Structure

The two main parts of the book follow on from the introduction under the heading Anna, the School and the good Lord.

The first main part under the title Die Bildungskatastrophe (The Education Catastrophe) consists of five sub-chapters:

1. Was ist Bildung? (What is education?); 2. Klassenkampf in der Schule (class struggle in school); 3. PISA, G8 und andere Dummheiten (PISA, G8 and other stupid things); 4. Das Dilemma unserer Schule (The dilemma of our schools); 5. Lehrer als Beruf (Teacher as a profession).

The second main part, entitled Die Bildungsrevolution (The Educational Revolution), contains six subsections: 1. Bildung im 21. Jahrhundert (Education in the 21st century); 2. Wie geht das Lernen? (How does learning work?); 3. Individualisiertes Lernen (Individualized learning); 4. Jenseits von Fach und Note (Beyond subject and grade); 5. Bessere Schulen (Better schools); 6. Bildung für alle! (Education for everyone!).

Content

Richard David Precht writes that Germany has, according to OECD studies, „eines der schlechtesten Schul- und Bildungssysteme unter allen Industrienationen der Welt“ ("one of the worst school and education systems among all industrial nations in the world").^[1]

Precht calls ten principles of a holistic modification for a contemporary school system in his book:

1. The child's intrinsic motivation is to be given priority.
2. Individual learning should be made possible and supported according to one's own talent and learning pace.
3. Not just learning material, but the understanding of the meaning and sensuality of things and the context of this world is to be conveyed, primarily in projects.
4. The bond of the individual in the community should be considered as an important learning factor.
5. The organization of school operations should promote a culture of relationships and responsibility, for example by subdividing the operation into various “learning houses”.
6. Values and appreciation for one's own learning environment are to be promoted through rituals, among other things.
7. A learner-friendly school architecture with a campus as the center can and should contribute to a positive school and learning climate.
8. The ability to concentrate must be trained and maintained throughout school.
9. A personal evaluation with the help of monitoring related to the individuality of the child is intended to replace the conventional number system.
10. The all-day school enables educational equality in that all learning relevant for the school takes place in the school (and not also with homework or in extracurricular tutoring).^[2]