What were your kids impressions and experience?
If I understood it correctly, there is only a short gymnasium in canton Zug (no long time gymi).
Thank you!
Did anyone have experience with public gymnasiums in canton Zug, e.g. Kantonsschule Zug and Kantonsschule Menzingen?
Menzingen is top!
Great school, great teachers, great infrastructures available to students.
You can go to Menzingen only after second at schools for a short gymnasium or be part of the municipality for the long gymnasium.
My kid after secondary schools flourished in Menzingen.
What do you mean by "part of the municipality for the long gymnasium." I am asking because I was not aware one can go to a long gymnasium in Kanton Zug.
Menzingen and Zug have one, of course conditions apply.
See the registration page .
If I am not mistaken, for the long gymnasium priority is given to children living in the area of Menzingen, Unteraergeri, etc...
For the short gymnasium, it is only the one in Kanton Zug. All kids from the Canton of Zug can apply after Sekondar Schule if they have the requisite (ie average mark of 5.25).
Super, thank you!
Would you know how the gymi in Zug compares to the gymi in Menzingen?
Not really.
Friends who have kids in Zug gymnasium are also happy about it.
Menzingen is more known for its “family” and caring style.
We have a child attending Zug Gymnasium. The school has a long-standing reputation for being inflexible, and in our experience this reputation is unfortunately accurate. The institution appears to lack a holistic approach to child and adolescent development and seems best suited to students who are already fully regimented within the Swiss educational framework.
We would not recommend this school to pupils who need individualized support, inclusion, or a more development-oriented educational approach. Even informally, we were told by other teachers that many students are essentially encouraged to “just hang in there” until they obtain their Matura, rather than being actively supported in a meaningful way.
The school also appears to be understaffed and affected by high staff turnover. In the current academic year alone, there were four substitute teachers, which significantly impacted continuity. Overall, we did not perceive a strong sense of pedagogical vocation or engagement among several members of the teaching staff.
By contrast, Gymnasium Menzingen was described to us - by a teacher whose son attended it - as a smaller and more inclusive school environment, with a stronger focus on support and individual development—an approach that may be better suited for many students.
To be fair, that kind of describes gymies in general, at least in the DE-speaking part of Switzerland. They are hot-houses for bright kids that can take a highly pressured learning environment. ‘If you can’t take the pressure you need to get out’, seems to be the tough love approach.
Maybe some are a bit less tough, and some even worse but generally they seem to be a lot tougher than the Sek system.
No condoning it, just pointing it out.
That’s pretty much how it is in the French speaking part too.
Kids are given extra time for tests etc. if they have a diagnosed condition (dyslexia and ADD are the conditions I know of which afforded them the extra time, two different lycées) but that’s about as far as it goes.
If a kid has made it to lycée they are expected to be able to follow the programme. If extra help is needed it’s up to them to organise it outside of school.
I was helping the dyslexic girl with her English and it was quite a challenge, the schools don’t have the resources to put that amount of effort into helping one student. She had done well to get there and did end up passing and getting the matura but she had parents who were willing to put in the effort to help her get there.
We have experienced both, as one son went to Menzingen and the other to Zug. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and in the end both of our sons are now at ETH. It would be difficult for me to say which one I prefer.
For students who need a more natural continuation from primary school and a more family-like atmosphere, Menzingen is lovely. For students who are more all-rounders and achieve excellent grades regardless, Zug offers more opportunities, such as the bilingual Matura, to mention just one example.
Dont have any direct experience woth the school but we live a couple hundred meters from the Kantonschule Zug and it looks great to me. Quite competative to get in off course.