The Austrian School System

How good is the Austrian school system?

There is a great number of people who think, that the school system in Austria is very bad, but also a lot of people who think the opposite. In this essay I will try to find the most important advantages and disadvantages of the school system in Austria.

A lot of pupils are very unhappy, because in Austria the school starts at 8 o’clock. Most of the pupils think that that’s too early. The other side is that the school finishes at one or two pm. So they have a lot of free time in the afternoon.

Another point, which a huge number of students don’t like, is the fact that you can choose only very few subjects. So you can’t specialise on the things you like or you are very good at. An argument for that system is that you first get a general knowledge and you can specialise on one subject when you are in university.

Also a very huge contentious issue is the manner of examination. In Austria, every teacher can choose how the exams should be and so he can do it more difficult or easier. On the one hand it has to be said that lots of people think that’s not fair, but on the other hand with it the teacher can respond on his class. So he can treat a topic, which the students are interested in, longer, and one which is maybe boring for them, shorter.

Another advantage is that he can arrange his lessons more up-to-date. For example in biology, he can show the newest serendipities from the scientists or an English teacher can read a book with the class which they are interested in.

So I think the school system here in Austria is not so bad. It would be better, if we could choose more, but it’s good that we don’t have general exams. Maybe general exams are fairer, but the disadvantage is that then every teacher has to teach exactly the same and he can’t concentrate on the things his class likes.

Word Count: 350