" the big blue elk may have something up his sleeve, too ... this is a mid sized version and of course not a softbox, but with a different LED Setup it may have become one.."

"Rain, got your point now. it might be true that a split education system (may it be 2 or 3 path) is a more efficient approach to modern educational needs. those who aim for university have the ability to gain the necessary skills and mindsets (leaving school after 12-13 years), while the more practical oriented ones don't waste time in an educational institution not helping them in any way (drop out after 10th grade @ real or hauptschule). it doesn't even matter if the whole bunch went to a gesamtschule. Those seeking an apprenticeship would leave after 10th grade anyway while the future egghats check in for 2-3 more years. nevertheless i strongly question your thesis, that the chances are high to find a furniture designer with roots in hauptschul-education, until statistics prove me wrong i'd say chances are rather low. i'd put my money on realschule and gymnasium. interestingly some of those who went for gym. put a (mostly shortend) apprenticeship on top to bring the neccessary crafty skills for university style IDschool"

"well ok then, i am already curious to learn your perspective on that part of german education system."

"regarding the military, that's true. if a command is obviously against the rules of HR or simply german law, soldiers are even obliged not to carry it out"

"well apprenticeship and berufsschule go hand in hand. part time of the week one spends in the host company, part time of the week the young folks go to berufsschule"

"i strongly support the comments of Richard and Andreas - for most Kids "Hauptschule" is a dead end. companies tend to hire those who ran through "Realschule" for higher skilled manufacturing jobs and crafts. Those kind of jobs tend to be the platform from where to start a career as designer (without university style ID-education).   what the author totally missed is the "dual" character of the German job training. One part is training on the job, working in the company that pays your (small) salary after leaving Real- or Hauptschule, the secong part leads directly back to school benches. In "Berufsschulen" the young apprentices are trained in all those skills, they can't train within the sometimes highly specialized host-companies. This helps a lot to widen the horizont of the apprentices and of course helps to keep a nation wide standard regarding crafts and manufacturing skills. Meisterschulen are a another set of training facilities that offer higher education for those who chose (or got stuffed into) the more practical path (i.e. Real/hauptschule -> apprenticeship -> Meisterschule). For most people aiming to gain a degree as "meister" (do not mix with Master of .. at universities) some years of work-experience are expected before they attend a Meisterschule."