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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (138427)	8/1/2001 3:36:56 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1583674

" the gov't will pay you to stay in school..although higher education in Germany is more rigorous than it is here so I am not sure its such a great deal, " Yah know, Germans like to believe this, but it isn't really true. Sure, if you want to compare a typical German university to most of our schools with open enrollment, then you have a point. But Germany doesn't have anything that can hold a candle to our top schools. Germany has the advantage that the only way you can get into the universities is by going to Gymnasium which paves the way. This means that their Universities don't get stuck teaching remedial classes and offering finger painting and basket weaving as degree fields. The downside, from the American point of view, is that it requires the passing of tests and a selection process in our equivalent of Jr. High, and that smacks of elitism. Apparently that is becoming true in Germany also, used to be about 1/3 of the highschoolers went to Gymnasium, now that number is approaching 60%. So they are getting the same pressures to "dumb down" their classes like we get. At least this is what my wife tells me, and she was trained to teach in a Gymnasium. For the record, I wasn't say necessarily that German universities are better, just that the course work tended to be more rigorous. I based that judgment on stuff I have read by American educational professionals as well as what I have learned discussing schoolwork with my German friends. I agree that the Germans think their system is better and frankly, I have no way of making an evaluation to determine if their assumption is correct. I also agree that their system is elitist. I am unclear why some German hasn't complained about it.....it certainly isn't due to German shyness. <g> However, my German friends do not agree its elitist but rather a practical way of determining the best career future for everyone. I guess you had to be there. ;~)) ted