STUDENTS ARE RUNNING THEIR OWN CAFETERIA

IN THE BAVARIAN TOWN OF MÜNCHBERG, STUDENTS AT THE LOCAL SECONDARY SCHOOL ARE RUNNING THEIR OWN CAFETERIA. THEIR SUCCESS HAS EARNED THEM SEVERAL AWARDS.

“What do we say?” Year 11 student Carolin Strößner, age 17, holds on tight to the plate of mouth-watering chicken breast. “What do we say?” she repeats, until the boy in front of her understands and murmurs “thank you.” Finally she lets go of the plate, leaving him to return to his classmates at the table. Lunchtime in Münchberg. When the bell sounds after the fifth lesson of the day, the cafeteria in the secondary school’s recently renovated central block soon fills up. The relaxed atmosphere— punctuated only by the gentle hum of activity at the counter and the muted whistle of the steamer—is now replaced by boisterous clamor and excited chatter. “I didn’t put in an order,” says a year 12 student, “but I’d still like something to eat.” Teacher Elmar Hofmann, watching the scene from inside the kitchen, fixes him with a stern look. Of course the hungry young man gets his schnitzel. Flexibility is always part of the service here at the winner of TV channel Pro 7’s contest to find “Germany’s best cafeteria.”

WASHING UP IS A POINT OF HONOR
What’s special, and what has impressed others besides the Pro 7 jury, is not so much the quality of the food. It’s good, and often features organic produce, but other school and factory cafeterias can also serve up decent meals. What makes the Münchberg model unique is student commitment. This is their cafeteria, and they manage it themselves. From the time the kitchen was designed five years ago to the present day, they have had an important say in everything. A lot of students, if they have a free period in the morning, drop in to chop onions, lay the tables or help out in some other way. And while they may avoid washing up at home, at school it is a point of honor.

If you want to find Elmar Hofmann, there is no need to ask at the office or in the staff room. When he’s not teaching German or philosophy, Hofmann spends his free time in the kitchen. Peeling carrots, talking to the students, discussing the next day’s program with manager Gabi Ruckdeschel. As a member of the senior leadership team, Hofmann sees the school kitchen as a way to learn for life, and has spent years campaigning for such a facility.

DEVELOPING TALENT
For Hofmann and his colleagues, there is much more to it than filling hungry mouths. Apart from all their differing views on teaching and learning methods and school concepts, there is one thing the educators agree on: The quality of learning is always most intensive where students can combine the subject matter with their own experience. Long before the havoc wrought by the results of the Pisa study, education departments and teachers’ seminars were working on concepts to translate the communication of knowledge into creative processes. In simple terms, the more fun you have, the more you want to learn.

To the untrained eye, all that happens each day in Münchberg is lunch. But for Elmar Hofmann, there is much more going on here: “The students learn how to take responsibility, be creative, express themselves, organize a business, from ordering via the Internet to paying the monthly accounts.”

Today being Monday, there are three dishes on the menu: breast of chicken with red and green peppers, fillet of fish or a hamburger. All homemade, of course, and at an astonishingly low price of between two and four euros for this quality. And that includes salad from the self-service buffet as well as a free drink. The school receives no subsidies from the public purse to run the cafeteria.

The students have decorated the tables with an autumn theme. A notice near the entrance listing the “top twelve table manners” reminds diners of the accepted standards of central European behavior: “The knife is not an axe, the fork is not a spade, the spoon is not a shovel.” Over 150 meals are served over the counter here every day, generally to the customers’ complete satisfaction. The students have named their canteen “Pi-Kant”—eating is also a spur to education. When the rush begins shortly after 1:00 pm, every detail is organized: Carolin positions herself by the exit, her task is to cast an “evil eye.” Anyone who leaves the table without wiping it clean is transfixed by her gaze. Not one fails to run around and pick up the cloth. Three girls who have quickly eaten their own meals now stand by the industrial dishwasher, cleaning plates and cutlery in ordered harmony. Two rooms away, three year 12 students sit in the office, calculating the day’s accounts on a computer.

SCHOOL DOESN’T STOP FOR REDEVELOPMENT
“If you were to offer the whole thing as a subject on the curriculum, it would fall flat,” Elmar Hofmann is quite sure. But this way it works, because it is voluntary and because the cafeteria manager Gabi Ruckdeschel is more than just a good housekeeper. Gabi is the soul of the cafeteria, someone to whom the students can from time to time let off steam about the teachers or pour out a lovesick heart.

Just a few weeks ago the kitchen team moved into their freshly renovated premises. The workmen modernizing the entire school complex have now moved on to the next stage of the job. Carrying out the work while the school is still operational requires a talent for organization on all sides. When examinations are due the workmen switch to quieter jobs, and deliveries of materials are scheduled so as not to cause any disturbance.

The Münchberg secondary school is just one of four schools in the Hof district that are currently being modernized and will subsequently be operated (PPP) by Bilfinger Berger. The district administration on its own could scarcely have afforded the cost of the building work totaling some €45 million. It was the long-term contracts for a PPP project with Bilfinger Berger that made the redevelopment possible.

Lunch is over now, and the stainless steel kitchen surfaces are spick and span. Gabi Ruckdeschel just has time to catch her breath before her day continues: Year 5 students have signed up for a cooking course. Learning for life—more than just words in Münchberg.

Text: Philipp Mausshardt, Photos: Heinz Heiss
Bilfinger Berger Magazine 1/2011