California Concordia College

California Concordia College existed in Oakland, California from 1906 until 1973.

Among the presidents of California Concordia College was Johann Theodore Gotthold Brohm Jr.

California Concordia College and the Academy of California College were located at 2365 Camden Street, Oakland, Ca. Part of the school buildings still exist at this location and the baseball field looks the same. The stately ancient buildings that housed the earlier classrooms and later the dormitories are gone. The flag pole that once displayed the American flag still stands, but no flag is shown in photographs taken in 2015. The site of the former California Concordia College is now the site of a Spectrum School

The "Academy" was the official name for the high school. California Concordia was a 6-year institution patterned after the German Gymnasium. It was 4 years of what in America is called high school, plus 2 year of junior college. Years in the school took their names from Latin numbers. The numbers referred to the years to go before graduation.The classes were named:

Sexta (6 years to go) -- Freshman, Qunita (5 years to go) Quarta (4 tears to go) Tertia (3 years to go) Secunda (2 years to go) Prima (1 year to go)

Fuchsing. Those in Sexta were usually hazed in a mild way by upperclassmen. In addition, those in Sexta were required to do a certain amount of "clean-up" work around the school, picking up trash for example. Freshman were referred to as Fuchs. Fuchs is German for fox. To hear the pronunciation of fuchs see this website:

Most students, even high school freshman lived in dormitories, High school students were supervised by "proctors" (selected high school seniors in Tertia),) High school students were required to study for 2 hours each night in their study rooms from 7::00pm to 9:00pm. Students could not leave their rooms for any reason without permission. This requirement came as quite a shock to those in sexta (freshmen) on their first night, when they were caught and scolded by a proctor when they left their study room to go to the bathroom without permission.

From 9:00 to 9:30pm all students were to gather for a worship (chapel) service. From 9:30pm to 10pm, high school students were free to roam, sometimes to the local Lucky Supermarket to purchase snacks. By 10pm all high school students were required to be in bed with lights out. Seniors, (those in Tertia) were allowed one night off where they did not need to be in their "Study Hall" from 7 to 9pm. There were generally 5 students in each dormitory room. The room had two sections—-a bedroom area and (across the hallway) another room for studying. Four beds, including at least one bunk bed, were in the bedroom and 4 or 5 desks in the study room

A few interesting words used by Concordia students were; "fink" and "rack." . To "fink" meant to "sing like a canary" or "squeal." A student who finked told everything he knew about a misbehavior committed by another student. "Rack" was actually an official term used by proctors and administrators who lived on campus in the dormitories with students. When students misbehaved they were "racked" (punished). Proctors held a meeting once a week and decided which students, if any, deserved to be "racked." If a student were racked, the student might be forbidden from leaving the campus grounds, even during normal free time School hours were from 7:30am to 3:30pm After 3:30pm and until 7pm, students could normally explore the local area surrounding the school, for example, to go to a local store to buy a snack. But if a student were racked for the week, they could not do so.

Proctors made their rounds in the morning to make sure beds were made and inspected rooms in the evening to ensure that students were in bed by 10pm. Often after the proctors left a room, at night, the room lights would go back on and students enjoyed studying their "National Geographics Magazines." Student might be racked if they failed to make their beds or did not make them neatly enough.

Source: Phil Seyer, student at California Concordia from 1955 to 1963

Even though California Concordia College no longer exists, it does receive some recognition by Concordia University Irvine. This is also the location of its old academic records.