Real school

In the state of Baden-Württemberg, after the sixth grade, the student has to choose among technology, home economics, and a second foreign language, usually French.

High school diplomas obtained in Canada or the United States are usually acknowledged as a Mittlere Reife (graduation from a Realschule).

All students holding an American high school diploma may apply for the Studienkolleg, and after successfully graduating from this they may attend a German university.

[2] Those holding a high school diploma can choose from a wider range of possible major subjects at a German university if they did well on the SAT or ACT.

The German tripartite system of education has been widely criticized for separating children along class lines at a very early age.

For instance, in some German states, a decision is made in the sixth or even the fourth grade about whether a child is to continue in the Gymnasium, the Realschule, or the Hauptschule.

Only the Gymnasium is a university-preparatory school, so critics argue that a decision is made as early as the fourth grade about whether a child will be allowed to attend college.

Finally, no democratic society outside the German-speaking world has tripartite school systems that separate children largely according to background; this finding was the main complaint about Germany in the recent PISA study.

[citation needed] Proponents of the tripartite system consider the arguments brought forward by the critics to be invalid.

They also hold the opinion that state-funded Realschulen and Gymnasiums offered many working-class children the possibility to move up the social ladder.

Also, proponents of the tripartite system fear that abolishing Gymnasia and Realschulen would lead to the growth of a private school sector.