Yesterday was the first day of German class at Colleg of Wittenberg (no, that is not a typo, Colleg is pronounced Coal-ig) and it was mass chaos. It was the first time I had ever attempted to learn a language since middle school Spanish and I was made even more nervous by the fact that Frau insists she doesn't know English and spoke the first hour in almost all German. By the way, after day 2 we still can't decide if she actually can't speak very much English or if she's just playing dumb to make us really understand what we're saying in German.
She had us pick out adjectives to spell out our names and gave us German-English dictionaries about 6 inches thick. I somehow ended up with "apple-bearing" in my name, but that's not as bad as one of my classmates who had something that translated roughly into "prone to kidney infections".
When we were all ready to throw in the towel, flip over the desks and tear our dictionaries in half, she dismissed us for break. Some of us ran down the street to one of the dozen local bakeries, while others (myself included) milled around the institute for 20 minutes before heading back to the classroom to take advantage of the wifi.
But then, Frau returned with a magical object full of mystery and wonder.
These are called children. And the things the children are holding are called Schultuete, which translates to "Sugar cone" or "Sweets cone". They are a traditional part of German heritage because they were given to children in order to celebrate their first day of school. Inside the Schultuete, there is a big bag of candy, school supplies like colored pencils, modeling clay and a notebook and finally toys like jump ropes, marbles and dolls.
Here are some more modern editions. How big and elaborate they are is directly related to how much your parents love you.
In addition to the Sweets cone, you would also get a big party thrown for you on the first day of school. With cake and presents and all of your friends. And this is something they do for every kid on their first day of kindergarten!
Frau brought us our own Schultuete with a scary clown on it full of chocolates and cookies for our first day of school in Germany. How sweet!
There was a catch though! It was all wrapped up in an educational lie! After she distributed all the sweets to everyone in the class (I had a sizable mound in front of me) she made us learn what everything was called. For example, gummybears are gummibarcehn. Book is das book. Doll is die puppe.
Then we all ate a bunch of schocolade and progressed into sugar highs that blocked out the rest of the class period--I think about 40 minutes.
I instantly fell in love with this celebration. First, because of the copious amounts of free chocolate. Second, because what a fantastic way to celebrate education! Children look forward to the first day of kindergarten for the entirety of their young lives up to that point. Kids? Excited about school?! Crazy! While you can argue that the first day of school is exciting in America, I don't think it's get-a-giant-cone-full-of-candy-and-a-party-thrown-in-your-honor exciting. In fact, the first day of kindergarten can be a very sad time for a lot of children because it means having to be separated from their parents or grandparents for a long time. This commemoration is very parent-involved and it's a celebration of starting your educational journey. In many ways, it's the first chapter in beginning your journey to adulthood.
What's even more interesting is that in my adolescent psychology class I took last semester, we spent a lot of time talking about how parent involvement directly affects student grades. Parents who supported their children throughout their schooling simply by being available for homework help or asking them about their extracurriculars typically had children who were more successful in school and went on to college.
My prognosis?
Sweets cones = parental support = children's success in education = successful human being = a better world.
