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The researchers in the article compared German university students with German vocational students. Maybe that is the case for those groups. I was born and ra

by pkaler 8y ago

The researchers in the article compared German university students with German vocational students. Maybe that is the case for those groups. I was born and raised in Northern Canada. I'm ethnically India. University is where I first met a gay person and realized they are regular people just like me. Where I made my first Asian, Black, and Jewish friends. Where I first started reading philosophy and classic literature. Where I first realized that I could start a business myself. I have a degree in computer science but took many liberal arts classes. Maybe university isn't useful to the upper-middle class other than for signalling? ‍️¯\_(ツ)_/¯

mushufasa 8y ago
nice catch. if the article focuses on european higher education, it may not apply to north american systems, which aim for breadth. my understanding is that even in university, european students pick a track before matriculation and keep to it.
- kuerbel 8y ago
  I'm German. We have a three tiered school system: the lowest one where you go to school for, iirc, 9 years is usually bound for people who are ... more hands on and later do an apprenticeship as a e.g. hairdresser. Middle tier is where you go to school for 10 years and do an apprenticeship as e.g. accounting clerk or IT system specialist. The higher tier is where you get the Abitur. It's mandatory that you have this if you want to go to university, but it takes 13 years to get one. You pick 2 classes that are maybe equivalent to AP classes in us high school. You can also pick the rest of your classes, but they require less time. E.g. mine where math and English. After that you have a choice between two different kinds of universities. One is more traditional, but you pick the subject before hand and maybe you have some classes that you can choose for yourself but usually they have to have something to do with your main subject, e.g. some electrical engineering classes if you study mechanical engineering. Then there is the university of applied sciences, which is a mix between an apprenticeship and university, with a more hands on approach. It's where you would study software engineering instead of computer science. That's the reason our universities are more focused, we cover lots of ground in different topics at school.
  - dgellow 8y ago
    Just a detail to add to what you said, the school system is defined by the Bundesland, meaning there can be differences through the country.
    - em-bee 8y ago
      not at the broad level that kuerbel described it. that's pretty much the same all over germany and even true in austria for the most part. don't know about other european countries though.

by pkaler 8y ago

mushufasa 8y ago

nice catch. if the article focuses on european higher education, it may not apply to north american systems, which aim for breadth. my understanding is that even in university, european students pick a track before matriculation and keep to it.

kuerbel 8y ago
I'm German. We have a three tiered school system: the lowest one where you go to school for, iirc, 9 years is usually bound for people who are ... more hands on and later do an apprenticeship as a e.g. hairdresser. Middle tier is where you go to school for 10 years and do an apprenticeship as e.g. accounting clerk or IT system specialist. The higher tier is where you get the Abitur. It's mandatory that you have this if you want to go to university, but it takes 13 years to get one. You pick 2 classes that are maybe equivalent to AP classes in us high school. You can also pick the rest of your classes, but they require less time. E.g. mine where math and English. After that you have a choice between two different kinds of universities. One is more traditional, but you pick the subject before hand and maybe you have some classes that you can choose for yourself but usually they have to have something to do with your main subject, e.g. some electrical engineering classes if you study mechanical engineering. Then there is the university of applied sciences, which is a mix between an apprenticeship and university, with a more hands on approach. It's where you would study software engineering instead of computer science. That's the reason our universities are more focused, we cover lots of ground in different topics at school.
- dgellow 8y ago
  Just a detail to add to what you said, the school system is defined by the Bundesland, meaning there can be differences through the country.
  - em-bee 8y ago
    not at the broad level that kuerbel described it. that's pretty much the same all over germany and even true in austria for the most part. don't know about other european countries though.