@stanleybmanly Yes, but Germany tracks their children at a young age if I remember correctly, I don’t know about the other countries, and kids once tracked for college can easily go to college, but kids on other tracks need to jump through hoops to go.
I think of my father who was poor and his father was an immigrant and had psychological problems and his mom was not very bright from what I understand and disinterested in education for her children. My dad didn’t read until 3rd grade and hated school as a young child. If they had tracked him it would have been an uphill battle for him, who knows if he could have achieved what he has.
Luckily, in NYC at the time there were opportunities throughout the education process to prove new commitments to education and change the course of one’s academic career. He had a school counselor tell him he should not even consider going to college, but NYC had tests and application processes that allow anyone to apply and free college education for those who do well. I don’t know how easy that is in the European countries listed. It would be interesting to know. America allows a lot of lead time for children to find their way in the education process.
I’m going to send this to our German Jelly.