Blog Post #8

I decided to interview my old german friend, Ariane Berger who lives in Germany and who is currently attending the Goethe-Universitaet Frankfurt am Main. Although she is not an academic source. She does have the keen insight that my paper requires in terms of imagined community and the multi-tiered system as a result. She unlike an American professor can speak from experience rather than theory on the aforementioned subjects. The questions and answer are shortened because the interview was conducted in German and notes were kept simple:
- Explain the goal of the German system?
         different exams decide which tracks students shall go on, "Someone needs to invent the machine, someone needs to repair the machine, and someone needs to operate the machine." which is particularly interesting to/ useful for my case because it speaks exactly to my point of the ability of the multi-tiered German system to produce people who are capable of serving the needs of the community rather than their individual needs
- How does Germany prevent privatization? How does not having to pay tuition make people feel?
         privatization is prevented by high tax rates which help to pay for college, thus making it free which relieves a lot of stress because debt is not building up on students while they are in college which allows them to better focus on school
- How would you compare the German system to the American system of higher education?
        Essentially, she said that the German system is based in rationality while the American system is based in craziness. She wanted to know why colleges here are so expensive and how the government could let this happen?
- Can you speak to the quality of education for students?
 In summary, a person gets an education which is equal to the type of work that person is going to, most likely, be spending their life preforming. She also noted that this system tends to cause inequality because it is very difficult for people to rise to a higher track but it is easier to go down a track. She also fears that this system can cause those with lesser primary and secondary schooling to become unfairly trapped or forced to pursue a lower education track, thus preventing them from earning the degree they deserve. This is an interesting counterpoint to my argument. It is a negative. However, this negative also exists in the United States, although not as formally as in Germany. (See Intro. to Education curriculum)