A small preface:
This post feels incomplete to me but it’s been sitting in my drafts pile for months. This post also feels more negative in places than I’d like; it’s maybe a bit ranty. I like including more links and pictures, but this post has very few of these.
I’m putting it out there anyway.
Note that there are several sections. If you get bored with or don’t like a portion, I’d encourage you to skip/skim ahead.
End of preface
Education is much of what makes us civilized. I’ve seen many comparisons between school systems across the world and I’ve been exposed to the systems in Germany and in the USA. Here are some of my experiences and the interesting (to me) differences.
This is part 1 of what was originally an even longer post. Part 1 talks about education of kids. Part 2 is about how I think the educational system effects the broader economy.
TLDR:
- Measurement of school performance is standardized in Germany.
- Measurement in Germany is test based, especially in university.
- Apprenticeship programs are very important in Germany.
- Germans kids interact with far fewer other kids; they stay within groups mostly in chunks of four years.