Gymnasium (Germany)

Gymnasium (German pronun­cia­tion: [ɡʏmˈnaːzi̯ʊm]; German plural: Gymnasien), in the German education system, is the most advanced of the three types of German secondary schools, the others being Realschule and Hauptschule. Gymnasium strongly emphasizes academic learning, comparable to the British grammar school system or with prep schools in the United States. A student attending gymnasium is called a "Gymnasiast" (German plural: "Gymnasiasten"). In 2009/10 there were 3,094 gymnasia in Germany, with c. 2,475,000 students (about 28 percent of all precollegiate students during that period), resulting in an average student number of 800 students per school. Gymnasia are generally public, state-funded schools, but a number of parochial and private gymnasia also exist. In 2009/10, 11.1 percent of gymnasium students attended a private gymnasium. These often charge tuition fees, though many also offer scholarships. Tuition fees are lower than in comparable European countries.

Some gymnasia are boarding schools, while others run as day schools; they are now predominantly co-educational, and few single-sex schools remain. Students are admitted at 10 or 13 years of age and are required to have completed four to six years of Grundschule (primary education). In some States of Germany, permission to apply for Gymnasium is nominally dependent on a letter of recommendation written by a teacher or a certain GPA, although when parents petition, an examination can be used to decide the outcome.

Traditionally, a pupil attended gymnasium for nine years in western Germany, or eight in eastern Germany. However, since 2004, there has been a strong political movement to reduce the time spent at the gymnasium to eight years throughout Germany, dispensing with the traditional ninth year or Oberprima, which is roughly equivalent to the first year of higher education. Final year students take the Abitur final exam. The Abitur is not comparable to the SAT in the United States; it tests material learned in high school across a wider spectrum than the SAT. Most gymnasia hold an alumni meeting at least once a year.

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