Research

Compulsory education up to 12th grade (depends on state) Then there are a variety of options for Tertiary Education which is mostly necessary to achieve a stable job. Jobas are hard to find that are not deadend without a degree from teritary education. Military service -> College (educairton for free by government, cost 3 years of military) Vocational/Trades Training (career-specific training, low cost and high acceptance rate) Community college (2-year) (2+2 program to transfer to a 4 year college) (Associates degree which is less powerful than BA/BS but cost is very low and there is a high acceptance rate) (people of all ages are accepted into community college including adults who sometimes are only part-time students.) 4 Year College (BA/BS which can give people access to a variety of jobs) (many options for people with different price ranges including publicly funded colleges and privately funded colleges) Then there is further education MBA/MD/MS/MA/JD/PhD etc. (These specialized degrees allow access to a specific field such as Lawyer or Doctor) Anyone can go to college at any point in their life as long as they are able to pay. There are loans by the government, FAFSA, for those who cannot afford the high price of education.

Primary school -> Junior secondary school is compulsory (to 9th grade) After Junior secondary school, students take Zhongkao which designates which high school equivalent students attend. “China dictates that roughly half of all middle school graduates enter regular high school while the other half either attend vocational school or drop out. This policy, as well as longstanding concerns about the quality of vocational schools, are raising the stakes for students taking China’s high school entrance exam.” (https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1013176) "Roughly half of middle school students go on to regular high schools, with the chance to take the gaokao three years later and be admitted to regular undergraduate universities, while the lower-scoring half either study in a vocational secondary school or drop out completely." (https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1013176) "Each student is admitted to only one school — the highest-ranked school on their list for which they meet the score requirements." (https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1013176) "Even though vocational high school graduates have an extremely high employment rate of 95%, many of these are “low-end” jobs with little upward mobility." (https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1013176) Students who score better on the Zhongkao go to high schools/upper secondary schools with better teacher quality and smarter peers. All upper secondary school students then take the Gaokao after 12th grade. This test designates which college a student will attend or whether a student attends college at all. Some students go on to teacher training school or vocational training. the below information is from this text: Meimei Wang, et al. Education in China, Ca. 1840-Present. Brill, 2021. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=a3db030e-9004-3f7c-b53a-7a800638609d. “After graduation from a technical school, students would be issued with a certificate attesting to their skill in their field of specialization. Before 1997, the government arranged a job for every technical-school graduate, as was also the case for graduates of institutions providing tertiary education. Graduates of vocational schools, however, did not have any job guarantee from the government, similar to graduates of general secondary schools.” (11) there used to be gaurenteed jobs, not anymore though. “In the 1990s, as secondary technical and teacher- training schools became less competitive and less attractive, universities and colleges experienced continuously rising admission rates.” (12-13) “Nowadays, Chinese children are required to follow nine years of compulsory education (six years of primary school and three years of junior secondary school). After that, they can choose to enter general senior secondary schools (three years), vocational senior secondary schools (2– 3 y ears) or senior secondary technical schools (around three years). In possession of a diploma from these secondary schools, students can move on to universities (four to five years), vocational colleges (three years) or teacher-training colleges (three to four years). Graduate schools are affiliated with universities or research institutes and to obtain a master’s degree, two to three years are needed, while, generally speaking, doctoral training takes three to four years.” (13-14) “The number of students in primary education increased further in the “New China” period from 29 million in 1950 to about 100 million today. In 2 010 the enrolment ratio was 99.7%.”(22) the above quotes explain how China's current educational system works and how people are more likely to choose university over vocational education. “Unless their educational results were very promising, children from families of lower occupational status were, on the other hand, more likely to be enrolled in institutions providing vocational education and would subsequently enter the job market as early as possible. In poor families – especially those without farmland – the parents still hoped, of course, that their children could attend a university of high standing and find a good job after graduation. If, however, their children were not good at studying then dropping out and becoming a migrant worker seemed to be a wise choice.” (89-90) “Unfortunately, schools in rural areas and urban schools that were designated to accommodate children of migrant workers were usually inferior in terms of educational facilities, availability of teaching devices and teaching quality. As a consequence, this unequal access to good education in the primary and secondary stages also inhibited children of poor families from gaining access to the better universities. Worse, some students from poor families even dropped out before finishing their nine years of compulsory education. Currently, the enrolment ratio of school- age children is greater than 99.9%, with the graduation rate being close to 90%. Most dropouts come from rural areas.” (90) “However, with the expansion of education in the 21st century, some scholars, for example Wu and Pan, found that there was a declining trend in return on education for the individual. Lopez et a l. 19 put forward two reasons for this phenomenon. First, an uneven distribution of educational resources made it difficult for poor students to gain access to a higher education and, consequently, to obtain higher salaries. Second, the policy environment limited the positive effect of education on income growth: even if children had the opportunity to enjoy higher education, government policies strongly influenced their job choices after graduation.” (92-93) the above quote explains the difference between access for rural students and those of the upper class who moreso live in large cities.

There is compulsory education for ages 6 to 15 “Over 15% of 25-34-year-olds in the country hold a vocational post-secondary education as their highest qualification, far surpassing the 6% average of OECD states.” “tuition fees in Germany were abolished in 2014” there are other costs though Visa costs and some tuition cost for students studying abroad in germany. “Across all levels from primary to tertiary education, Germany spends USD 15,767 annually per full-time equivalent student (adjusted for purchasing power and including expenditure on research and development), compared to the OECD average of USD 12 647.” - https://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?primaryCountry=DEU&treshold=10&topic=EO https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-education-systems/germany/overview Education grades 5-12: upper secondary education - Hauptschule (anyone can get in; no need for high marks, vocational) - Realschule (after this top students go into Gymnasium/college, others go to Berufsschule/vocational or get an apprenticeship) (degree is considered similar to a high school in other countries systems) - Gymnasium (focused on academic learning, similar to british 6th form or a US prep school) (finishes with the final college examination, Abitur, which is like british A-levels or IB-diploma) After the Abitur, students study at university based on their score. some programs like medicine require a better score on the Abitur. "[...] medicine and three specialities (dentistry, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine). In the winter term 2010/2011 more than 56 000 students applied for one of the less than 13 000 places available in these four subjects, meaning that ultimately three in four applicants had to be rejected." (econstor.eu, an analysis of the German university admissions system: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/74644/1/74743543X.pdf) "According to German legislation, every student who obtains the Abitur (i.e., successfully finishes secondary school) or some equivalent qualification is entitled to study any subject at any public university. Given capacity constraints at educational institutions and the ensuing need to reject some applicants, this principle has long been reinterpreted as meaning that everyone should have a chance of being admitted into the program of his or her choice." (econstor.eu, an analysis of the German university admissions system: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/74644/1/74743543X.pdf) If a student is placed in the vocational education track, they can then go to der zweite Bildungsweg, the “second route to higher education” which gives them the opportunity to go to university for a general education degree. "Degree-oriented adult education represents an important extracurricular alternative for many people. People with little or no school education as well as people who want to reorient themselves find adult-friendly educational opportunities in all phases of life." (https://www.bmbwf.gv.at/Themen/eb/zb.html) Adults can also go to Kolleg which allows them to take the Arbitur after 3 years. Difference between Kolleg and der zweite bildungsweg is that kolleg is moreso university and arbitur focused while zweite bildungsweg is vocational school, both for adults.