The Schwarzegg Case or: The Struggle to End the Dysfunction of a School

Abstract

‘Loud and clear’ is the catchword that is heard most frequently at Schwarzegg, combined with the nerve-racking decibels of referee’s whistles, even in closed rooms. Very painful for the ears! The principal places the sports facility off limits for me and my students. One of the boys in a fit of anger had thrown a piece of sports equipment into a corner. I mentioned this during a phone call with the responsible youth worker. The rectress, having overheard this, decided that the students’ safety was not properly safeguarded in my sports class. Once again I tried to convince her that my students need to move more, that I can occasionally take them outside to play soccer maybe on a nearby sports ground at the end of a long morning of classes. She rejects this categorically. The students are to stay in their seats for six hours and work… Outside classroom 1/2 squatted a child that repeatedly hit a trash can with some kind of object. It was cold and a light rain was falling. The child’s clothes were thin; he was barefoot and was left outside for nearly four class periods. A huge provocation for the rectress was that two students with concurrent learning problems were ‘foisted on us in really shameless fashion.’ She does not want to have to offer individualized instruction (‘here we don’t fry special order sausages’) and told me she intended to ‘push back’ these students and she expected ‘appropriate assistance’ in this from me the classroom teacher. We could do much better by these children if we could teach them individually using simplified learning materials. However, this precisely is what the principal forbids and she instead specifies the only textbooks that we are allowed to use for each subject and each grade level. She makes repeated control visits during class time to see if I, in fact, follow these precepts. Frau Rinkel was told by principal Grese to test Fernando, one of these students, in order to certify him as possessing a low I.Q. According to Fernando, he was treated in an extremely unfriendly manner by Frau Rinkel on the occasion. As he told me resignedly, it kept him from demonstrating what he really was capable of doing… Frau Brandl, the former acting vice-principal, and the principal daily burst into my class and interrupt my pedagogical work by disciplining my students in front of me. First, the students have to stand up to greet the teacher or principal entering. But this turns into a time-consuming procedure every time because this boy still has a hand in his pocket or is touching his chin or that boy is leaning on his table. The boys are screamed at until at last they are all standing ramrod straight. At that point, the reprimands or purely preventive hectoring start… they give the students long writing assignments. The next day, they return to collect what they ordered; again, we go through the drill of being made to stand up and be disciplined. When it turns out that nothing has been written for the most part now they double the writing workload, quadruple it, and so on; the prospect of parent-teacher conferences is raised and the boys are threatened with still ‘other measures’… Frau Brandl’s presence comes across as cold and mechanical. She looks into the room with empty eyes. Rectress Grese, on the other hand, comes on as domineering, demanding, loud and space-filling. These invasions of our classroom life produce anxieties and aggressions in the students. When the ladies finally (!) have left again, I start my crisis management… Just now Grese has grabbed one of my students, all of twelve years old, because he has said something or other about ‘Hitler.’ In all seriousness, she accuses the completely disoriented child of right-wing tendencies. If she hears anything like it again, she announces by shouting to my whole class, she’s going to bring in State Security so that the boy’s family once and for all ‘is read the riot act.’ An official with State Security comes to the school every few weeks to ‘interrogate’ the students… Frau Brandl very energetically announced in the teacher lounge that she would report her student Anita to the police. Some colleagues immediately voiced their approval, saying they also had students that be reported simultaneously with her… Colleague Brandl sent my student Nino to the discipline room, where he had to stand on a pink blotter paper for forty minutes and I, as teacher in charge, had to monitor him. When Frau Brandl left the room, I told Nino to sit down and we talked about what brought him to Schwarzegg, his problematic school career and his family difficulties. At the end he said to me: ‘No one in this school ever had a talk like that with me. I don’t think that people are helped here. For most of them it just gets even worse here.’… Frau Krekow came into my classroom during math class in connection with an early-morning student conflict regarding the taxi. She made all students rise from their seats the Schwarzegg way. My student Fernando, age eleven, however, failed to stand up straight and leaned a hand on the table. Frau Krekow demanded that he stand up straight. When he took his hand off the table, she insisted that he also straighten his legs. She asked the boy in an irritated tone of voice if he was ‘at least sixty percent severely handicapped.’ If so, he could then remain standing lopsided. The boy looked down, ashamed, and did not move. Frau Krekow screamed at him: `So, because you had to be so stupid about it, you can just keep standing in your place for an hour.’ Frau Krekow left. Since Fernando also had to work in his math assignment book, I told him to sit down. About twenty minutes later, Krekow came back in, saw that Fernando was sitting and said: ‘Hey, you’re not standing any more. Just for that you’ll spend the fifth and sixth period downstairs with me. We’re going to practice standing there.’… (Broecher 2016, pp. 44-45). Read the whole story: Broecher, J. (2016). The long struggle to turn around an inhumane, corrupt, paramilitary school specialized for students with emotional and behavioral difficulties. In R. Nata (Ed.), Progress in Education, Vol. 38 (pp. 39-72). New York: Nova Science Publishers, https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=59187&osCsid=fcb22e9a6e9e9f23d4ec853559b9f225

