And so we
have come to the end of our penultimate year of Swiss schooling. Well that’s
Plan A, anyway.
Son no 1,
J, has spent the year since he finished his apprenticeship mostly working
(albeit not as an Automechatroniker, for which he trained in his apprenticeship).
He tried to begin his Swiss military service but was sent home on the first
day, having been informed that he needed a whole year after his knee surgery before
they would take him. Why the Army couldn’t have told him this when he had
contacted them to discuss it during August 2018, so that he could actually have
used the year educationally, is beyond us. He is currently recovering from a
different, work related accident, and so we wait to see if the same thing will
happen in January 2020. In the meantime, he is trying to figure out what to
study at higher level; unfortunately his experience of feeling that he had made
the “wrong” decision with his choice of Lehr (see previous blog post) has left
him with a fear of making the “wrong” educational decision a second time. We
have explained to him that now he has one qualification, it’s OK, he can take
his time and change paths, and that no harm will come of it. In the meantime we
watch, wait and support with as much love and patience as we can.
Son no 2,
C, has come to the end of the third year of his four year apprenticeship, and
seems to feel quite differently to J about his training going forward. He seems
to be getting on well at work, to the extent that he tells us they have asked
him if he’s interested in staying on after he has qualified. I’ll guess I’ll
let you know about that this time next year. And after 11 years in Swiss school
he seems to have finally realised that getting good marks involves doing
regular study. Not that we weren’t constantly saying this to both of them ourselves
as parents, but - boys and listening. You know where I’m coming from with this.
We are aware that the heat will be on him from the beginning of next year and
it will be pretty constant until the end – and with him having been in Sek B,
we are aware that this will feel like a lot of pressure, which he may find
tough. But unlike with his older brother, at least we know what to expect this
time, and how we can support him. He still prefers to study at the dining table
rather than in his room, where he has every distraction known to man. I would
prefer him to study independently in privacy, as I feel he should be doing at
the age of 18, but we will do whatever it takes to get him to actually sit down
and do it – and focus.
Passing an apprenticeship
isn’t a given – one of J’s friends this week has learned that he hasn’t passed
and needs to resit a whole year. But what really strikes me is that getting to
the end of it successfully is genuinely regarded here as a Big Thing – and rightly
so, for with an apprenticeship successfully completed, young people can truly begin
their working lives. It is noticeable that during the first two weeks of July, the
newspapers are full of congratulations notices from businesses to their young
staff for completion of their apprenticeships, and where I am currently working
in central ZH, the company intranet announcement of this year’s 12 successful candidates
was met with at least 12 congratulations comments from staff.
So – that’s
us for another year. Bis bald, ciao, ciao, tchüss tchüss.
