Last night, my wife (German in nature) pulled out a video clip from TV Total (a Pro-7 comedy-talk show). They tend to do a lot of interviews and ask both stupid and smart questions.
So in 7-minute clip....they asked about a dozen people (ages 17 to 21) around five questions.
These were questions like....who were the Stassi (the former East German Secret Police).....who was Chancellor when the Wall came down (Kohl)....where was the old West German capital (Bonn)....what BRD stood for (the Federal Republic of Germany, or old West Germany).
To be honest, I knew all of the answers.
These dozen young folks? They knew absolutely nothing.
At the end, I suggested to the wife if you'd asked them what three-quarters of an hour was (45 minutes).....none of them could have answered the question....as well.
What's this video indicate? Well....most German kids are not that gifted when they graduate from school....into an apprentice program. Dish out information.....simply forget about it the day after the exam.
About 20 years ago, I watched a German baker talk about his personal test for German kids applying for apprentice jobs in his operation. He had a standard test of 10 questions.....example: what was half of 150 degrees.....what was a quarter of 60 minutes....who was the Chancellor. It was rare that he had some kid who answered all of the questions, and most kids failed miserably on use of regular math (in fractions or decimal).
I'm not saying the kids are stupid....but around age 18....you have these expectations of general knowledge and ability....to which these were failing miserably.
A sign of the times? Maybe.
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