Fourth, I would like a diverse education system.
The differentiated structure of our school system is exemplary. But we need to take advantage of this diversity! We must honestly ask: which schools best serve which children? It is not always the school that grants the highest degree. That’s why our Hauptschule [i.e., a vocation-oriented secondary school] should not be allowed to devolve into a school for leftovers [who don’t fit anywhere else]. It needs to prepare students for many professions by spurring practical inclinations and by offering practical instruction early on. Education policy needs to pay as much attention to those with hands-on aptitude as it does to those with academic talents.
My call for greater differentiation is aimed especially at institutions of higher education. If we were to ask what to expect from a given course of study, we would receive very different answers, depending on whether we were speaking with students, researchers, or businesspeople. But perhaps this simple fact will lead us to possible solutions. One person might expect a course of study to offer professional training in compact form; someone else might be more concerned with personality development. A gifted student might want to delve more deeply into a particular subject early on, whereas a less ambitious person might be more interested in overall knowledge and a fast path to professional responsibility. Some scientists say that excellent achievements in research demand greater specialization during the undergraduate years. Business owners, however, often find that college graduates today are already too old and have too little knowledge that can be applied in a professional context.
Neither of these views can be seriously contradicted; probably, it is precisely these differing expectations of the education system that make it so hard to reach a consensus on reform. But the answer to differing expectations can only be the greatest possible differentiation, also as regards educational options.
The institutions of higher education in Germany have a two-pillar structure. The universities constitute one pillar, the polytechnics (technical or applied science colleges) the other. Polytechnics have long since stepped out of the shadow of the universities, both in terms of student numbers and the quality of training. By offering many forward-looking, practical training programs with an international orientation, they have become attractive over time, also for the best high school graduates. Nevertheless, as compared with university graduates, graduates of technical colleges suffer a lifetime disadvantage in terms of salary. It is not easy for them to demonstrate their abilities by acquiring additional academic qualifications, such as doctoral degrees. The barriers between universities and polytechnics are still far too high; greater permeability is needed.
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This is not about renaming the intermediate exam a bachelor’s degree and the Magister Artium a master’s degree. Semantic cosmetics won’t do any good! The new modular system must succeed in fundamentally reorganizing the structure of university study. With the clear goal of giving everyone a broad general education and a profound understanding of methodology in their introductory-level studies and of providing more opportunities for in-depth specialization to fewer students in a greater number of specific subject areas and to the few students who want to pursue research careers.
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