Jessica Wang

Summer 2013 Honors Study Abroad

Berlin and Spain (Madrid & Len)
March 11, 2015
Final Project Report
Social and Artistic Representations of Youth Unemployment in the Eurozone
Topic: Education, STEM, and Media
GROUP ABSTRACT
STEM, in the United States, is an acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics. Modern-day technology has made it such that, in this day and age in developed
countries, it is the norm method of staying updated and interacting with other people. In addition,
todays job market in Europe consists of a growing number of STEM related jobs in several
countries. As a result of technologys wide and growing influence, it follows that naturally part of
how people learn about their own countries and, consequently, themselves is through what they
hear and see in the media. In this joint research effort, we will explore the narrative as to how
technology is shaping a part of youth education as well as how it is being used to express the issue
of unemployment.
Kira will investigate how students and educational systems interact, focusing on the
purpose of an education in light of the Eurozone crisis. Perspectives of students will be compared
to those of institutions to identify any conflicts or incongruities.
Sonjas focus lies in the choice of major of young students who are growing up in the midst
of this economic crisis. Specifically, her interest evolved in STEM education and how government
policies and the school system may or may not be encouraging students to study the STEM fields,
and how these policies are being felt by students and teachers.
In her research, Jessica will present an analysis of social medias role in educating the
public about unemployment in the Eurozone and the collaboration of nations in an attempt to

combat rising unemployment rates. More specifically, she will attempt gauge the public in Berlin
and Lens awareness of the recent collaboration between Germany and Spain to help promote
jobs for youth. In addition, she will analyze how this topic in the news is being perceived by people
in both Germany and Spain in an attempt to see if people in either country identify strongly with
nationalistic views for their own country. With the recent collaboration between Germany and
Spain to help provide Spaniards with access German jobs and job training, questions have risen as
to whether this agreement would help either Spaniards or Germans at all. One of the conflicts
surrounding this agreement is that some tend to see the German education system as inherently
German, and so the fact Spaniards are going abroad to learn German skills presents itself as a
potential threat to the preservation of Spanish culture. Of course, the question remains as to what
constitutes as a countrys culture or national identity in the first place.
Jessica Wang A Survey of the Perspectives Regarding the German and Spanish Agreement
to Relieve Unemployment
QUESTION
How are the Internet and popular forms of media being utilized to communicate to the
general populations of Germany and Spain about current events? More specifically, how are
people in these two countries learning (if they are at all) about the recent German and Spanish
agreement to decrease unemployment and create policies that would allow Spanish people easier
access to working in Germany? How is this agreement across the two nations being received and
responded to by German and Spaniard populations? What sorts of values do Germans and
Spaniards see this agreement as supporting and/or violating? Is there the use of national logic to
identify themselves as distinctly German or Spanish and why might this be so? Lastly, how is

this issue being perceived by sources who do not identify with either of the players involved
(namely, neither German nor Spanish)?
BACKGROUND
Both Germany and Spain have had conflicting perceptions among themselves as to what
constitutes as part of their nationality and cultural identity. For both, the problems are rooted in
their histories. In Germany, historically the largest roadblock for cultural unity has been the fact
they were once split into East and West Germany. Reunification after the fall of the Berlin Wall has
been a rocky transition as suggested by conflicting views as to whether or not to preserve the wall
or completely demolish it after the fall of East Germany [1]. In addition, the more recent increasing
population of minority ethnicities in Germany has brought up questions as to whether or not they
should be able to apply for German citizenship and can be considered German [2]. For Spain, the
issue with identity has risen from purposely trying to ignore the past. The consequences of the
latest Spanish Civil War include the approval of the Amnesty Law in 1977, with publicly
condemned those who identify with the losing side of the war from speaking about the events in
the civil war. [3]. As a result, Spanish history is often taught with a gap where the Spanish Civil
War would be and with lots of variations all over the country. Without a common history and
cultural identity to relate to, the country has more or less split into many different smaller groups
within the larger country [4]. Recently however, one thing that has helped to bring the people in
each country together is the declining economy. Organized protests in Spain have been ongoing
for a while now, and most of them are people coming together in order to protest against their
current government [5].
In todays day and age, the internet is by far the most effective way to spread information to
a large audience within a short period of time, as well as the fastest way to learn and find pieces of

