“A clear contradiction to the humanistic view of man”

“In our education system, all adolescents should receive the best possible support so that they can fully develop their individual resources. The restrictions that have become apparent in the development opportunities of children and young people are unacceptable.” This is what Ines Scheibe from the Executive Committee of the Humanist Association of Germany said on Sunday about the “Chancenspiegel” published a week ago by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Institute for School Development Research (IFS) at TU Dortmund University The Chancenspiegel, published for the first time, showed that the school systems in no German federal state are able to guarantee equally reliable integration, social permeability, skills development and continuity of educational opportunities. In its foreword, the study also stated that good education is not only the key to individual success, but also to social cohesion. Among other things, it revealed that in all regions, educational success and thus the basis for positive participation and involvement in society is still largely dependent on social background. “The situation of heightened inequality and social discrimination in many areas, particularly against children and young people, is in clear contradiction to our humanistic view of mankind. While recognizing the great diversity of human talents and development potential, it demands equal, fair and sustainable opportunities for children and adolescents in particular as a basic condition of a civilized community,” says Scheibe. “The school system should also not be a filter system for determining and reinforcing the differences in performance between adolescents, but rather a catalyst for the development of all different potentials, with the aim of positive participation and involvement in the preservation and further development of human culture.” All pupils in the German education system should be protected from traditional ideas of a given and hereditary social hierarchy, according to which the educational opportunities of adolescents should remain largely dependent on the social and economic success of their parents. Finally, Ines Scheibe pointed out that the situation of the education systems should not be viewed in isolation. “Success at school is always dependent on the life prospects that students and their parents can associate with it. Anyone who takes a sober look at the bizarrely wide gap in prosperity as well as the dubious idols of our present-day society should not be surprised at the extensive negative effects on young people’s motives. If school education could be perceived as the central key to a self-determined, satisfying and meaningful life, the remaining deficits in the school system would presumably have a less serious impact.”