Preferred book carrying devices in German Gymnasiums?

[ceruleanblues]

I have a student in the 11th year of a German Gymnasium. I've been able to get most of my information from the internet, but I'm stuck on how she might carry her stuff to school. Bookbag? Backpack? Are books/notebooks left at school?

Comments

[ankewehner]

Something like half of the people had Eastpack backpacks http://www.oyla2.de/userdaten/57628680/bilder/Eastpack_Ranzen.JPG (just more commonly in dark colours) iirc from 5 years ago. Usually backpacks, anyway.

Both Gymnasiums in my hometown had lockers (*small* ones, not the ones big enough to hang a jacket in), but if you wanted one you had to rent it, and there may even have been a waiting list.

Room changes... Up to class 10 there would be a room for each class where they had maths, languages etc, but a number of classes (art, music, geography, physics, chemistry at least; I think religion/ethics, too, because the classes were split for that) had their special rooms, so you even then had to move.
Once you were in a course system, you had to change rooms for every class.
At my school then we'd always have Doppelstunden ie instead of usually 45 minutes per subject it would be 90 minutes.

[zimtkeks]

Just like veli said, "Eastpack" is the backpack brand of choice. Small ones, though. If you come to school with a bigger one you better tell people you're going away for the weekend right after school. Bookbags are used, too.
In our Gymnasium and the other ones I've seen in Cologne, there were no lockers. We had to carry our books to and from school every day.
But I've seen a school in my practical this year that allowed the kids to leave some of their books and notebooks in their classroom.

[silversolitaire]

It always occurs to me that at some point in a student's life in Germany comes the time when you swap over from those really lame kiddy backpacks called "Scout" to the cool ones, as pointed out above. You see, as people have said, there are NO lockers in German schools. Anywhere. It's something that's been highly criticized since small kids are forced to carry their heavy books around all the time. Because of that, most parents make sure their kids have sturdy and healthy backpacks when they're young. Scout backpacks have a hard shell and they're made so distribute the weight better, have reflecting batches etc

[silversolitaire]

Wow, I just did some research on Scout and realized they're expensive as fuck! DUDE!

Anyway, this gives you a rough idea of what they look like. They've gotten a lot of facelifts over the years, that's for sure! XD

[nerdpony]

Yeah, they're, like, €120.

No wonder everyone uses them until, like, the 9th grade.

[lyorn]

Our school had The Great Locker Debate every year in the early 80's. Grade 5 to 10 and parents wanted lockers, grade 11-13 felt it would spoil the atmosphere (they usually had only 3-4 classes a day, plus smaller textbooks), and the school felt it would cost money. So, no lockers.

Today they have some. Today they even offer "lunch".

[nerdpony]

As a 11th year student in a German school, I carry my stuff in a backpack. Textbooks are normally left at school, and the students have wood or plastic crates where they can keep the books they don't need. In my backpack currently is:

1) My big black binder with all of my school papers in it (This is often replaced by smaller folders for every subject.)
2) My pencil bag, with my fountain pen, a mechanical pencil, and a number of felt-tip pens in multiple colors.
3) My textbooks for which I have homework.
4) My gym clothes.

On that note, I need to go back to school now...

This is the topic that brings all the Germans out of the woodwork...

[kazaera]

Depends a bit on when the story is set, I'd guess, but yep - backpacks are the way to go. Possibly satchels later on, but that'd depend on how many subjects you'd have in a day (like someone mentioned above, we'd have double lessons so fewer subjects)/how heavy your books are.

And the whole lockers/no lockers/can you leave stuff at school depends very strongly on the school and which Bundesland you're in. At my school, you could leave some stuff under your desk in grades 7-10 (we had Orientierungsstufe rather than Gymnasium for 5-6, it's since been abolished), but afterwards you couldn't because you didn't have a desk, or in fact a classroom, anymore. It was course system all the way. No lockers - actually, come to think of it, we had lockers no one ever used and there were no keys for.
Other schools do it differently!

I saw lots of Eastpacks as well and also 4Yous (is that you you spell it? I forgot).

-from southern Lower Saxony/Niedersachsen

Re: This is the topic that brings all the Germans out of the woodwork...

[kazaera]

I should mention that I graduated two years ago, although I doubt very much has changed in that amount of time.