information. In a short interview through electronic mail that I had with Professor Tony Lockett, a
European Union fellow and also from the University of Washingtons Jackson School of
International Studies, he put it nicely that digital media are certainly disruptive, because eg they
reduce the importance of geographical proximity, allow anyone the possibility to be a publisher,
make new forms of collective action possible [8]. This being said, it is no secret that computers
are becoming a more and more integral part of modern society. Some sociologists would even
suggest that the use of computers and the integration of new ways of communication amongst
people via the Internet are leading to a catastrophe where the fundamental structures of society
are forced to change as a result. As the ways in which people communicate with each other shifts
more and more towards being on the internet, the definitions of societies will have to morph in
order to include these forms of communication that can now connect people normally distant to
each other over the Internet [7].
One article on social theory in this realm of study suggests that, although it has been
commonly known that what people see and read in the media directly correlates to whether or not
these people respond or partake in civic participation, there actually is a middle step in the
process between when people learn about things in the media and what action they take as a
result. This middle step can take place in either one of two forms: Interactive Civic Messaging or
Interpersonal Political Discussion, the difference between the two namely being the former
exists mostly on the Internet or through other means than in person. The authors suggest that the
Internet helps to facilitate not only the transmission of the original news piece through online
news, but also this middle stage of having to discuss before civic participation [9]. In other words,
the Internet has found its way into being a part of a fundamental part of how people receive and

react to information, both as a news source and as a method for people to share their thoughts
with others in society. My project aims to explore this effect.
One area of interest to me in this project is how people relate and respond to what they
learn in the media, particularly in response to the current proclaimed Eurozone crisis. In Germany
and Spain, one topic that pertains to both countries is a recent German and Spanish agreement in
an attempt to resolve dire unemployment rates. On May 21st, 2013, Spanish Prime Minister for
Employment and Social Security, Ftima Bez, and German Minister for Labour and Social Affairs,
Ursula Von der Leyen, met in Madrid and signed an agreement that allows the following: up to
about 5,000 young Spaniards a year may gain access to the labor market via either entering the
German dual vocational training program or taking a German job opening. In addition, both
German and Spanish youth will have more support from both governments to find work abroad in
either country [6]. The idea behind this is that, because the labor markets of the two countries are
already quite integrated as is, the two countries would work together at their common goal to
lower youth unemployment and do so via partnership where the two governments will work
closely together to coordinate and exchange information. Eventually, the agreement would lead to
a policy that makes it easier for Spanish people to find work in Germany and receive the necessary
support from government and private company-owned vocational centers. Because this is a plan
that ultimately promotes the immigration of Spaniards into Germany, national ties become an
important issue as the two countries will find themselves more closely tied to each other. An
interesting question to research here is how the concept of nationality would likely have to change
and come to redefine itself in each country as the two are inevitably juxtaposed against each other
with the consequences of this agreement.
METHODOLOGY

In my research, I chose to collect data using various methods in order to get a better overall
idea of the situation in both countries and learn using multiple forms of data. I used four main
methods of data collection: 1) an overall examination of common newspapers and other news
sources in both Germany and Spain, 2) listening to and taking notes on various presentations
given by professors, specialists, and/or general people who volunteered to take the time and
present to our class on various topics related to my research, 3) interviews with people I met on
my journey in various places, including malls, parks, plazas, classes, and on the street, and 4) a
survey questionnaire we gave to university students in both Berlin and Len, as well as posted on
the Internet for my university friends in the United States to fill out.
NewspapersMy goal with looking at popular online newspapers in both Germany in
Spain was not only to familiar myself with the current news in each region, but also to gain a
general sense of what sorts of news, and therefore biases, people were being exposed to. In both
Berlin and Madrid/Len, I asked our program guides (Manuela Mangold and Magdalena Diaz
Gorfinkiel respectively) what common newspapers in the region were and checked these
newspapers for relevant articles about the Eurozone crisis, but especially for anything that
mentioned the Germany and Spain agreement. I then performed a close reading analysis on these
articles in order to gather some perspectives on the German and Spanish agreement as portrayed
in popular news media.1
PresentationsOver the course of our time in Berlin and in Madrid/Len, we attended
presentations given by various professors, specialists, and experts in topics related to my project.
Presentations I will be referring to are those by Dr. Markus Heide, Dr. Viola B. Georgi, Professor
1

A large factor in how I selected would be I only chose those published in English or translated into English. In the German
and Spanish newspapers, it is possible that the articles they choose to publish in English are those they specifically write for
an international audience and not for other Germans or Spaniards.

