School and Work in the Lives of West German Adolescents

Abstract

International comparisons have intrinsic interest but are also useful means of understanding our own society more thoroughly. West Germany's school system presents several contrasts with the United States'. At the secondary level it is far more differentiated, containing three distinct types of schools that are ordinarily located in separate buildings. Even more dramatically, apprenticeship, rather than full-time schooling, constitutes the largest form of upper secondary education. Apprenticeship provides a bridge from school to work, from adolescence to adulthood, that has no counterpart in the United States. Recent changes in West Germany's educational system have tried to make it more democratic, most effectively by increasing enrollments in the upper-level secondary schools. The greatest challenge currently facing the system is high youth unemployment resulting from economic stagnation combined with an unusually large youth cohort. The papers in this special issue explore the impact of school and apprenticeship on West German adolescents.

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