Two days ago I’ve had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine about studying in Germany. My friend is an exchange student from abroad and, as in most nations, he has to pay tuition fees in his home country and was surprised that studying in Germany is, in most federal states, still free. I have to admit that I found his views a little provocative since he insisted German students should pay for their studies as most universities suffer from a constant lack of money.

I actually favour free markets and systems with a liberal economy where one pays for products or services he receives. However, one thing most people don’t seem to understand is that Germans already pay tremendous amounts of money to the state through taxes. These resources are then being redistributed, making it hard to trace what the money is eventually used for. The idea is to support social equality, in reality, however, a big piece of the cake is used to maintain antiquated, unflexible and inefficient welfare systems and pension schemes — so the capital never even gets close to what it was intended for.

Please don’t get me wrong here, I approve social equality and I’m willing to contribute my share, but I don’t see why people are supposed to pay money for something they have already paid for — just because of the unwillingness or the unability of the government to reform outdated structures and get rid of a fair bit of bureaucracy. I certainly think that tuition fees in their current form are a big mistake, especially in days where people can barely afford living. They are also not the right way to solve the problems in Germany’s desolate educational system.

But to close the circle: People will have to understand that politics and economics in Germany work in a way that is different from any other nation. You have to know the circumstances before stepping in — and besides that, history has taught us that other countries’ systems can’t simly be imposed on Germany.

politics, university Hide

Habe ich eigentlich erwähnt, dass mich das neue Betriebssystemen auf den Sparkassen-Automaten nervt? Ich weiß ja nicht, wie das im Rest von Deutschland ist, aber in Leipzig wurden vor kurzem die Sparkassen-Terminals auf ein neues Betriebssystem umgestellt. Sieht schicker aus und ist meiner subjektiven Wahrnehmung nach auch etwas fixer.

Nun passiert es aber ab und zu, dass der Automat den Betrag, den man eingegeben hat, nicht auszahlen kann. Bei kleineren Beträgen entsprechend öfter, da diese Scheine zuerst leer sind. Nun haben die Terminals eben neuerdings die Angewohnheit, dann einfach zu sagen “Betrag kann nicht ausgezahlt werden” und brechen ab. Anstatt der Möglichkeit, einen neuen Betrag einzugeben, bekommt man schlicht seine EC-Karte zurück und das Spiel beginnt von vorn — und das nervt nicht nur die Leute dahinter, sondern auch einen selbst. Glückwunsch für diese gelungene Neuerung

annoyances Hide