How Fair is German Education?
Early in my career as an English trainer, I found I was constantly challenged by the people I was training, almost to the point that I wanted to quit. Everything I attempted to teach was questioned, so much so I began to wonder why the people who joined the courses I was leading wanted to learn English. If they already knew so much, why did they need the training? I became neurotic about the most basic aspects of my own language, second guessing myself, which ultimately led to poor training. At a low ebb, someone gave me some very useful advice: “Tell them about your qualifications”. This was very much counter to how I had been brought up. In the UK, discussing academic success can easily be misconstrued as bragging, which breaks one of the unwritten laws of British culture, “don’t be a show-off”. Being humble and modest is seen as a virtue. Even now, writing that I have a degree and a Master's makes me queasy, an instinctive fear that someone will call me out. Despite my fears, I followed this advice and I was amazed at the results. When I started training, coaching or workshops by introducing myself and my academic background, I found that people stopped challenging me and people just accepted that I knew what I was talking about. I began to enjoy my job again.
Why did my academic background have such an impact on the groups I was training? It took a bit of time, but it soon became clear to me that education is one of the ways people are categorised by others in Germany. Without the class definitions we use in Britain, Germans often sort themselves depending on wealth, jobs and education. The German education system has regional differences from state to state, but many states operate a three-tier system; at the top of the pile is Gymnasium, then Realschule and finally Mittelschule.
Children who go to Gymnasium and attain the Abitur (think GCSEs and A-Levels rolled into one) are then allowed to apply for university. Children from the other two tiers gain qualifications, but they are not accepted for university entrance unless they sit the Abitur, either by staying in secondary education for a year or two longer, or by attending a free adult education course later down the line. Explaining to my training groups that I was a university graduate was like a cheat code - most simply assumed that I must have gone to something like the Gymnasium and was therefore basically capable. It was surprising to find that my history degree was opening doors, when more often than not, someone in the UK would delight in asking me “What are you going to do with a history degree?” as if I had studied three years in oversleeping and hangovers. I might have some expertise in those areas, but certainly not a degree level qualification.
As I mentioned, the German system is different from state to state, but it’s certainly the case that having the Abitur and a university degree gives students a lot more opportunities for career success. Although Germany has many paths to employment, via apprenticeships, dual study initiatives that mix vocational training and academic study or graduate schemes, there is still a large amount of social stigma about which level of education a person went through. Parents, especially those in high flying jobs such as lawyers and doctors, will put a lot of pressure on children, emphasising the importance of attaining the Abitur. This stigmatisation starts early with the placement exam in the last year of primary school and continues to the vital years of study at the Gymnasium. Children face stress on levels that most adults would find hard to comprehend. Yearly, I hear stories from my teacher friends about panic attacks and involuntary vomiting prior to the Abitur exam, with children facing a test which they will only have two chances to complete. Failure to pass the Abitur bars students from higher achievement, to not gain this vital qualification is seen as a failure to launch, the ending of a potential career before it began.
Speaking to adults who went through the process, or worse, failed to achieve the Abitur, there is a continued stigma in adulthood. Some of my best students come from outside the Gymnasium, but they are often convinced they are underachievers, constantly seeing weaknesses and never valuing their obvious strengths. I suppose one positive that comes from all of this is that at least the system is honest, it tells you early on that you probably will not become the CEO of a major company or reach the upper echelons of a number of careers.
The German system has been in place since 1949, with some small reforms occurring in the 1990s and 2000s. Although the system has remained to some extent static, the question of fairness is one that dogs German education, despite what the numerous Gymnasium lobby groups will argue. The question of fairness has been the subject of many academic papers, so many that each side of the debate could call upon piles of data to prove or disprove the point, with many caveats included. The Deutscher Lehrerverband (German teachers union) would tell you that Gymnasium is “ranked among the finest institutions in the world”, whereas Die Linke (The Left) Party or the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (Education and Science Workers' Union) would argue the system is biased towards families with higher incomes and should be abolished. Outside of Germany, criticism has come from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A UN special envoy publicly criticised the German educational model as unfair, pointing out that the system for sorting children into the different tiers created deep societal divides saying "I believe that the tiered system and the way children are streamed emphasize social inequality,".
German education still has many positives. Education and teaching are still highly valued and respected. If teachers suggest changes or new ideas, they are at least listened to as experts. Becoming a teacher in Germany is not an easy task, in Bavaria to become a teacher can take up to seven years of education and training, with teachers studying two topics and graduating with a Master's degree. Competition for government employment is fierce, and in some instances even receiving the highest marks in the state doesn’t guarantee a job. Even though funding in general is better than many other countries, austerity measures instituted by Angela Merkel after the 2007 banking crisis have eroded much of the good about German education. Schools buildings in many states are in disrepair, while the equipment given to teachers is often underwhelming. When I asked one teacher friend about using Wi-Fi in the classroom, they laughed and then explained they were more concerned that the overhead projector would stop working. The idea of using a laptop and a modern projector were a dream and Wi-Fi only accessible in certain classrooms.
The idea that German education may not be as excellent as assumed can be a hit to the ego of Germans, but I would say in general, the graduates of the Gymnasium I encounter are very well educated. Germany is not always a leader in global education statistics, but students that attain the Abitur can often speak two or three languages to a high level and they have a broad base of knowledge. However, if all the system does is perpetuate societal divisions and stigmatisation, the question is: How much is a Gymnasium education actually worth?
