Why does he call out that he is 5'4" I wonder?
The "Health: Excellent" seems amusing in today's context too.
The "Health: Excellent" seems amusing in today's context too.
Although I now realize this is a cultural difference issue, it caught me off guard at first.
Are those German resumes? Very odd. Can't be used for anything except discrimination.
(German resumes frequently do have familial status though, and of course always with the fucking photographs...)
And here's another example of specifically parent occupation:
https://qz.com/1055416/americans-would-be-shocked-by-common-...
Photo yes, Familienstand yes still today for conservative companies, parents occupations not since probably the 80s in most places that would consider foreigners at all.
(It is, as you say, all fairly obvious bullshit designed to make sure the right social class gets preferential treatment...)
Also if you have children you might be absent because they are sick and whatnot.
So yes probably discrimination.
> German employers simply don't know what to make of an Art History major who wants to take a temporary job in an accounting firm before going on to medical school.
I'm still laughing.
I guess actually nobody knows what to make of an Art History major in the first place. That's one of the typical things one would study if your only plan in live is to become "a wife" (OK, today maybe also "a husband"), or when you have absolutely no clue what you want to do and need additional time to orientate.
Also nobody would hire an Art History major to do an accounting job. Never ever!
That's just ridiculous. You need professional training in accounting if you like to do accounting.
And going to medical school after getting an Art History major? Alone the idea is even more ridiculous than the idea that you could do an accounting job with an Art History major… You need almost teen years to become a full medic. Also getting into some of these universities require that you stand in line for quite some time, and have absolute top grades form school. The people that consider going for Art History study aren't the ones that would have any realistic chance to ever attend (a German) medical university.
So alone that sentence above is actually a kind of joke. But that's not everything funny in there.
> They may neither know what the Ivy League is nor know which university is more prestigious than another.
> In Germany, where you went to school is largely irrelevant.
Jop. And that's a big advantage!
Maybe not out of the perspective of some Dartmouth scholars, but most people on this planet agree that the anglo-saxon system for higher education is just complete madness.
The whole Bologna Process BS (which is modeled by the anglo-saxon madness) significantly decreased the quality of German's higher education, and at the same time almost invalidated the achievement of possessing an university diploma. Now everybody can get some "Art History Bachelor" degree, or some crap like that…
I strongly hope that we'll stop that madness at some point before our education finally hits the lows of the anglo-saxon equivalent!
There was a time that a German "Dipl.-Ing." or "Dr." title had some meaning. What you get nowadays with most "master" students are people that would miserably fail at "Vordiplom"… Also, "everybody" and his dog has a "bachelor degree" which makes it actually useless (and made just "regular school" out of university).
Don't British and US universities significantly outperform German universities according to most rankings? I think there's just one Germany institution in the QS top 50 and it's... 50th.
Also, german higher education is meh at best. Even beyond rankings, german universities are usually well in the middle of pack at best, in almost every quantifiable metric. Though putting the blame on the anglos for that is... very typically german I guess.
I'm not putting blame on anybody. (I wouldn't be here, or wouldn't have even learned the language if I wouldn't enjoy being with the "anglo people" as such ;-)).
I've said that the standards were undoubtedly much higher before the "Bologna Process", which adapted the German system in most parts to the anglo-saxon model, for net negative gains, imho.
The US (although not the UK) college system values taking multiple paths early on, especially for MDs and JDs, so an Art History major isn't completely absurd. At the university I went to, pre-med was a list of classes, but you couldn't select it as a major. Most students would major in something related, like biology, to maximize the overlap in classes, but a Classics major (with a heavy focus on learning Greek and Latin to help with medical terms) was considered a rare but very viable option.
That said, I think the greatest strength of the German education system is its trade schools. The US trade school system is much more ad hoc. Most jobs/problems don't need the heavy theory of a graduate degree, and honestly I think both the US and Germany could use fewer PhDs and more people with practical skills.
And don't get me started on spaceships/capsules - I don't have any particular fear of confined spaces but this was a little too much (too less?).
"For pilot and aircrew positions, height specifications vary by aircraft and most applicants can successfully pursue a career in aviation with the U.S. Air Force. Applicants who are significantly taller or shorter than average may require special screening to ensure they can safely perform operational duties. Applicants of all heights are encouraged to apply."
I found it extremely amusing that in reality there are height restrictions for astronauts, and there is no height minimum.
> Hypochrondroplasia is a genetic disorder characterized by small stature and disproportionately short arms, legs, hands, and feet (short-limbed dwarfism). Short stature often is not recognized until early to mid childhood or, in some cases, as late as adulthood.
2. As others point out, this gentleman was in aerospace and even though he wasn't a pilot, here's a fun fact for the morning ... I watched a documentary on the early years of fighter pilot selection and grooming. Russia apparently recognized and exploited the value of a short heart-brain distance in its pilots. If I recall correctly, pilots with shorter distances between heart and brain can pull higher G's (or maybe negative G's) before browning or blacking out in certain maneuvers. It makes sense when you think about it. So if you're an air force looking for every edge you can, you might select for this trait. Shorter men (specifically, shorter sitting height: reasonably correlated with heart-brain distance). Also some women, I would expect. Anyways, this is probably not why OP's dad shared his height, but sharing a possible TIL as it was for me... :-)
Such attitudes all changed drastically just around that time, not in small part because the demand for EE and CS people started outstripping the supply.
That said, some other people pointed out he had a military/aeronautical background, so height and health might come into play for certain jobs. That makes sense to me. You probably can’t work in the cockpit of a plane if you’re 7 feet tall.
On the upside, it apparently became an upward mobility avenue for "low caste" folk who would otherwise not be considered for valuable positions.
I mean... yeah. Absolutely. That is a huge obvious upside, and as far as I can tell, there are no downsides to this at all.
Nowadays cynicism has inverted those thoughts:
Religious -- hypocrites. Married -- soon will be divorced, may get pregnant. Parent -- how irresponsible for the environment.