Is Made In Switzerland Really Best?

Comparing the Swiss school system to the International school system

Wake up at 06:30. Get to school at 07:45. Don’t dare be late to your first class of the day! Sit still for 45 minutes at a time, listen and learn, that’s the drill. During your 10-minute breaks you get to walk around, stretch your legs or have a quick chat with a friend. At 12 it is finally lunch time. But you’d better be back in an hour to resume your studies. After lunch it’s another three to four classes before you eventually get to go home. But school is still not over yet. You have 7 exams in the next two weeks, so get revising. 

For most students in Switzerland, such a school day is the norm. Nobody ever questions it and rarely does anyone complain. 

But maybe they should?

I’m a student at a state school in Zurich, Switzerland, and I wanted to find out how different my day-to-day life might be if I were at one of the many international schools which do not follow the Swiss curriculum.

The international school system based on the “International Baccalaureate” was originally designed to accommodate students that have to move countries often. It follows a simple level system that works the same anywhere in the world. Thanks to that, the students’ education does not suffer that much from them changing schools a lot.

However, Swiss students whose ambition is to study at university abroad one day also often choose to attend an international school, as they worry that foreign universities may not be familiar with the Swiss diploma, the “Matura”. 

Quelle: Realgymnasium Rämibühl

The International Baccalaureate, on the other hand, is known all over the world and having it perhaps makes applying to international institutions more straightforward. 

Moreover, the international school system is designed to take account of students and their needs individually. “Its curriculum is extremely adaptable and agile,” says Nicole Rieffel, an independent school counsellor for international schools. “It implements new subjects, such as business management, psychology, social and cultural anthropology and many more, fields of work and techniques that are much more efficient than any that are being taught in the Swiss curriculum. Therefore, the international school system is more modern than many others and adapts to the needs of today’s students. The Swiss curriculum relies on tried and tested strengths, for instance that students need to pass an entrance exam to be able to attend a selective high school and receive their “Matura”,  and thus endeavours to maintain the required standard.”

Because the modern, international curriculum is so flexible and individualised, it allows students to focus on their strengths early on in their school career, meaning they can skip certain subjects if they are sure, that they will not need them later on in their career, or if they are simply not interested in that subject and start thinking about what they want to study. This can be an immense advantage later on in their life, because they are already very familiar with their strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, when graduating, pupils get a lot more freedom in choosing their graduating subjects based on their plans for the future. They do not need to waste time learning things they will never need later in their careers and can deepen their knowledge in subjects that they really care about.

Contrary to the international system, in the Swiss system students have to receive 13 graduating grades and pass at least 11 final exams. Compared to other schools around the world, that is an extremely broad spectrum – and represents a correspondingly big challenge. Except for three subjects, which are Italian or Spanish, History or Geography and Physics, Science or Biology the students do not have any freedom choosing what they want to learn. This often results in inattentive and overworked pupils. 

I talked to Ishaan Prasad, a student at the Realgymnasium Rämibühl, and asked him the question: “ What subject do you wish you did not have to study and which subject would you want to study instead?” “ I would be willing to give up Art any day, because I know that I will never be needing it in my life. I also would give up German, just because I do not really like the subject itself. I’d much rather have way more math classes, because I really like math and I am good at it. I know that I will definitely be needing it at least some way in my future career.” Said Ishaan. 

On the other hand, thanks to the diverse Swiss curriculum, students that receive the Swiss ”Matura” possess a broad general knowledge and do not have any restrictions regarding what they want to study at university: in theory, they can apply to study any subject at any university in Switzerland.

Quelle: Realgymnasium Rämibühl

Few Swiss schools offer students the possibility to receive an International Baccalaureate on top of their “Matura” – but my one, the Realgymnasium Rämibühl in Zürich, is an exception. “This offer is intended for Swiss students who already know that they want to study abroad one day, for students who find normal classes easy and are looking for an additional challenge, or for students that simply want to brush up on their English skills,” says Philipp Wettstein,  Deputy Head of the Realgymnasium Rämibühl. Graduating in two degrees is not to be underestimated and not many students are cut out for that kind of workload. But the ones who do are almost always happy with the outcome of their hard work and have some kind of extra skill to show thanks to their International Baccalaureate. For example, my old math tutor was an IB student at the Realgymnasium Rämibühl and she is now studying in Chicago. Even though she often told me about how much work the IB was, in the end she was glad that she invested so much time into receiving her International Baccalaureate because it simplified many things for her when applying to her university in Chicago. 

There are not many students that have the courage to go study overseas, but even the ones that don’t, agree that it is important to have the option of doing so. They say it provides more opportunities for students and that it is very good to have continental exchange and for people to learn different languages. 

After finding out more about the International Baccalaureate, I think every student should get the chance to decide what they want to study and whether they want to learn particular things or not. But a certain amount of general knowledge is necessary and too much freedom of choice could therefore be counterproductive. Teenagers do still need a certain amount guidance in their lives, especially when making big decisions such as what they want to study later on. It is always good to be open for changes in school systems, because society never stops changing and evolving, but it is also important to build on each system’s existing strengths.