Apprenticeship as a Transition to Adulthood in West Germany

One means of gaining an ecological perspective on adolescent development is to examine another country's institutions for youth. While the United States has no institution that effectively bridges school and work, half of West Germany's 16-18-year-olds are apprentices, learning a career in the workplace while attending school only one day a week. Apprenticeship enables youth who do not enroll in higher education to move directly into primary-labor-market careers at a time when their counterparts in the United States are leaving full-time schooling to begin a period of low-skill and low-paid work in the secondary labor market. Although West German apprenticeship cannot be transplanted to the United States, it has implications for our educational system and labor markets. First, it demonstrates that the marginal attachment of youth to employment results from constraints on opportunity rather than from youthful irresponsibility. Second, it suggests that the preparation of youth as skilled workers requires a heavy investment and extensive employer participation. A more appropriate function for secondary vocational education might be to use work-related activities as a means to teach academic subjects. Third, it proves the value of out-of-classroom learning, particularly for those youth who do not perform well in classrooms.