Germany: School

Our Neighborhood's School

On the Berufsschule curriculum

You hear stories about parents in Manhattan that stress over whether their kids will get into the right preschool. Apparently, if they screw that up, the kid is toast. You can kiss the Ivy League and future success goodbye. It's a good story, I don't know whether it is true.

There is some truth in the fact that preparation at one level of an educational system opens doors to the next. The obverse is also true. The absence of preparation closes doors. Students on one track tend to end up where that track leads. On a different track? You are probably headed to a different destination.

Tracking is not a big part of the American public education system. If you are in the public system you are in the same boat as the overwhelming majority of fellow students. There are many tracks that branch off the public high school system.

That is not true in Germany. Germany students may all start off in the same boat at the primary level of education, but after that they separate into groups and start heading in different directions. The top students head off to the Gymnasium on their way to the university. For those students, the path is pretty sweet. German universities are almost free and at the end of the road, you have an elite education that sets you apart from the other 90% of your student cohort . Your prospects are good.

What they teach, where

And what about the other 90%? It may seem pretty cold to slam the university door closed on students just barely in their teens. And that is pretty much what happens. It is possible to get to the university without going to Gymnasium, but it is not at all common. So what becomes of them? Well, some of them receive a basic education and then technical apprenticeships and working-class jobs. Others will go to Berufsschule and professional training - again leading to a career.

With low unemployment, generous benefits, vacation allowances that make US norms seem pitiful and decent wages (wage disparity is half - top to bottom - what it is in the US) the economic consequences of the educational tracking are nowhere near as great as those confronting Manhattan toddlers. All tracks can lead to a decent life.