Overview
- Publisher Cornelsen says its simplified editions are increasingly chosen by teachers at Berlin gymnasiums, confirming a trend first reported by Tagesspiegel.
- The ‘Einfach klassisch/Einfach deutsch’ series offers shortened, clearer-language versions of works like Faust, Wilhelm Tell, and Romeo and Juliet, originally designed for lower-track schools with added glossaries and visuals.
- A German teacher at Berlin’s Lessing-Gymnasium described class-level use in grades 8–9 and cited time pressures and access as reasons, noting she turns to originals for detailed language analysis.
- Berlin’s education administration describes the use as limited to individual classes and a pilot, though students and parents at Georg-Büchner-Gymnasium say such editions have been used there for years.
- Critics warn of diluted rigor and lost aesthetic substance, while supporters argue simplified texts can be a necessary bridge for weaker readers, a divide echoed in fresh public reactions referencing poor reading results in PISA 2022.