Rainer Ohliger, Fundacin Internacional Baltasar Garzn in Madrid, and a presenter in Len who
gave us an overview of popular media sources for information about the Eurozone crisis in Spain.
In all of these presentations, I was an audience member, asked the presenters questions about my
project, and took notes.
Personal InterviewsFor my project, I also conducted multiple in person interviews with
various people that I met throughout my time abroad. Out of respect for my interviewees, all of
their names will remain anonymous. The people whose interviews I will talk about include Mr. X
(a former unemployed man who has worked at a career center in Berlin), a sociologist in Madrid I
was able to talk to over dinner, a young German language teacher in Len, and youth (23 years
and a 30 year old) that I hung out with and got to know in Len.
SurveyThe last component of my research included conducting surveys of students in
both Berlin and Len. In our surveys, we were able to ask questions of thirty-six American Studies
students in Germany at Humboldt University, twenty-two English language students in Spain at
the Len Language Center, and six German language students in Spain at the Len Language
Center. All these surveys were written surveys and handed out to classes with the permission of
the instructor. In each, we gave an introduction as to why we were conducting the surveys and
included translations of the questions in either German or Spanish as well as the English versions.
In addition to these surveys, I wanted to collect data from a perspective that was neither German
nor Spanish, so I created an online version of my survey and posted it online to my Facebook for
my friends in the United States to answer. While I do have a handful of Facebook friends from
other countries and other parts of the United States, I expect the bulk of my survey answerers to
be from the greater Seattle area in Washington State. The biggest inconsistency between the
written surveys versus the online one is obviously the format, but this was necessary as there was

no way for me to get paper surveys out to students in the United States while I am physically in
Europe.
All versions of the survey are included in an Appendix at the end of this paper. Appendix 1
shows the German and Spanish forms of the survey that we printed out in physical form and went
to various classes to hand out. Appendix 2 is an online form of the more or less same survey which
was adjusted to make the questions more relevant to an audience from the United States. This was
in order to facilitate the number of survey responses and generate more interest for people to fill
out my survey in general.
Methodology Rationale:
The reason I chose multiple methods of data collection is because each method I have
chosen has its own pros and cons. The idea behind using multiple different forms is so that I can
try to make up for the cons in each separate method as well as utilize the various pros. For
example, both the presentations and the in person interviews involved portions where I would ask
questions that my interviewees would not have had time to prepare for. In these situations, the
answers they gave me were probably those that came to their minds first, and so therefore
missing the content that they could have come up with had they been given the time to think. In
our group research we tried to accommodate for this by using anonymous written surveys where
students would have time to think about what they write on paper. In addition, because the
surveys were written and anonymous, the chances of a person writing any untruthful or
adjusted answer that a person would feel the pressure to give in an in person interview are
lower. This effect in written responses versus interviews has been studied multiple times in
previous studies [10]. Finally, the news media aspect helped me learn from a perspective that was
devoid of all human interaction whatsoever. The analysis came from me reading text and my

perspective of what the media was trying to portray. Any biased perceptions or opinions that I
learned from looking at the media is simply there and does not change no matter who the
audience reading or watching the news is.
FINDINGS
In this section, I layout my findings that I have come across using each of the methods I
have detailed in my previous section. I will cover what I have learned in each of the three cities
(Berlin, Madrid, and Len) I have visited for the purpose of this research, as well as the results that
I saw in the survey I posted online for a United States audience.
Survey of the News
Standard for Comparison
In order to be able to make comparisons between how German and Spanish media portray
certain news events differently, I found some outside news sources that were neither German nor
Spanish and used them as a standard to compare against. Some of the sources I read were BBC
news and the New York Times [15] [22]. The idea was that I would compare German and Spanish
news sources to those that were not directly invested into what happens in the German and
Spanish agreement and be able to pin point biases in this way.
GermanyIn Germany, the main news sources I analyzed was the Spiegel since that is by
far the most popular and well-read newspaper, but I also read articles from the Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung, described to me as a conservative-liberal daily newspaper centered in
Frankfurt.
In general, I found it hard to find specific news articles covering the developments of the
German and Spanish agreement (whether due to the fact those articles were written in German or
the Germans didnt feel like writing about Spain to begin with I dont know), but I did find

