Education strike: The breadless Bohème protests

Why is education going on strike this week?

The goal: more education for all

For two days, Germany has been on strike for education. At least that's what the students and students who have teamed up in nationwide actions call for a quiet attempt to protest the establishment. For them, bachelor and master are tools of the devil - they want the good old diploma and the masters back. Way with the tuition fees, free education for all, More study places, fewer admission restrictions, and the economy should please stop interfering. The students want to be financially independent, without any credit. Education should not be reserved only for the elite and the upper ten thousand. That's true - but who has so much Pinkepinke, who has so much money? The initiators of the education strike do not have a solution. Only the statement: "The state pumps billions in dilapidated banks, instead of financing necessary reforms for an emancipatory education system."

The fault of the whole misery is the Bologna Process (see box), which started ten years ago. Education has become a commodity and adapted only to the needs of the market, so a critique of the higher education reform. That this market is exactly the one who gives the students the jobs in the end, is quickly forgotten.

Gone are the days when the study was still for self-discovery, you let yourself drift and set your own priorities. The long-term student, who sees himself as a life artist, as a bohemian, belongs to a dying species. Nothing against self-discovery, but years of studying on the back of society (of course, there are exceptions that could not study without a time-consuming side job), and then to show the economy, solidarity and tax funds the symbolic middle finger? This is definitely not an aspired existence.

A lot of power, little time

That's what companies and politics have seen a similar story and launched the Bologna Process. What counts since then is a lot of power in as little time as possible, This is also felt by the psychological counseling centers of the universities and there is a significant increase in students who need emotional support. "The clearly defined course of study fosters fears of being left behind and losing touch with the others," says Hans-Werner Rückert, Head of the Central Institution Student Counseling and Psychological Counseling at Freie Universität Berlin.

In fact, the new way of studying offers no opportunity for a breather. Not only students see mistakes and need for action. Standard courses, international standards and study please completed pronto. The emeritus Berlin political scientist Peter Grottian not only sees the problems of the students: "Professors also suffer from the McDonaldisierung of the degree programs through the Bachelor-Master-System and should express their anger, together with their students in the strike."

To what extent the protests can even modify the restructuring of the Bologna process, no one can say. What also has to show up: Is the Bachelor actually as bad as he is being talked about? Recognized in the economy, internationally comparable - that sounds at least in relation to the labor market is not wrong. But increasing numbers of visitors in psychological counseling centers and nationwide protests show the other side of the coin. Overburdened students can not be the result of a reform in favor of competitiveness. As in many other cases, a middle ground must be found here, because Education for all is a respectable and at the same time ambitious goal.