Individual Swiss School: Sihfeld School

Figure 1.-- The Sihfeld school was located in Zürich. I am not entrirely sure what kind of school it was, but it looks like a secondary school. We note a photograph of a 6th year class/form (6 Klasse) in 1928.. A reader writes, "The second boy from the left in the front row reminded me very much of the clothes I wore as a boy of his age, except that he seems to be wearing heavy-weight ribbed brown long stockings instead of the lighter weight tan ones that I wore." Put your cursor on the image for a close-up. These two boys seem to have awards of some kind in their lapels.

This was the Sihfeld School--one of the several schools in the Swiss cantons in the Zurich area. It is in an archive collected by the Lehrmittelverlag. This means the Society for Teaching Aids or Teaching Aids Society. I am not entrirely sure what kind of school it was, but it looks like a secondary school. A reader writes, "Is "secondary school" correct? In America this would be the upper levels of primary school--age 12 (7th grade). Well American schools trat grades 6-8 variously. There were primary (elementary) schools with grades 7 and 8. There were also middle schools and junior high schools that had some comination of grades 6-9. European schools are somewhat different. Primary school children who met the academic standards and whose parents could afford it, often began to attend secondary schools at about 11 or 12 years of age. I suspect this is the case here. Our Swiss reades may know more. Here we have a photograph of a 6th year class/form (6 Klasse) in 1928. The teacher's name was Herr Kern. We think this was a class of the younger children at the school. The children obviously are German speaking. The children look about 11-12 years old. The boys in the front row wear mainly single breasted short-pants suits. One boy has a pullover sweater instead of a suit. Some boys wear formal shirts with ties while others wear their collars open. The class seems to be about evenly divided between boys who wear knee socks and those who wear long stockings.

The School

This was the Sihfeld School. I am not entrirely sure what kind of school it was, but it looks like a secondary school. A reader writes, "Is "secondary school" correct? In America this would be the upper levels of primary school--age 12 (7th grade). Well American schools trat grades 6-8 variously. There were primary (elementary) schools with grades 7 and 8. There were also middle schools and junior high schools that had some comination of grades 6-9. European schools are somewhat different. Primary school children who met the academic standards and whose parents could afford it, often began to attend secondary schools at about 11 or 12 years of age. I suspect this is the case here. Our Swiss reades may know more.

Location

This was one of several schools in the Zürich canton. Zürich is the largest city of German-speaking Switzerland, located in the north of the country.

Seefeld

A reader writes, "Just a few corrections. The page about the Sihfield School is very good, like about the other Swiss schools. However, I am sure that the name of that school was not Sihfield. This is not German name. I think it might be Seefeld School. Seefeld is a suburb of Zürich . There are several schools located in Seefeld: Quartierschule Seefeld, Primarschule Seefeld, Freies Gymnasium Seefeld, German School Zürich in Seefeld. The Primarschule is a Grundschule (Basis school). That's possibly the one showing the words: 6.Klasse 1928." The information about Seefeld is interesting. We apparently mispelled the name. The proper spelling is Sihfeld. Any we have conformed that this was the town where the school here was located.

Lehrmittelverlag

This photograph was in n archive collected by the Lehrmittelverlag. This means the Society for Teaching Aids or Teaching Aids Society. I'm not sure about the organization's purpose. Perhaps it is to help modern teachers by showing what school was like in earlier years. About the German words. Lehrmittelverlag means "Teaching aids publisher". Verlag is "publishing house or publisher. Verlegen is "to publish".

Klasse 6

Here we have a photograph of a 6th year class/form (6 Klasse) in 1928. Often the high numbers were the numbers used for the junior years (forms). The teacher's name was Herr Kern. We think this was a class of the younger children at the school. The children obviously are German speaking. The children look about 11-12 years old.

Clothing

The boys in the front row wear mainly single breasted short-pants suits. One boy has a pullover sweater instead of a suit. Some boys wear formal shirts with ties while others wear their collars open. The class seems to be about evenly divided between boys who wear knee socks and those who wear long stockings. A reader writes, "The second boy from the left in the front row reminded me very much of the clothes I wore as a boy of his age, except that he seems to be wearing heavy-weight ribbed brown long stockings instead of the lighter weight tan ones that I wore." The boy at the extreme right (front row) is also wearing ribbed long stockings, I think, although the detail isn't as clear in his case. Another reader writes, "Take a look at the picture and the third row in particular. 5th from the left, I'm sure that the person looks like a boy wearing a neck tie. If that is the case his hairstyle is more in keeping with that of the late 1960s early 1970s rather than the late 1920s. His shirt also appears not to be from that period more 60s 70s." Yes the child is wearing a necktie, but not like a boy would. The lower end is more like a scarfe. Note the placement with the girls and the fact that the hair is longer than the boys. We are fairly sure the child here is a boy.

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Created: 2:05 AM 7/11/2007
Last updated: 7:19 PM 3/27/2009