True but misleading. Germany has some of the lowest university enrolment figures in the EU. There are a couple of reasons for this but the most important are
1. They stream early (10 years old) and savagely. Only those who go to grammar school (Gymnasium) are eligible to go to a classic university. That's less than 40% of the population.
2. They have an absolutely excellent apprenticeship system. All businesses pay taxes to their local Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and these coordinate training at a state and national level. Apprenticeships last 2-3 years, you spend a third to a half of your time at a trade school and the rest working for your employer.
The concept of streaming disturbs me, because I know I would have been streamed into a delinquent centre for always being bored and acting up (also, I'd have been killed during fascism, nazi times, communism, the inquisition, and the witch burning sessions - this is truly a great time to be me).
I love the German system. Here in Canada half my friends got absolutely nothing out of grades 9 through 12. The one non-university geared guy that actually made something out of his life noted that working hard at "applied" (here applied means "dumb" rather than actually applicable) courses was a waste of time because all he really needed was to graduate. He ended up working 40 hours a week during high school. Only now am I finally catching up with his net worth. Compounding interest is really working in his favour and he should be retired at 50 or 55 if he keeps it up.
Also, he is earning about 50% more than his other "applied" friends because his years of experience put him into middle management, rather than front line. Anyways, streaming early is good, especially if it is self directed.
Sounds slightly more like an argument against dumb education (and I couldn't agree more) rather than streaming.
Personally, I would have preferred to have been working between 13 and 18 - except for maths class, and possibly science and physics, technical drawing, French, art, could have skipped Irish, but would have replaced English with a more modern curriculum, ... okay... school was not as bad as I remember.
