are plenty of other conditions and regulations.

The school year starts in August or September. It varies from year to year and from Federal State to Federal State.

[maelwaedd.livejournal.com]

Oh, *facepalm*. This is the point where I reailse that I should have mentioned--Bill's looking at getting transferred to Norway or Germany next year. Della's four in a couple of weeks, so she'll turn five just after we move, and we're trying to figure out education. :)

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Ah, in that case, sending her to school in Germany would be no problem. Children of foreigners living in Germany receive the same education as Germans. (Of course, after they finished school and university, they are sent back to where they came from, on account on not having German blood, which is a weird and disturbing aspect of the German legal system.)

[maelwaedd.livejournal.com]

Ooer, how strange. So even if we worked there long enough to get permanent residence or something (I don't know how difficult it is to get it there) we couldn't get the same for our kids?

Oh well. Good thing we weren't planning on staying there forever! :)

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I don't know exactly what it's like if you're from Australia. Traditionally, Germany has granted right of residence based on the jus sanguinis principle, not jus soli. It was changed a couple of years ago, but it's still difficult for foreigners to obtain German citizenship, even if they were born in the country.

But as you're not aiming at getting citizenship anyway, staying in Germany shouldn't be a problem. And anyway, Australians are not considered problematic immigrants who breed like crazy and spread their false beliefs ;-)

Is it Bill's choice whether he wants to be transferred to Germany or Norway? (My bitterness about residence laws aside, Germany is a good country to live in. I rather like it, and I'm from an immigrant family, so there.) And Della most likely would not start school immediately after coming to Germany. Basically, five-year-olds are offered the possibility to undergo some tests to check whether they've got the necessary abilities to go to school (e.g. cognitive, motoric and speech capacities). Seeing as Della would not speak German at that point, she'd spend one year in kindergarten and start school at the age of six, which is the average age in any case.

[maelwaedd.livejournal.com]

Huzzah! Australians seem to be relatively welcome. Especially from the view of quarantine. I can take my dog almost anywhere without having to stick him in quarantine, which I'm very impressed about. When we come back, however, I'll have to lock him in another bloody state for a month. *cry*

We'll more than likely go to Norway. I think we'd perhaps prefer Germany, but I'm very excited about Norway and that's where the company would prefer he be anyway. To be honest, we'd mostly just go to Germany for the goth cred (although we do know bits of the language which is more than we can say for Norway!).

Shit, I wonder what'd happen if we moved there when Della was older and couldn't speak the language. That'd suck a bit.