German High School

So this is something I've been meaning to write for quite a long time now but alwas avoided just because at this point, it seems so normal I don't even care to write about it.  For the rest of you reading though, I think you will be interested by the German school system.
       So first off there are seperate levels of high school that the students are split into in 4th grade.  At the top is the Gymnasium, which prepares students to study in college.  That's where I am so remember all personal anecdotes are Gymnasium based.  Next comes the Realschule which prepares students to enter into the work world but usually seems to include some sort of internship and the education throughout the Realschule is rather broad.  The last traditional school option is the Hauptschule which is purely to prepares students for work directly after high school and is more specialized toward a line of work than the Realschule.  I know the system isn't completely rigid though because my host sister told me her school didn't fit any of these categories.  Before she left for Chile, she explained that her school had all three put in one building and through extra testing it was possible to swap up to the next type of school.  It isn't gaurenteed that you will stay in the school that you start in anywhere though because if your grades aren't high enough, you get booted down the ladder to the next school.  Truthfully it seems rather frightening and unforgiving to me.  I know plenty of people back in the states who didn't care about school until high school and if they were here in Germany they would have a very small chance of going on to college.  Which by the way, is wayyy cheaper here.  It's sorta like the reward you get for making it all the way through the system of high schools.  Okay so I'm tired now but very soon I will finally get you my schedule too, it's pretty funky.
Tschüss!
~M