GEA #2

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2410

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Anthropology

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Dec 6, 2023

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Global Influences on the German Education System GEA #2 Paper ANT-2410 Cultural Anthropology Dr. John Napora November 20, 2023

This paper will describe the relationship between the global influences present in the German education system, with concern to the events and long-term aftermath surrounding World War II. Much of Germany’s history, in terms of education, were formed due to both World Wars, however, the Second World War allowed for the occupying forces to assert their influence over the education system in Germany, which are still present to Germany’s modern education system. German education, like many other countries around the world, reserved higher education for people in high social and economic statuses. This was especially present before the First World War. Following the war there was a societal push for a democratic approach to education allowing children of all classes to receive education past the primary level. This included proposals for free education, uniformed teaching training, supervision from the state, and stronger legislative power over education as a whole (Solsten 1995). While this proposal was partly accepted, not all factors came into fruition. Major change was first present during the Hilter era in Germany, which allowed for the national government to gain control over the political system and subsequently the education system of Germany. This caused many institutions to lose their autonomy from the state and introduced ideologies that provided support for the regime's intents; however, it did provide education to a more diverse socioeconomic class (Solsten 1995). The education system underwent another major shift due to the dividing of Germany following World War II. This resulted in two different education systems in East and West Germany that included major influences from the political interest of their respective occupying powers (Solsten 1995). While both the Western Allies, United States, Britain, and France, and the Soviet Union did focus on reeducation of youth to “denazifying students, they took vastly

different approach. The Soviet Union took a centralized approach to education in East Germany, which followed Marxist-Leninist ideology on ridged control. This sharply contrasted the teachings in West Germany. The Western Allies, which maintained control over West Germany, called for education that was laced with theme that supported their own political views. This included general democratic values, individualism, and educational autonomy of choice, which quickly reflected in students and society (Solsten 1995). Despite the differences between the two sides, both regarded educational as a public prepublicity and a constitutional right of the people. This led to later reconstruction of education such as a standardization of education in 1953, and the introduction of vocational training acts in the 1960’s (Solsten 1995). After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, West Germany’s educational system asserted its dominance, yet the vocational practices of East German remained. The Vocational Training Act of 1969 help to establish the dual system still present in modern vocational training in Germany’s secondary education systems. This came as a reflection of the poor economic state of Germany during the time (Deissinger 1996). This strengthens the connection between the education system, the federal government and states, and companies within Germany. This direction towards vocational training is still prevalent in Germany today. As outlined by Destin Rothe in the interview conducted, secondary education following primary school is outlined into three different paths. Realschule (Ahrbeck 2018) is the branch which focuses on preparing students to enter the workforce quickly after graduation. This is considered the lowest tier of secondary education. This allowed students who did not strive in areas of typical academia to have practice in a trade rather than pursue further education at a college or university. Previously, students were placed into various levels of secondary education based on

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performance during primary school years in the form of grade point averages. However, this system received major pushback from the public over the last decade. The tiered school system was criticized by the public due to the lack of social and educational justice of students. A major influence on this cause was presented by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Ahrbeck 2018). This pushed the German education to strive for higher level of inclusion and support for children who fall behind academically. Destin briefly mentions how students who belong to immigrant family often systematically fell into lower tiers of education due to a lack of fluency in German. While this is not explicitly mentioned in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it does support the cause. This international pressure caused Germany to allow for families to gain more autonomy over their child’s education path. Germany’s current state of its education system reflect the political entanglement following the results of World War II. This is seen in the direct influence of occupying powers on their respective side, and also indirectly through the post-war economic state of the country, which pushed more of the country's youth towards vocational education. Even after the fall of the Berlin wall and the fall out of occupying forces in Germany, Germany’s education system still experiences global influences calling for more inclusion and support for students of all ability and background.

References Solsten, Eric “Germany: A Country Study” GPO for the Library of Congress, 1995 Deissinger, Thomas. “Germany’s Vocational Training Act: Its Function as an Instrument of Quality Control within a Tradition-Based Vocational Training System.” Oxford Review of Education 22, no. 3 (1996): 317–36. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1050589 . Ahrbeck, Bernd, Marion Felder, and Katrin Schneiders 2018 Lessons from Educational Reform in Germany: One School May Not Fit All. Division of International Special Education and Services 21(2).

GEA #2

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