Germany's Education

Education occupies a high level of importance when it comes to the list of priorities of Germany. The German government recognizes that education is imperative in order to produce citizens that are professionally and intellectually capable of improving themselves as well as contributing to the good of the nation. However, although the government of the Federal Republic of Germany is responsible for the education of its citizens, the bulk of the responsibility most of falls heavily on the federalist German system meaning on the separate German states making up the entirety of Germany.

Different German states have different laws pertaining to the education system of that state, but in general, it is encouraged that different German states coordinate their schooling and education laws with each other to create a relatively unified and balance educational system in the whole country.

The educational system of Germany is quite different from that of the more popularly known US education system. Kindergarten is only an optional choice that parents may choose to have their children aged 3-6 years undergo or not. After preschool, there is the four years of primary education to be taken which all children aged 6 years old are required to attend.

When primary education is finished, students in Germany may be suggested to attend one of four types of secondary education depending on their abilities and skills. Here is where the issue of theoretical education versus practical education comes in. The Gymnasium is the highest ranked among the first three and is where students with high marks are recommended to attend so that they maybe prepared for a university education. The lowest ranked is the Hauptschule where anyone from a German school, whether with high marks or not, can attend and be trained for vocational education. The Realschule is a secondary German school that can considered as somewhere between a Gymnasium and a Hauptschule. However, students would not be forever limited to a certain secondary school because they can easily progress from one type of school to another as they develop their abilities.

The fourth classification of the secondary schools in the German educational system is the Gesamtschule which offers a balanced and comprehensive approach that combines the three different schools of education into one and offers an alternative to the three-school system which is prevalent in the country.

Students who wish to attend a university are required to take and pass an examination called the Abitur examination (something like the GPA in the United States of America) before they can be accepted in a university. University education in Germany has long been reputed as an educational system of good quality as proven by the country's university education status in university and academic rankings worldwide.