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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, 
I get it. I think a lot of people posting don’t really understand how the German system works. It’s not as if you are doomed to some low-level, unimportant job if you fail to show success in 4th grade.

The school choices and offerings are robust and they make sense. No, not everybody should go to college. And it’s not just because of intellect/ability; society doesn’t need everybody to go to college.

German vocational programs are robust, and they lead to very important jobs that provide for stable living. Their on-the-job apprenticeships set students up for success in a way we don’t.

[/quote]

I wonder how it works in practice though. Personally, I was a middling student until 8th grade, when something clicked and I became a superstar. Valedictorian, Yale, successful lawyer, blah blah. If you'd tested me in 3rd or 4th grade who knows where I'd have wound up. I didn't even test into the gifted program at my school in 2nd/3rd.

I see the same path in one of my kids.

I am strongly in favor of vocational training but not tracking students at an early age. 9th or 10th grade is soon enough.[/quote]

My cousins who are now in their early 40s grew up in Germany in German schools. The testing process was incredibly stressful for them, in part because there was a huge amount of pressure for them to test into the university track, which they did. Perhaps they would have tested in no matter what but my aunt was relentless about their studying and preparing. I’m a little older but would have been in elementary/middle school at the time and I remember vividly them studying during the summer when they’d come visit and how stressful and tense everyone was.

That said, I’ve talked with both of them about it as adults and they each said it was worth it and the German system is far superior to the US system. Neither of them are raising their kids in Germany, but their parents have since moved to the US and I think that’s a big part of it. [/quote]

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