“It’s a struggle for Luxembourgish students, too,” observes Guy, a Luxembourger and public school language teacher who requested that we not use his real name.

Guy does agree with the conventional wisdom that students with Luxembourgish parents might have an advantage because they can get help at home in all four languages that the system asks of pupils. But it isn’t that cut-and-dry, he says. “Students who speak German at home might find primary school easier because most subjects are taught in German, while at secondary school it might be easier for students who speak a Latin language at home, as French then becomes the predominant language.”

“They might even have an advantage compared to Luxembourgish students,” he continues, pointing out that a lot of Luxembourgish students struggle with French at lycée. In fact, he comments, it isn’t uncommon for them to switch to the public European schools.

The upshot--obvious enough, but perhaps not always appreciated--seems to be that a system that demands fluency in four languages is tough for everybody, so non-local parents shouldn’t be put off just because they, themselves, haven’t mastered all four. It’s simply an idiosyncrasy of the grand duchy’s education system and, as with all things, can manifest as a strength or a weakness.

Ideally, a strength

“If you’re planning on staying in Luxembourg, there are definite benefits to sending your child to a Luxembourgish school,” says Guy. For starters, you get to learn--that’s his phrasing, “get to” rather than “must”--four languages to a high level.

“Learning languages is incredibly rewarding, useful and good for your brain development,” he says, adding that becoming multilingual at a young age makes it easier to pick up new languages when you’re older. For integration reasons, Luxembourgish schools and their language instruction are also a plus. Guy refers to the “expat bubbles that exist alongside Luxembourgish society” and remarks that it’s very difficult to become, in a deep sense, local unless you know Luxembourgish. The best way to learn it is at public schools, which Guy--whose own parents don’t speak it as a first language--knows firsthand. A more pragmatic benefit, he adds, is that speaking the country’s three official languages is almost always a prerequisite for getting a public sector job.

None of this should come at too great a cost, however. “If a student is struggling with the multilingual environment and cannot focus on developing their other strengths,” says Guy, “then a different school might be better.”

Navigating the track system

In the middle of learning all these languages, students must confront another aspect of the system that many people find sticky: the age at which students are sorted into a more academic track (classique) or a more vocational one (général).

“I do agree that 12 is young,” says Guy, referring to the age at which this juncture occurs and noting that many Luxembourgish parents feel that way too. Solace comes in the fact that the decision is made by the parents, the teacher and a psychologist together. “It’s important for parents to know that they’ve got a voice as well,” he says. Parents, who are obviously privy to their children’s talents in other contexts, are welcome to contest a decision.

But this, says the teacher, is also to play into the popular binary thinking of the two tracks: that one closes doors and the other doesn’t. “Going to général doesn’t mean you are never going to university,” he says. Or to a professional school, if that’s what you want. “Some students really thrive in général.”

Don’t blame languages entirely

Interestingly, other teachers consulted for this article suggest that languages might be overemphasised when it comes to student success. Factors like how much the parents value education, itself often tied to social class, go a long way too. To that end, if you push your kids to study and get them tutors--can afford to get them tutors--then this amounts to a social influence that boosts their academic results irrespective of any lingual background. But these factors are less quantifiable and, as such, it is difficult to find hard corroborative data.

This article first appeared in the .