Why America Will Never Adopt The German Education Model

We hate the idea of inherent differences

“Dirty Jobs” creator Mike Rowe appeared on the Theo Von podcast last week to spread his labor gospel. Rowe, a communications degree holder, lamented how there are so many unfilled working class jobs. “We’ve got $1.7 trillion in student debt on the books and we’ve got 7.6 million open jobs right now—most of which don’t require a 4-year degree,” the college-educated TV personality told the college-educated podcaster. “And we’ve got 6.8 million able-bodied men who are not only out of the workforce, they’re not looking.”

Rowe believes the solution is the restoration of shop class. “We took shop class out of high school, we robbed kids of the opportunity to see what that kind of work even looks like,” he said. “Meanwhile, we told a whole generation of kids they were f**king screwed if they didn’t get a 4-year degree.”

The TV host makes decent points. America does push too many kids down a college path when many aren’t suited for it. It would be better if they were offered other options. Increased availability of vocational training is a good idea.

However, there’s more expected here to meet America’s labor needs. It’s implied that the country may need to adopt Germany’s tripartite secondary education model. In America, everyone pretty much goes to a comprehensive school where college-track education is the norm. Of course, not every student goes to college. But most of our education is built around this model.

We do this because of our inherent egalitarianism. We resent the idea of segregating kids by ability at a young age. Class distinctions strike us as un-American, even when they exist in fact. Americans think Mike Rowe’s ideas are great in theory, but would reject them in practice. For better or for worse, we would not want secondary education to cement class differences.

The German educational model practically does this. Students face three options for secondary education: Hauptschule, Realschule, and Gymnasium. The first two are primarily vocational in orientation, the third option is college-oriented. Where a student ends up is determined when they’re pre-teens. This obviously sets the lifepath of Germans at an early age. It isn’t without controversy due to its reinforcement of class distinctions. It also faces problems with the country’s changing demographics. However, Germans generally accept it. Class differences, as is the case throughout Europe, are seen as a fact of life. Education merely reinforces what’s already extant.

American education is built on the presumption that it can wipe away these differences. With the right materials, the right teachers, and the right circumstances, anyone can be college-material. We do not like “natural” explanations for differences. A kid is only dumb because he went to a “bad school” or wasn’t raised right. He could’ve been a rocket scientist if only he grew up in better circumstances.

Telling the future rocket scientists in fifth grade that they’re fated for shop class would outrage Americans, especially with the demographics of who receives this message. If our “Real Schools” were overwhelmingly black and Hispanic, America would cry racism. The media would perceive these institutions as modern-day “slave” factories. Our racial dogmas require us to perpetuate certain myths. The demographics of purely vocational schools would run afoul of those dogmas. Myth would triumph reality here, and we would limit their implementation in the ghettos.

The demographic breakdown alone would likely cause America to reject this idea. But outside of that consideration, Americans are uncomfortable with imposing lifepaths on kids. Many parents would be outraged if told their child lacked the aptitudes to go to a college-track high school. “You’re telling me my kid is STUPID?!” would be a common response.

We would prefer if kids choose on their own what they will do, not let authorities decide. High school is intended to let this happen “naturally.” Shop class is a choice, not mandated. A student picks it in high school and he can decide what he does with it.

While we do separate students through AP and honors classes, it’s still seen as a result of choice and hard work, not authorities dictating the matter. It’s a kind of separation that doesn’t reinforce class distinctions, at least not explicitly. Whether students are in AP or standard classes, they all go to the same school.

Since we’re unlikely to adopt a German education model and still depend on individual choice to get kids into shop class, we have to sell it as an equally desirable option to college. That’s proven difficult.

Regardless of our own opinions, blue collar labor is seen by the general public as “low status.” The dream is to get an easy white collar job that pays well and offers a decent status level. Not everyone is going to obtain that dream, but American society encourages it.

Kids also don’t aspire to be plumbers and truck drivers in the same way they try to be doctors and lawyers. Women don’t dream about marrying plumbers like they fantasize about marrying doctors. It’s just the way the world is.

The sad fact is that life for young, working-class Americans isn’t so great right now. The problems of blue collar Americans has been amply documented by Charles Murray and other social scientists. College represents a ticket out of the pathologies that now plague downscale life. Students can be dissuaded from vocational training if they see it taking that prized ticket away.

American society would have to elevate the status level of these jobs to get more students to take the vocational training route. The best way to sell the vocational path is to present it as an alternative means to achieving the American dream. They need to believe they can own a home, marry a nice girl, raise children in a nice environment, and gain respect through this option. While the wages are good, the social environment is not. One must change that to win over more young Americans to the vocational school path.

It would be better if we did take some lessons from the Germans and mandate specific education paths based on student abilities. We would solve some of our educational and labor issues through these means. But we’re unlikely to take this path due to who we are. We can only hope more young people choose vocational training on their own to meet our labor needs.