Just because Germany has free education, it doesn’t mean everyone still has equal access to it.
And for better or worse, students can stop secondary school at age 16 and go right into a trade school. The route from secondary school to university is much harder than in the US - there’s a huge exit exam and I think a thesis paper. So, if you can make it past that higher bar of academic standards to get into university, you can be educated without going into debt…
Plus they still have that divide between leftists living in the big cities with the population leaning more right wing as you get out to the countryside.
Just because Germany has free education, it doesn’t mean everyone still has equal access to it.
And for better or worse, students can stop secondary school at age 16 and go right into a trade school. The route from secondary school to university is much harder than in the US - there’s a huge exit exam and I think a thesis paper. So, if you can make it past that higher bar of academic standards to get into university, you can be educated without going into debt…
Plus they still have that divide between leftists living in the big cities with the population leaning more right wing as you get out to the countryside.
(source: Me, an American who escaped to Europe)