reactions to Germanys participation in trying to relive southern Europe from their economic
crisis. Of the articles that I did find, the articles in general tended to be suspicious, but not flat out
negative, about the benefits of the agreement to both Germans and Spaniards, including
ramifications of culture clashes, difficulties with integration, and practicality [20]. Other ones
suggest more drastic measures and propose that the southern European countries should be
dropped from the European Union completely [21].
SpainThe specific news sources I looked at in Spain were El Pas, El Mundo, and a
smaller one recommended to me called 20Minutos, which was described to me one of the free
newspapers to survive the crisis.
In Spanish news sources, one trend that I noticed immediately surfing around Spanish
news websites was that some of them had a tab under the news categories that said something
along the lines of Economic Crisis. These tabs were distinctly missing from the German sources I
had looked at, which tended to put things about the Eurozone and the crisis under either an
International or European category. Another thing I noticed about surfing the website of
Spanish websites was that if I were to search the term Alemn on the website of El Pas, for
example, I would get a lot of recent hits about articles that had been written with the mention of
Alemn. On a search I did on 23 July 2013, the first twenty hits were all within the same month
with the oldest being from 2 July 2013, and there were three hits with the name Merkel, who is
the current Chancellor of Germany. If I did the same to the Spiegel website and typed in Spain
(or Spanien in German), I get a total of two hits for recent news in the newspaper itself.23 In a
comparison between Spiegel and El Pas, both of which are very popular and very large
2
3

http://economia.elpais.com/buscador/ Typed in Alemn into this search on El Pas

http://www.spiegel.de/suche/index.html?suchbegriff=Spanien Search for Spanien on the Spiegel website

newspapers, finding news about Germany in the Spanish news sources was significantly easier
using El Pas than trying to find news about Spain in the Spiegel.
Presentations
Berlin
As an audience member for various presentations given by Humboldt University professors
Dr. Markus Heide, Dr. Viola B. Georgi, and Professor Rainer Ohliger, I was able to gain a historical
perspective on the development of German nationalism, as well as potentially how the German
and Spanish agreement could affect Germany.
From his presentation on an introduction to Germany history, I learned from Dr. Markus
Heide that for the longest time in Germany, nationalism was simply not a thing in Germany. In fact
it was frowned upon because the old definition of nationalism implied that to be German, one
had to have German blood. After the Holocaust, people tended to want to avoid using any sort of
blood logic, and so people disliked how nationalism implied blood communities. However, in 1989
when the Berlin wall came down, the concept of nationalism started rising in Germany once more.
Flags started becoming common symbols seen in the streets, and additionally winning the soccer
cup in the couple years after also brought up strong feelings of national identity all over the
country [11]. What is interesting about German nationalism today is that Germany has become a
diverse group of people, and so the definition has changed from a blood definition to arguably
what is a developing definition where all it takes to be German is a personal identification and
commitment to being a German.
As Dr. Viola B. Georgi put it in her presentation about Germany history and migration,
Germany is a developing immigrant country with already a long established history. One of the
consequences of this is an issue where immigrants in Germany have difficulties understanding the

German past of the Nazi regime and Holocaust. The lack of a personal background with these
topics not only makes it harder to identify as German, but also, in the context of schooling, makes
it harder for students in these history classes to stay engaged [12]. For me, this was an
introduction into only some of the issues people coming into Germany, including Spaniards, would
have to overcome in order to be smoothly integrated into German society.
On the other hand, Professor Rainer Ohligers presentation took a different point of view
and explored some of the prospects for immigrants in Germany, including the opportunities for
youth to come and join the German work force. As Ohliger explained it, youth has become a
commodity in Germany such that there is an imbalance in the workforce and a need for more
young people in Germany in order to support the growing old, retired population. As a result,
Germany needs immigrants to come join the work force and replace the youth generation that
currently does not exist, especially in the engineering fields. For Spanish people, immigrating
would be easycitizens from Spain are already citizens of the European Union, and they wont
need Visas or certificates to earn the right to stay in Germany. Of course, however, the difficulty
remains of having to teach all these young Spaniards the German language if they are to be able to
stay comfortably in Germany [13].
Madrid
In Madrid, we had the opportunity to attend a presentation by the Fundacin Internacional
Baltasar Garzn on the current 15 M movement in Spain. In this panel of presenters, we heard
from Stephane and Sofa, active members of the 15 M movement, and Christina, a teacher and
mother.
Talking to Stephane and Sofa, one of the things I learned about the 15 M movement was
that the birthplace of the movement was on the Internet. In fact, the first protest of 15,000 people

