In April, we reported on the experiences of a young German with the Arbeitsagentur (job center, EDD). He was on a four week break from a one year "Meister" course and had to report to the job center. "Meister" (master) is advanced schooling after a three year vocational training plus subsequent years of work experience.
You can brush up on how it came that the sweet, competent employment specialist called the young man "Arrogant and Lazy". This earlier post also gives some insight into the meaning of temp work in Germany -- in short, it is not temp work as we know it in the English speaking world.
Having heard the story of the young man in April and having evaluated his chances of passing the Meister course, TheEditor of the K-Landnews sent a tweet to one of the national job center heads, pointing out that job center employees should not call kids like him as "arrogant and lazy".
We ran into the arrogant and lazy young man a couple of days ago and asked how the education project was coming along. Oh, I just graduated, he explained.
He graduated with an overall rating of "good" and sheepishly added that the accounting teacher had given him some additional advice. You passed book keeping, but if you want the company you are going to found to turn a consistent profit, get a professional accountant.
We could go on and on about a job center employee who had a bad day and wax lyrically about government agencies treating their "customers" like shit, but we decided to take a cue from the young man and take the high road.
So: The advanced vocational education system in Germany is obviously superb. The system manages to turn this arrogant and lazy kid into a productive, highly qualified professional and budding entrepreneur.
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