A Bit Baffled

We went today to buy Lilia her Schulranzen, which is basically a giant, hard-sided backpack that elementary-aged schoolkids use here in Germany to haul around their books, homework, writing utensils, gym stuff, lunches, and so on.  In addition to being staggered by the price of the thing, once again, it occurred to me just how little I actually know about the school system here.  Even the vocabulary I don't have quite under my command yet (I learned today that a Mappe is a pencil case . . . got a ways to go before I figure out 'Parent-Teacher Conference').

Frankly, I am also a little bit frightened of the whole starting-school thing (way more than Lilia herself).  Here in Baden-Württemberg, whether a child goes to Gymnasium (necessary preparation for university entrance), or instead Realschule (preparation for trade school), or Hauptschule (preparation for . . . ? Unemployment?) is decided after 4th grade (!!!!!!) which I think is completely insane. I have heard other parents talking about the amount of pressure that their children feel already at very early ages to perform in order to avoid a dreaded recommendation for the Hauptschule, and how the parents themselves often pore over every page of their children's homework.  Honestly, I really, really hope that a lot of that is just parents' bellyaching because 1) the thought of my 5-year-old agonizing about her future in maybe only a year or 2 makes me want to cry and 2) I already went to school for 24 years and damn, I don't need to do it again through my child (not to mention that she would probably do worse with my help rather than better, at least in such topics as, say, the German language).

Well, I guess it will be a learning experience for both of us.  One thing is for sure:  I know I will weep like a sponge when she gets on the bus for the first day of school. My baby!!