gathering in Puerta del Sol only gained popularity because of how it was documented and then
made publically accessible on the Internet. Even when the Spanish news media sources refused to
publish anything about the 15 M movement, the influence of the Internet triumphed such that it
didnt matter if the media didnt cover 15 M. Because of this, Stephane described that the popular
15 M information sources actually became more relevant than the media. In addition, Sofa said
that if people didnt know how to proceed with the movement in person, the demonstration went
to the social networks. She also said that because the Internet is so popular, it is very difficult to
ignore what is happening so the Spanish government will have to listen to the people [14]. In this
way, the Internet plays the role as the meeting place and bulletin board for the organization of this
large and active protest.
Another person who was interesting to hear from in Madrid was Christina, a mother and
teacher who was also on the panel for the Fundacin Internacional Baltasar Garzn. What I
learned from her was a more personal account on how the failing economy has affected her career
and her own children. For one, she told us that because of how Spain has recently always [been]
with an unstable government, every change in the government has ultimately reflected in a
change in the schooling system, which has been bothersome for her as a teacher. Ultimately
education is the keyno matter a persons socio-economical background, education is what lets
youth reach the next level. However, education is slowly changingeveryone is learning
German so she says. As I later found out, Christinas own daughter, a neurobiologist, is actually
studying and working abroad because of how there are really no jobs in Spain. As Christina put it,
if [my daughter] came back, shed be doing nothing! [14]. I later find out that countries such as
Germany have actually set up employment offices in Madrid specifically for the purpose of hiring
Spaniards, specifically Spanish engineers [14].

Len
In Len, we had the pleasure of listening to a presentation given by a professor who gave us
an overview of popular media sources for information about the Eurozone crisis in Spain. He used
a Symbaloo website that he had prepared for the purpose of giving us information about the 15 M
movement and the Eurozone crisis, screen shot of which is included in Appendix 3. One of the
sources that he presented to us was a Wikipedia page titled Crisis espaola de 2008-2013, which
I found interesting to look at because not only was it long and informative, but ultimately there
could have been multiple and many people writing this article together since it is on Wikipedia.
This leads me to hypothesize that it potentially holds the outlook on the crisis from a larger
audiences point of view. Of course, there are also personal blogs all over that cover the crisis,
including one specific one that the professor mentioned, elblogdenadie.com or The blog of no
one. This blog is run by an anonymous person in Len and openly ridicules the governments use
of money. For instance, the government spent a lot of money on an international airport in Len
that is now rarely used, which, the blog writer claims, was a waste of money. Of course, in addition
to standard newspaper sources, this presentation gave me an idea of the wide spectrum of sources
in which people could learn about the crisis in the media [15].
Personal Interviews
Berlin
In my conversations with Mr. X, a former unemployed man in Berlin, I gained insight to the
sorts of things migrants and people looking for jobs in Germany could expect. His experience was
that he has worked for a career center in Berlin before and has been through the process of having
once been employed to now being employed. So first and foremost, I learned there are two
different divisions to the job center. There is division #1, which is for people who have worked

previously and paid into unemployed insurance in Germany, and #2, which is basically for
everyone else who doesnt apply for #1, including graduates fresh out of college, heavily disabled
people, and legal immigrants. According to Mr. X, the benefits he received as someone in the #2
category were actually pretty good. On average he was given 50 Euros more to live off of than
what he had when he was a college student. However, the expectation is that those unemployed
and living off these benefits were expected to do all possible to get a job as soon as possible. Not
only did the job center require that you keep applying for jobs and come in for application training
courses, but in general there tends to be a negative stigmatism against those who are taking
unemployment benefits in Germany. People in general will look down on you, which is why he felt
he had to try and become employed as soon as possible. With the development of the new German
and Spanish agreement, there have been changes in the unemployment benefits such that
immigrants will have to go through a 3 month punishment before they can apply for #2 benefits.
In addition, their local job center at home will have to agree to let them come to Germany in the
first place. If people come to Germany via an agreement to complete vocational training however,
the situation is then slightly different because then they are technically under the employment of
their sponsoring company so they wouldnt qualify for benefits. Mr. X also affirmed the idea that I
had gotten from talking to various other professors in Germany as well that, in general, he doesnt
see people in Germany seeing any problem with letting more Spaniards in, at least in Berlin [16].
Madrid
I got to talk to a sociologist in Madrid over dinner, and she mentioned something that I
thought was really interesting. Spanish people have very strong feelings of family and belonging,
and so she thought that if a person was offered an opportunity to travel to Germany to study and
work, it might not be the top choice of a Spaniard to take that opportunity. The other major

