Dhe autumn holidays are over in three days. Actually, Alexander should now start preparing German lessons and correct class tests. But there are no notebooks piling up on his desk. Alexander – German studies graduate, two state exams, several years of school experience – has all the time in the world this morning. His Berlin apartment is tidy, it smells of coffee and croissants, he has boiled eggs, piled up slices of tomatoes and mozzarella and even lit two candles. Alexander is no longer a teacher. He gave up three weeks ago. Now he’s what civil servants can’t really become – unemployed.
Anne once dreamed of a career as a musician, the violin is her instrument. She studied at the music academy, worked at the opera for five years and finally found another calling: to be a teacher. To speak of a vocation is no exaggeration in her case. Even at almost 60 years of age, the good-humored woman says: “For me, being a teacher is the best job of all.” The only thing she doesn’t want to do anymore is civil service. After many years of dissatisfaction in the civil service, the music teacher took a leave of absence. Now she works at a reform educational school, far removed from the structures that once robbed her of her sleep.
Anne and Alexander, who both have different names in reality, studied, worked their way through their legal clerkship and proved capable. After all, they swore allegiance to the state. And then they gave up all the perks that come at the end of this ordeal: lifetime employment, comfortable pension entitlements, and subsidized private health insurance membership. The vast majority of officials would probably call them both insane. After all, whoever is a teacher, police officer or tax officer usually stays there – be it out of conviction or convenience. Many young people are also taking this path today. A secure and often fulfilling job in the bosom of the state is a dream job for her. At some point it was hell for Anne and Alexander.
How could it possibly come this far? Anne and Alexander are different types. She is a hands-on woman who is guaranteed not to be fooled by her students. He is a thinker who quotes Nietzsche, Heine, Hemingway. Is there something wrong with the Germanist that he says he would “rather live on Hartz IV than be a civil servant at school”? Or is there something wrong with the state system when it drives a dedicated music teacher to the ends of the earth and throws her away?
Problems already in the traineeship
The story of Alexander’s failed civil service career is about a basic problem and many small everyday problems. The basic problem is that a self-confident intellectual who “does not want to undersell his honor” and does not avoid conflict encounters a rigid system in which loyalty is rewarded more than achievement. At least that’s how the Berliner, who is approaching forty, sees it. A system that has its origins in the late 18th century and still breathes the spirit of that time.
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