The district association of the Left Mannheim took a look at Thuringia on Friday – and at the same time into the future of education in the state: Together with Christian Schaft, member of the Thuringian state parliament and university policy spokesman for the left-wing parliamentary group there, the Mannheim state election candidates Isabell Fuhrmann and Sven Metzmaier discussed via Zoom. “What is missing in Baden-Württemberg to achieve educational equality – and what has Thuringia already achieved” was the big question of the evening. Interested users could join the discussion on Facebook.
Keep educational motivation
Isabell Fuhrmann wants to campaign for the “best possible participation” for everyone “from very young” to university, she pointed out. She sees early childhood education as particularly important. Also because here children learned an “attitude towards dealing with diversity”. Daycare centers should be free of charge for everyone and close to home for everyone – the latter mainly for ecological reasons, believes the state parliament candidate. “Children like to learn”, so Fuhrmann’s conclusion – you have to keep motivation high, especially after elementary school. Otherwise it will be difficult if you already lose the students here. Using the social index, she wants the “best and most motivated teachers” and the “most beautiful schools and the most stimulating teaching material” where it is “the most difficult”. Where whole families are uneducated. This “educational policy challenge” has so far been “completely overlooked in Baden-Württemberg.
Sven Metzmaier reported in detail on the advantages of the integrated comprehensive schools, also from experience, because he visited the one in Herzogenried as a student himself. “This school model is very important to me,” said Metzmaier. “Until we have no longer collaborative learning”, more of these schools would be needed. The “open system” promotes a positive development of the children, it is tailored to them. In addition, working groups etc. would prepare for professional life.
On the subject of training he then says: You always hear companies complain about the shortage of skilled workers. But many school leavers would not get any apprenticeship positions. “Anyone who needs skilled workers must also train them,” says Metzmaier, who wants to oblige companies to train. “Fully trained people do not grow on the street – and who is better suited to eliminate the shortage of skilled workers than exactly the economy that has to train people?”
The starting situations couldn’t be more different than in Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia. The left is in government, is the prime minister and heads the Ministry of Education. In Thuringia, too, everything from daycare to university should be free of charge. So far, you have achieved two non-contributory kindergarten years. It also enables additional positions in care and education. Shaft described the legacy of previous governments: the severe shortage of teachers, but it is being addressed, since 2014, 4,000 new teachers have been hired. They have also invested heavily in school buildings and sports halls, but “26 years of investment backlog cannot be made up in five years,” says Schaft. In addition, he addressed the University Act, which had been approached with “great displeasure on the part of university management”. However, the process lies before the Constitutional Court. Because they want “all status groups of the university”, from students to employees to university lecturers, to have the same share of votes “on an equal footing” in decisions. A majority of professors only is “old school”, as Schaft says.
When it comes to day-care centers, the focus is on shorter training periods for parents and collective bargaining pay to make training more attractive. This meets with approval from Metzmaier and Fuhrmann. The latter says that role models such as “care work is female” are defined in the “over-feminized area”. It is time to recognize this achievement in monetary terms. Metzmaier adds that we have to get away from endless fixed-term contracts. When asked who pays for the free education and care or what other investment should be cut, Metzmaier says: Military and armaments – and you don’t have to “necessarily cut something, you can also get it from others”, the assets keep increasing in ” increase unheard of ”. Fuhrmann thinks that one can act by canceling subsidies for “climate-damaging energies” or by increasing inheritance tax.
© Mannheimer Morgen, Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021
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