Always Learning

This morning we met at Humboldt University at 10 am to hear from a guest lecturer. Our guest lecturer was Professor Viola Georgi, who does research in diversity education. Her reserach is all about improving the education system for German students with a migration background. Of the 87 million people in Germany, 20% are from families with a migration background, and 1 in 3 children under the age of fifteen are from migrant families. Many children with a migration background face serious discrimination in German schools because they don't speak German fluently and there are no accomodations for these students to have a translator or have an education in their mother tongue. Becuase of this they fall behind in their education and perpetuate a stereotype that children of migration background can't receive a higher education or become a skilled worker. Its a serious problem in Germany, and though Professor Georgi has made a difference with her research, the older generation of teachers have never taken any classes on teaching students of migrant background. In addition to the teachers, the publishers of textbooks have written the text in such a way that it continues to create a separation of students with a migration background by asking "German" students to ask their foreign peers about their lives. This is completely inappropriate, especially considering most children with migrant background never lived in the country of their parent's origin.

After the talk by Viola, we were given a break to get lunch. Hannah, Anna, and I all went back to Primark and Hannah and i found plastic flip flops for 1,50 euro. We decided we should probably get a pair since the bathroom/shower is communal. After that we went to the destination we were supposed to meet the rest of the group at 2:00. As per usual, the rest of the group that traveled with showed up 10 minutes late, and a few more showed up a bit later. Fortunately, it seems Manuella caught on to our perpetual tardiness and we didn't actually need to be at our destination until 2:30, so we actually made it on time. Our destination was a community center in Kreuzberg, and the director of the community center explained some of the history of Kreuzberg, the building that became the community center, and some of the various things that the community center offers.

After learning about Kreuzberg, we headed back to the hostel. I took a much needed nap after being in the heat all day and when i woke up Hannah, Emerson, and I all went to get dinner then head to Salon Schmuck to do some work. I am currently still here at Salon Schmuck, but once i have finished this post I will be heading back to the hostel for some light reading before I go to sleep and start again tomorrow!