“”Germany is being dumbed down”

“Today’s Children will not be capable of work, that’s why we need to act now.”

thChanges.comGerman source: Focus.de: 11.10.2019

“Germany is being dumbed down,” claims Michael Winterhoff in his new book. The child psychiatrist finds clear words when it comes to the future of the Federal Republic. The children of today will not be able to work if we do not take immediate action, says Winterhoff. In an interview he explains how we can save our society.

VIP News: Mr. Winterhoff, in your new book, you criticise the German education system. You called it “Germany is being dumbed down”. What’s it all about?

Michael Winterhoff: The title of my book refers to the psychic achievements of the students. Their development no longer plays a role in kindergarten or school today. Soft skills, work attitude, the ability to distinguish between work and the private: fewer and fewer graduates can do this today.

They have no sense of punctuality. Identifying structures and work processes is difficult for them. Many lack basic knowledge of German and math. Today the mobile phone is at the top of the list – far above the customer. More and more students are dropping out, more than a third of graduate students do not survive the probationary period at a work place; they lack social skills or have a strong overconfidence (Konrad-Adenauer study).

VIP News: And the education system is to blame?

Winterhoff: That’s right. Children need a counterpart who guides them, encourages them. Someone who shows them that you also have to make an effort – and also be rewarded, for example, with praise. Especially in the day care center children need caregivers to whom they can orient themselves. Social and emotional intelligence are only developed by the other person.

But it is precisely this type of attachment that is no longer provided for at school today – the children are consciously self-reliant.

VIP News: So teachers and teachers behave wrong?

Winterhoff: The problem is not teachers and educators. The problem starts earlier. About 20 years ago, the education system was turned upside down – unfortunately for the worse. At the instigation of the OECD and ideologues, autonomous learning has been pushed past educational policy leaders past teachers and parents. The child should choose in the kindergarten, in which room it is and what it does. At school, the child should teach himself as much as possible. These ideas were never tested for their effectiveness.

If a physician develops a new treatment method, it must be tested several times. However, if you have a new idea in education, it will be implemented with all its consequences for the children.

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VIP News: Independent learning is so bad?

Winterhoff: A self-determined learning: Yes! A child can not decide yet what it has to learn. Teachers are now just “learning companions”, covering a learning counter where the children should use. The child is responsible for the execution.

There are primary schools where school contracts are concluded with the children, in the breaks there are fourth graders as mediators. Many children need to wear soundproof headphones to work in peace. We have now abolished the composite spelling and spelling in many states.

VIP News: Teachers and educators should be so strict?

Winterhoff: No! You have to be a teacher and not a learning companion. Only at the caregivers, the child can orient and develop. Social skills and working attitude develop only through frequent practice. Only when educators and teachers guide and guide children does their emotional and social psyche develop. Therefore, we need a personal and non-learning education.

There is nothing against different forms of teaching such as group or partner work. However, the implementation of these forms of instruction requires much smaller groups.

By the way: At the age of 15 the pupil goes to school for himself, before that for the parents. Even a child only brushes his teeth when the parents accompany him.

FOCUS Online: What consequences does the current education policy in your opinion?

Winterhoff: If we do not take countermeasures, our society will be in a catastrophic imbalance. Our children grow into narcissists and self-centered people who do not pay attention to others, only turn around themselves and live a lust-oriented day.

Appreciation is no longer a term for them. But in a welfare state, people have to be there for each other. But people who behave like little children, unable to work, are beyond the system.