Above the entrance of a high school in Renningen, Germany, a promise is written in large letters: School without Racism – School with Courage. Inside, that promise is tested. On a cold day in January, 10th- and 11th-grade students spend hours moving through workshops on racism, bystander intervention and sexualized violence. The event, known as a “Day of Courage,” is not a one-off awareness campaign. It is part of a broader effort to embed anti-discrimination into everyday school life. The program is structured into three modules. In one, students teach each other about concepts like “microaggressions” and “othering,” using real-life examples to show how racism operates in subtle ways. In another, actors from a theater group stage tense, realistic scenarios — a racist remark on a bus, a confrontation in public — and ask students to step in and respond. After each scene, the group pauses to analyze what happened: What was effective? What was risky? What would they do differently? Schule ohne Rassismus – Schule mit Courage is Germany’s largest school network. Credit: Wolfgang Borrs The lesson is clear: Intervening is difficult, but it can be practiced. A third workshop, led by a local counseling center in cooperation with the police, focuses on recognizing boundaries and understanding sexualized violence. Through interactive exercises, students compare the ways individuals perceive personal limits and learn why respecting the differences matters. By the end of the day, the message on the sign above the entrance feels less abstract. As organizers at the school describe it, the goal is to move from a label to lived behavior, helping students recognize discrimination and respond to it responsibly in everyday situations. The school in Renningen is part of Schule ohne Rassismus – Schule mit Courage, Germany’s largest school network. Founded in 1995, the network now includes more than 5,000 schools and 2.5 million students across the country. Similar initiatives exist in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, France and Spain.  Its premise is simple: Any school can join if at least 70 percent of its students, teachers and staff formally commit to opposing discrimination and addressing incidents when they occur. Membership is not a certification of success, but a pledge to keep working. “There is no school without racism,” outgoing director Sanem Kleff acknowledges. “The plaque is not a vaccine against racism.” “If discrimination, violence, or bullying happen at our school, then we do not look away. We talk about it and solve it,” says outgoing director Sanem Kleff. Credit: Wolfgang Borrs The network’s origins were shaped by violence. Its predecessor, Aktion Courage, was founded in 1992 in response to racist attacks on Turkish immigrants in Germany. The school program followed in 1995 because the network assumes the attacks reflect broader social dynamics and tries to equip students with tools to navigate them. As Kleff puts it, “Good political education can make students more resilient against extremist ideologies.” That history helps explain why the model has lasted. The network insists on sustained participation rather than performative gestures. The goal is not to claim racism has been solved, but to make schools more capable of naming it, confronting it and organizing against it. According to Kleff, participation means entering a commitment: “If discrimination, violence, or bullying happen at our school,” Kleff says, “then we do not look away. We talk about it and solve it.” In 25 years as director of Schule ohne Rassismus, Kleff, a teacher and a Turkish immigrant herself, expanded the initiative’s initial focus on racism to discrimination of any kind, including based on nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation or physical attributes. “I’ve included all ideologies of inequality consistently,” Kleff sums up her decades of work, because she is convinced all discrimination is based on some people’s belief that others are worth less. The network’s mission is to stand for “human rights for all, not a world in which it matters where one is from, how one looks and what one has or doesn’t have.”  At a high school in Heidelberg, that commitment is visible under students’ feet. Each day, students walk up a staircase marked “step against racism,” a small but constant reminder of the school’s values. The gesture is symbolic, but it is reinforced by more intensive work throughout the year. The school’s annual “Week Against Racism,” held each March in connection with Germany’s International Weeks Against Racism, brings the entire community into focus. Students organize flash mobs and collective art projects, including handprint campaigns that turn hallways into visual statements against discrimination. At the same time, teachers integrate the topic in the classroom, linking literature and social studies to contemporary issues of racism and exclusion. The result is a combination of ritual and reflection: visible expressions of solidarity paired with sustained classroom engagement. Weighed down by negative news? Our smart, bright, weekly newsletter is the uplift you’ve been looking for. [contact-form-7] At other schools in the network, students cook meals from different cultures, produce films about bias, host public discussions or organize peer-led workshops. For many, the shift from passive recipient to active participant is transformative. Schools are not expected to follow a fixed curriculum. Instead, the initiative’s strength lies in the enthusiasm of the students who design their own projects, often with support from a nationwide infrastructure of over a hundred regional coordinators and partner organizations, including museums, research institutes, the police, self-defense trainers and theater groups.  “It is a great privilege to be part of the network,” Noah, a 16-year-old student at the John F. Kennedy School in Berlin, wrote in the initiative’s 2022 annual report. “I’ve learned that the most important thing is to talk to people — whether they agree with you or not.” That emphasis on dialogue, even with disagreement, reflects a core principle of the program: Anti-racism is not only about positions, but about practice. Omar, an 18-year-old student from Leipzig, described that shift more directly: “Through my engagement, I’ve learned how important it is to stand up for a just and inclusive society,” he wrote. “We have to actively ensure that discrimination has no place.” Just as important, he added, is encouraging others to act as well. That ripple effect — students influencing peers — is central to the model’s theory of change. At one participating school, student Malika El Abdouni wrote a poem that captures the emotional core of the initiative: They see black and white… but we are all colorful…. We are all the same (human). The process of finding the language and the confidence to articulate their experience with discrimination often leads students to confront difficult realities. For instance, during a recent project, Heidelberg students visited the local cultural center of German Sinti and Roma, where they studied the persecution of minorities under the Nazi regime. “The exhibition made it strikingly clear how brutally minorities were persecuted,” said one 10th-grade student, Leo Scheller. “And that something like that must never happen again.” By connecting historical memory to present-day issues, such projects aim to show that discrimination is not just a topic for the past, but an ongoing challenge. However, the network’s expansion coincides with the rise of extremism and discrimination in German schools, and critics question the effectiveness of voluntary engagement. In several states that track such incidents, reported cases of right-wing extremism in schools have increased sharply in recent years. Media investigations have documented the normalization of racist language and symbols in some classrooms. Teachers complain about racist slurs and in some cases, threats of racist or homophobic violence. Youth researchers have also warned that a significant share of young people express openness to far-right positions. Any school can join the network if at least 70 percent of its students, teachers and staff formally commit to opposing discrimination and addressing incidents when they occur. Credit: Wolfgang Borrs For Kleff, this context reinforces the urgency of the network’s work. “What exists in society also exists in schools,” she says. “We ask: How are you dealing with this? And what can we do to support you?” Over 25 years, Kleff has seen the field of anti-discrimination work transform. “When we started, none of this existed,” she points out — no national anti-discrimination law, no federal funding structures, no institutional support. Now School Without Racism is largely supported by the German states. “Today, younger colleagues think these structures are normal. But they are not. They had to be built.” Even small changes can matter. At a high school in Berlin, where Kleff taught for 20 years, staff shortened regular class periods by five minutes and used the reclaimed time for student-led activities — boxing groups, music jam sessions or art projects. As a result, Kleff observed that communication improved, conflicts surfaced earlier and the school climate shifted. One of the network’s most distinctive features is how it handles bullying and discriminatory incidents. “An offhand comment between eight-year-olds requires a different response than an ideological statement from teenagers, or discrimination exercised by an adult in a position of authority,” Kleff acknowledges. But the principle is non-negotiable: Ignoring it is not an option. “There is no such thing as ‘a little bit racist,’” Kleff says. “Racist is racist. Full stop.” Rather than isolating individuals as “problem students,” Kleff argues for treating discrimination as a collective issue. “It is a mistake to individualize and ban that student. Today it’s one student, tomorrow another. It concerns everyone.” Evaluations show that the program enables students to actively shape a school environment with less discrimination. While large-scale studies are lacking, the program aligns with broader research suggesting that school climate, with its norms, relationships and expectations, plays a critical role in student behavior and well-being. By embedding anti-racism into daily routines and student-led activities, the German model attempts to influence that climate directly. The model is not without challenges. It relies on sustained engagement, which can vary from school to school. And it does not eliminate prejudice, something its own leaders readily acknowledge. Some parents protest, for instance, against the use of the rainbow flag. As a non-governmental organization, the network cannot reform teacher training systems or eliminate structural inequalities. “There are things we cannot change,” Kleff admits. “For example, teacher education could better prepare educators for a diverse society.” Wait, you're not a member yet? Join the Reasons to be Cheerful community by supporting our nonprofit publication and giving what you can. Join Cancel anytime Still, Kleff resists pessimism. Schools, she emphasizes, are not static. “They are micro-societies; they change.” In the United States, many schools already have elements of such an approach, from student councils to peer mediation programs and community partnerships. What the German example suggests is the value of connecting those elements into a coherent structure, one that combines student leadership, institutional support and clear expectations for action. Kleff’s advice to anyone working in education is direct: “Don’t wait for perfect conditions. Do something — even something small. It can grow.” Because in the end, she insists, the choice is stark: “Doing nothing is the worst option.” The post Inside Germany’s ‘Schools Without Racism’ appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.