„Dat Lowisken Thiel makt nich bloß School, die liährt für`t Lewen“

A graduate of the College of Education and guest auditor at the Bergische University remembers... A Wuppertal example of lifelong learning.

"With my school education, that is eight years of primary school, nothing was possible," says Luise Thiel, and explains how time and circumstances affected her long life. "Back then in 1938, you were either an apprentice in sales or in the office." There was no other alternative. She only knows of one, who from her former class was able to attend the Gymnasium. The school fees made it impossible for many families to sponsor their children. 13-year-old Luise owes her mother her attendance of the private school Flockenhaus in Barmen, where she learns shorthand and typewriting parallel to school. "So I could write 120 syllables of shorthand and blind ten fingers typing. That was a huge advantage," she explains, and was able to beat out 129 applicants in her application to an architecture firm.