Applications

Over the past 15 years, I have written dozens of university applications (bachelor, master, PhD) and hundreds of job applications. I have been lucky with some, and unlucky with many more. An accepted application opens new doors, and defines the direction our lives take for the next year or two or more, if one decides to walk through that open door. The door may open to a new country, to a new field of specialization, to new acquaintances and friends. Rejections at first feel like having a door slammed in your face. With age you realize that it's just one door closed (sometimes just for the time being), and many more doors left to knock on.

The funny thing with having kids is that, suddenly, applications for (private) kindergartens and schools come into play, on top of one's own applications. It's sad in a country (Germany) where children's mobility and educational success depends so much on their parent's position, but we have had to sell our own background and (rather) successful careers to get our kids into the schools we want them to be in. We are feeding a system that I wish I could work against, but on the other hand, we want our children to have the best education possible, and believe this does not take place in a normal state school in Berlin (not because of other pupils or their parents, but because of massive shortages in teachers, large classroom sizes, and lack of funds for equipment and facilities). It could, if we would all be willing to invest into education and change the system, but not in time for my kids' education.

I have in past posts mentioned that we have been contemplating a move away from Berlin (mainly for the sake of my career prospects, which are very unfortunately rather limited in this wonderful city). Our main condition was that all three of our kids get a place in a school that we have applied for. The application package (and fee) was impressive, to formulate it positively. We had to submit progress reports for our kids from all of their kindergarden years. Our kids are just 6, 4, and 1! They were all accepted.

We (my family) live in a world of luxury. I wish it could be the case for all children in the world, in particular in terms of their education. I'm glad that there are amazing people working towards this goal, among my friends and elsewhere. Respect.