"THE BEST MONEY YOU CAN INVEST":

Private schools take off in Germany: Since 1995, private school attendance has increased 61 percent among elementary school pupils. (Isabelle de Pommereau, 1/30/06, The Christian Science Monitor)

Unlike many countries in the world, Germany has little tradition of private schools. In part because the state set high standards for public schools and the constitution has strict guidelines governing private schools, Germans have tended to view education as a state responsibility. But with an international study in 2000 ranking Germany's prized educational system among the bottom third of industrial nations, parents have become much more open to the private school option. [...]

Since 1995, the number of pupils attending private schools in Germany has climbed 61 percent for primary schools and 25 percent overall, according to German government statistics. And although private schools still only account for only 6 percent of all schools - compared with 60 percent in Belgium, 30 percent in Spain, and 25 percent in France - as many as a quarter of German parents would opt for a private school if one were available to them, says Christian Lucas, president of the German Association of Private Schools in Frankfurt.

Give them the option.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 29, 2006 8:40 PM