Education is one of the most important goals in an industrial and democratic country. In many of these countries, public schools take off the main role in educating people. Germany and the United States are two of those countries which educate their students using the same kind of schools, but have also many differences in the way they educate. Germany and the United States display certain strengths and weaknesses, as well as similarities and differences throughout their education process.
School Systems.
The school systems in both countries, Germany and the United States mainly consist of kindergarten, elementary school and high school. Unlike Germany, schools in the United States also require middle school. The middle school follows after five years of elementary school and goes on for three years. Compared to the United States with twelve school years for everybody, German students have either ten, twelve or thirteen years of school due to the different kinds of high school they can choose from. Every student has to decide out of three types of graduation. The first kind requires ten school years and puts low expectations on students. Many people from foreign countries who decide to live in Germany and are not very good in German language, decide to go to that type of high school after elementary school. The second kind, also requiring ten years, has normal expectations for students. Sixty percent of German students choose to go this way. In both types of these high schools people can't attend college after graduating, but if they work hard, they can still make a big career and earn a decent salary. To study in college, people have to choose the third way, which is called Gymnasium. Gymnasiums have high expectations on their students and distribute large volumes of work. Twelve or thirteen years of school, depending at which grade the student started with the gymnasium, are needed to graduate in that school.
