Kultur2

For the culture assignment I read the "Brennpunkt Kultur" sections from Vorsprung on pages 45 and 50. I als read the article "The German National Pastime: Whining, Bitching and Moaning." These selections are very different, so I will discuss them in different paragraphs.

The Brennpunkt Kultur selection on page 45 talked about German American immigrants. I found out that 23% of all Americans have German heritage, making German the largest ethnic group in America at 57 million people. I also found out that German-American Day is a holiday, and it occurs on October 6. The text was interesting, and had a lot of little facts about German influence in America.


The Brennpunkt Kultur selection on page 50 talked about different universities in Germany. First I learned about the ideals put forth by von Humboldt in 1810 at Berlin University. This university was meant for students who wanted to further their learning for the sake of learning. This university would only grant degrees to "a limited number of students in a limited number of fields." However, since the 1960's more and more people have been going to universities, and this policy had to change. As a result many new types of universities were created. These are: die technische Hochschule (institute of technology), die Fachhochschule (special college epmhasizing applied professions, kind of like LS&A), die Kunsthochschule (art academy), and finally die Musikhochschule (music conservatories/schools).


The last thing I read was the article "The German National Pastime: Whining, Bitching and Moaning." In this article they talked about how Germans tend to complain a lot. According to the article, Germans are convinced their national soccer team is terrible, while they have placed in the top three in the past three World Cups. Even the littlest things are perceived as bad. If the train is late, the people say the train systems are bad. If the train is on time, they just find something else to complain about. This is very interesting, because I feel like I complain a decent amount, but not to this extent at all. The article even says that if you confront a German person about their complaining, they will agree. And not just agree, but go on to tell you why they complain, and why they see everything so negatively. It is very odd, here complaining has a negative connotation, but there it seems like complaining is just a part of life.