Full text

THE SCHWARZEGG CASE OR:
THE STRUGGLE TO END THE DYSFUNCTION OF A SCHOOL
Prof. Dr. habil. Joachim Broecher
University of Flensburg, Institute for Special Education
Department for the Education of Learners with Emotional, Social, and Behavioral Needs
‘Loud and clear’ is the catchword that is heard most fre-
quently at Schwarzegg, combined with the nerve-racking de-
cibels of referee’s whistles, even in closed rooms. Very pain-
ful for the ears! The principal places the sports facility off li-
mits for me and my students. One of the boys in a fit of an-
ger had thrown a piece of sports equipment into a corner. I
mentioned this during a phone call with the responsible y-
outh worker. The rectress, having overheard this, decided
that the students’ safety was not properly safeguarded in my
sports class. Once again I tried to convince her that my stu-
dents need to move more, that I can occasionally take them
outside to play soccer maybe on a nearby sports ground at
the end of a long morning of classes. She rejects this catego-
rically. The students are to stay in their seats for six hours
and work… Outside classroom 1/2 squatted a child that
repeatedly hit a trash can with some kind of object. It was
cold and a light rain was falling. The child’s clothes were
thin; he was barefoot and was left outside for nearly four
class periods. A huge provocation for the rectress was that
two students with concurrent learning problems were ‘foisted
on us in really shameless fashion.’ She does not want to ha-
ve to offer individualized instruction (‘here we don’t fry speci-
al order sausages’) and told me she intended to ‘push back’
these students and she expected ‘appropriate assistance’ in
this from me the classroom teacher. We could do much bet-
ter by these children if we could teach them individually u-
sing simplified learning materials. However, this precisely is
what the principal forbids and she instead specifies the only
textbooks that we are allowed to use for each subject and
each grade level. She makes repeated control visits during
class time to see if I, in fact, follow these precepts. Frau Rin-
kel was told by principal Grese to test Fernando, one of these
students, in order to certify him as possessing a low I.Q. Ac-
cording to Fernando, he was treated in an extremely un-
friendly manner by Frau Rinkel on the occasion. As he told
me resignedly, it kept him from demonstrating what he really
was capable of doing… Frau Brandl, the former acting vice-
principal, and the principal daily burst into my class and in-
terrupt my pedagogical work by disciplining my students in
front of me. First, the students have to stand up to greet the
teacher or principal entering. But this turns into a time-
consuming procedure every time because this boy still has a
hand in his pocket or is touching his chin or that boy is
leaning on his table. The boys are screamed at until at last
they are all standing ramrod straight. At that point, the re-
primands or purely preventive hectoring start… they give the
students long writing assignments. The next day, they return
to collect what they ordered; again, we go through the drill of
being made to stand up and be disciplined. When it turns
out that nothing has been written for the most part now they
double the writing workload, quadruple it, and so on; the
prospect of parent-teacher conferences is raised and the
boys are threatened with still ‘other measures’… Frau
Brandl’s presence comes across as cold and mechanical. She
looks into the room with empty eyes. Rectress Grese, on the
other hand, comes on as domineering, demanding, loud and
space-filling. These invasions of our classroom life produce
anxieties and aggressions in the students. When the ladies
finally (!) have left again, I start my crisis management…
Just now Grese has grabbed one of my students, all of twelve
years old, because he has said something or other about
‘Hitler.’ In all seriousness, she accuses the completely disori-
ented child of right-wing tendencies. If she hears anything li-
ke it again, she announces by shouting to my whole class,
she’s going to bring in State Security so that the boy’s family
once and for all ‘is read the riot act.’ An official with State
Security comes to the school every few weeks to ‘interrogate’
the students… Frau Brandl very energetically announced in
the teacher lounge that she would report her student Anita
to the police. Some colleagues immediately voiced their ap-
proval, saying they also had students that be reported simul-
taneously with her…
Colleague Brandl sent my student Nino to the discipline room,
where he had to stand on a pink blotter paper for forty minu-
tes and I, as teacher in charge, had to monitor him. When
Frau Brandl left the room, I told Nino to sit down and we
talked about what brought him to Schwarzegg, his problematic
school career and his family difficulties. At the end he said to
me: ‘No one in this school ever had a talk like that with me. I
don’t think that people are helped here. For most of them it
just gets even worse here.’… Frau Krekow came into my class-
room during math class in connection with an early-morning
student conflict regarding the taxi. She made all students rise
from their seats the Schwarzegg way. My student Fernando,
age eleven, however, failed to stand up straight and leaned a
hand on the table. Frau Krekow demanded that he stand up
straight. When he took his hand off the table, she insisted that
he also straighten his legs. She asked the boy in an irritated
tone of voice if he was ‘at least sixty percent severely handi-
capped.’ If so, he could then remain standing lopsided. The
boy looked down, ashamed, and did not move. Frau Krekow
screamed at him: `So, because you had to be so stupid about
it, you can just keep standing in your place for an hour.’ Frau
Krekow left. Since Fernando also had to work in his math as-
signment book, I told him to sit down. About twenty minutes
later, Krekow came back in, saw that Fernando was sitting
and said: ‘Hey, you’re not standing any more. Just for that y-
ou’ll spend the fifth and sixth period downstairs with me.
We’re going to practice standing there.’… (Broecher 2016, pp.
44-45)
Read the whole story: Broecher, J. (2016). The long struggle to
turn around an inhumane, corrupt, paramilitary school spe-
cialized for students with emotional and behavioral difficulties.
In R. Nata (Ed.),
Progress in Education
, Vol. 38 (pp. 39-72).
New York: Nova Science Publishers, Download
Neptune Fountain, Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy