UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDY ABROAD IN BERLIN 2005

Education for a new generation
Sophie Mödig prepares for her future

 

 
   

Sophie applies her eye makeup and puts on the final touches in preparation for school. (1/9)

     
   

Text and photos by Tricia Coyne

     
   

         At 6 a.m., only the gray, overcast sky of the Berlin suburb of Charlottenburg is visible through Sophie Mödig's window.
         As the 18-year-old student begins a brisk trot down the five flights of stairs to the street, there will be no public school bus waiting for her. Rather, it will take another 35 minutes, using public trains and buses, before she reaches the gates of her high school. For Sophie and others like her, it is the uncertain dawn of a new day in Germany.
         But as the early morning streets scroll by outside the window of her train, she is unlikely to worry about Europe's lagging economy or Germany's chronic two digit unemployment rates. Her thoughts are very much like every other high school student's on the brink of graduation.  
         "I'm just daydreaming," she said.   "I'm just wondering how it'll all turn out for me."
         Sophie is representative of a new generation of Berliner; a generation which has willfully put a turbulent history behind it, and, despite Berlin's controversial reputation, is rejuvenated, reunited and determined to reinvent itself.
         When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, only 16 years ago, Sophie was two years old. She does not dwell upon Berlin's bitter history beyond the common knowledge acquired through textbooks in class, or the shared memory of older friends and family, because, for all intents and purposes, Germany has been unified all of her adult life.
         For Sophie, "reunification" has little emotional meaning.
         "It's actually not a topic I've ever talked about with my family," she said.   "We were so young. I think we've just moved past it."
         For Sophie's mother, Henriette Mödig, however, the implications of reunification were a mixed blessing during the years when she was raising a young family.
         "A lot of bad blood was produced during that time," she said. Financial hardship became the new wall which Henriette and her husband would have to scale following the collapse of East Germany.  
         Political scandals, bankruptcies, and the economic uncertainties that accompanied the absorption of millions of new citizens into the workforce proved just as daunting as any challenge during the Cold War.  
         Simple pre-unification plans to purchase a home were dashed when Berlin replaced Bonn as the new Federal capital and real estate prices soared.
         "We had to spend 200,000 marks more on our flat because the wall broke down," her mother said. "As far as I'm concerned, they could put the wall right back up."
         Surprisingly, it is a sentiment shared by more than a few contemporary Germans.
         But for many young Berliners like Sophie, coming of age today is to willfully ignore the past.
         Ironically, in the small town of Zehlendorf in southwestern Berlin, a lingering reminder of the Cold War has been memorialized in the John F. Kennedy School - the school Sophie has been attending her entire life.
         As a bilingual and bicultural German-American public school, the JFK School is home to more than 1,500 elementary and high school students from around the globe.
         "It's like home," Sophie said looking through her window as the bus made its stop just outside the school boundaries.   "I've grown up with almost my entire class at that school."
         Unlike any other public schools around Berlin, the JFK School merges both American and German educational systems to create a curriculum that emphasizes the importance of learning English and the values of bilingual, international cooperation.
         "You get to meet and learn about so many different kinds of people," Sophie said.   "The school really helped me gain respect and tolerance for others of different backgrounds. It really opened my eyes."
         The intense curriculum provides students with a unique opportunity to master both English and German in preparation for a future Europe wherein proficiency of English will most certainly be an advantage.
         Sophie has her parents to thank for this. Her mother explained that the idea of Sophie and her brother attending a bilingual school was a calculated decision.
         "Now they can attend any university where English is mother tongue," she said.   "The more languages you know the better. It's extremely important anymore."
         The increasing importance of the English language has driven many parents, such as Sophie's, to have their children attend the JFK School in hopes of giving them an edge in the global marketplace of the future.          Advancements in technology and the advent of the Internet have made English the dominant language for global communication.
         For Sophie, whose dream is to become involved in the theater or movie industry beyond Berlin, such a bilingual ability is invaluable.
         Every Wednesday after school she attends singing lessons with a private instructor, where she practices in both languages.
         "I choose to do multiple things, and not just focus on acting," she said.   "I think you have a more likely chance of failing if you only do acting as opposed to combining it with something else."
         Sophie's motivation to expand her horizons is also evident in where she is seeking future education: the United Kingdom, Scotland and Holland. She has yet to apply to a college within Germany's borders.
         "I definitely would love to come back to Berlin, but I want to experience a different culture and a different life," Sophie said. "There is so much I haven't experienced, and so much I haven't seen."
         She has chosen a difficult, competitive career in an even more uncertain world, but yet she remains determined.
         Sophie is the new generation of Berliner: a generation that is determined to reinvent itself in spite of history.
         "Honestly, I just hope for a happy life," she said.   "Of course I want to be an actress and come out big, but whatever happens, I just hope I come out happy in the end."