Is school so out-dated that it’s only fit for a museum? Absolutely not! All the same, it could be quite instructive to look back at how schools have changed over time. With this in mind, the Verein Schulmuseum Dresden e. V. (Dresden School Museum Association) and the TU Dresden (Dresden University of Technology) joined forces to mark the state capital’s 800th birthday by presenting it with a school museum. It stands in the grounds of the former Friedrichstädter Lehrerseminar (teacher training college) and revives the tradition of the school history collections that were destroyed in 1945. For everyone from pre-school children to senior citizens, the Schulmuseum aims to bring to life the reality of attending school in the past. Visitors can leaf through old textbooks, see historic film recordings, experience what lessons were like in the days of the Kaisers and in the German Democratic Republic, check up on the school record of famous figures from Dresden, or simply sit at an old school desk and resolve to try harder.