Germany's famed vocational training system has a dark side, Part II

We wrote about the famous German vocational training system in several earlier posts.
Without diminishing the positive effects of the system, we believe that its drawbacks are largely ignored and the overall view is frequently nothing short of romantic.

In these earlier posts, we asked questions about the need of multi-year training for some jobs that do not see vast technological changes or increasing complexity. Barbers, for example, would fall into this category, despite the messages you might get from all the hair products commercials on TV. Mentioning barbers does not mean we undervalue a good haircut or don't want the providers to make a living wage. It does mean that - in comparison - it seems odd to have very similar vocational training time for barbers and, say, aircraft mechanics.

We also addressed the fact that vocational training traditionally shunted youngsters into a career path that ended at about 25 years of age at the most - if they went and completed the one year Meister (master) program after the generally three year apprenticeship. Entry into an apprenticeship program used to require no more than 8 years of school as late as the mid-1970s. Over time this bar moved to the next graduation option at 10 years for many jobs, and nowadays many firms and institutions providing vocational training will only accept young people with a 12 year school education.

Craftsmen with a "Meister" as well as graduates of a vocational program with several years of work experience have an easier time nowadays to move on to technical college but it took Germany pretty much 500 years or so to get to this point from the medieval guild system where it all started.

All the applause for providing training and education as well as slow modernization notwithstanding, the system has been a powerful tool for "keeping people in their places" beyond separating citizens into "workers" (both blue collar and non-university white-collar) and "educated rulers".

In terms of the wider society, the "master" title still is serves as the key to setting up your own business in the vast majority of blue-collar specialties. European integration has led to a slight loosening for EU foreigners coming to Germany, requiring an "equivalent" level of skills and knowledge for the latter. In the absence of a really equal system in many EU countries, EU foreigners effectively have an easier path to setting up their own shop than Germans, because the requirement of a "master" title continues to exist for Germans.

In terms of power relationships in the country, the role and position of the "master" can be described as the equivalent to the Master Sergeant in the military. Not an officer, thus no competition for the young lieutenant West Point grad, but vital to the stability and functioning of the system.

How bad can it get when an apprentice runs afoul of a master, the owner of a small business, which is in turn part of a regional organization of each and every single business that provides the same products or services?

Extremely bad.

Over the years, we have heard stories by apprentices which illustrate the power of the masters of these small firms which operate outside of the protection trade unions. Plumbers, carpenters, barbers, small store clerks and others have similar stories to tell.

Just as it is nearly impossible to get anywhere in the military if you run afoul of the Master Sergeant, getting in trouble with the master often meant you'd have to move to the big city or go to work in a factory that didn't insist on a glowing letter of recommendation from that master.

Before the German government eventually extended the college loan system to vocational master programs, you were fully dependent on the good will of your boss if you wanted to attend the program. The boss needed to keep your Saturdays free of work and had to accommodate school blocks by giving you time off, either as paid vacation or as unpaid time off.

With membership in the the regional employers' association being mandatory and with the company owners providing first and foremost for their own sons, you effectively had a cartel, and many would-be master hopefuls never managed to reconcile their aspiration with targeted overtime demands and the needs of a young family. Or in rural areas, a small money-losing part time farm.

So, if you see a small German business in the traditional craftsmen sectors advertise a proud one hundred fifty or two hundred year business history, try to not get swept away by romantic notions.