America’s German Envy Misplaced

It might surprise some education policy analysts who look enviously at the German method of education as a model for the United States to learn that at least one Teutonic intellectual admires the American system. “The U.S. has an inspiring climate for thinking,” Ingo Rollwagen who is Senior Analyst at Macro Trends Deutsche Bank Research said at an American Institute for Contemporary German Studies Conference.

He noticed that studying abroad brings a more refined understanding of learning processes to ensure persistence of learning. Thus, in the U.S., qualifications and credentials matter more and U.S. institutions attract more students.

There are new teaching standards in the U.S. while in Germany schools have the oldest teachers, and this is a problem. In the U.S., there is a lot of investment in information technology, and a lot of gaming and simulations in learning.

When he emphasizes team work, he states that in German schools, there is no indication of team work. German Schools do not have teachers’ team teaching but the U.S. system has team work.

Life-long learning is also prevalent in American education. Germany has to progress in science education. The Americans and German people could work together on different perspectives.

Rollwagen questions the meaning of universities:

· Are universities financial players or players in the society?

· Why do we need universities?

He states that learning is more than qualifications: Learning and its relation to social progress/coherence and the interrelation of human and social capital has to be revisited. When he analyzes the trends for policies of profit and progress, he includes personalization, enhancement of potential, philanthropy, and partnering.

In conclusion, he points out the fact that in the light of education policy trends, challenges remain. He defines these challenges as personal progress, persistent equity of access for disadvantaged people, motivation, sustainable curricula and courses, safeguarding the impact of gifts for the future, assessment of partnerships, quality control, monitoring of market access and pricing strategies, new management qualifications and collaborative organizational designs.

Heyecan Veziroglu is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.