language barrier is the language, of course, and apparently since the 1960s Spanish people have
been going to Germany anyways to do small jobs such as construction, housework, plumbing,
contractor business etc. But the recent new development is for university students, and at least in
the university populations, the news of the recent collaboration is really well known. The change
is that the collaboration allows for people in engineering and with college degrees to go to
Germany, and this may resound badly among the Germans, who, as viewed by the Spanish, are
stricter in general. There is also the prestige issue if more Spaniards were to take jobs in
Germany, that means less Germans could hold these positions of prestige, and Spanish people
would, in a sense, hold the power and large positions in Germany. With regards to culture clashes
between the two nationalities, the sociologist said Spanish people are very much more community
and family oriented. They are also more relaxed, enjoy life, and not as uptight all the time. They
keep close contact with their families, even keeping in contact after going well into adulthood. In
summary, the value of family may be a factor why a Spaniard would choose not to take a job in
Germany even if they are unemployed in Spain [17].
Len
In Len, one of the most valuable conversations I had was with a German language teacher
in at the Len Language Center because she was able to tell me about her students learning
German as well as what shes experienced in terms of the differences between living in Germany
and living in Spain. Her story is that she is from northern Germany and went to university in
Denmark, majoring in International Business. After she graduated, she needed a job, so she took
her current job teaching German at the Len Language Center two years ago, just when learning
German was starting to get hot. Over the years, she has most definitely felt an increase in the
demand to learn German in Len. The first semester she taught, she apparently only had 2 classes.

The next semester she increased to 4 classes, and by the next she had 7 classes. She told me she
knows that a lot of students are in her class for job preparation because she asks them at the
beginning of every class why they are learning German. She also told me that she gets a lot of
engineering students because its common knowledge that there is a need for engineers in
Germany, and they want to be able to get a job there. When I asked her about whether or not its
been hard for her students to learn German, she said for this generation its not that hard
because they already have to learn English and other languages anyways, so they have had the
time to get used to learning languages. When I asked her about what sorts of cultural barriers
besides the language Spanish students might encounter in Germany, she said one big thing:
Spanish are not punctual...Germans are usually always on time, if not early, and this might be an
issue [18]. I talked to two young people I met in Len, and in a side conversation they seemed to
reflect also the same sort of mindset. Germans are successful, they said, theyre not as lazy as us
[19].
Berlin and Len Surveys
Humboldt University in Berlin
At Humboldt University, we got to hand out a total of 36 surveys, of which I got back 30
responses to my questions, numbers 6-9 on our group survey. To question 6, a total of 34 people
responded with 15 saying YES they knew about the agreement and 12 indicating in question 7
they had learned through some sort of news media form. For questions 8 and 9, I then categorized
these responses into people that had positive reactions and thoughts regarding the German and
Spanish agreement, those that had negative reactions, and a third category I had to create for the
German group which was basically for those with a mixed and/or neutral response. I found that in
my responses, 8 out of 30 responded saying the Spanish and German agreement was generally

positive. One quote that summarized the general trend I saw among these responses was the
following: I was positively surprised. I think Europe European countries should help each other
more anyways! In the negative group, I had 12 out of 30 responses, and two of the general types
of responses are reflected in the following two quotes:
I imagine it won't do Spain any good. Should people with education leave the country?
How would that effect the economy? Not so positively I guess
I also fear that this may enhance the ego and intolerance toward foreigners in socially
and economically weak areas, which is quite infortunate regarding previous German
history.
In the third category, a lot of responses said that they thought the agreement could be good, but
they also pointed out potential drawbacks in the agreements plans, which complicated their
answer and made it hard for me to categorize them. In this end, there were enough of these types
of answers I made them their own category. One such response that I got was the following:
I have controversial thoughts about it: on the one hand I felt like jobs offers are taken
away from actual inhabitants, but then again so little people want to go in parts of the
direction that some companies have a definite need of workers, so I guess that's good!
Len Language Center in Len
In Len, I handed out the survey to two different groups of people22 students (I got 18
responses) who were taking English language classes, and 6 students (6 responses) who were
taking German language classes. To question 6, a total of 26 people responded with 17 saying YES
they knew about the agreement and 15 indicating in question 7 they had learned through some
sort of news media form. Out of the English class responses for questions 8 and 9, I got 10 out of
18 responses saying that the agreement was a positive thing. I even got one student who

responded to me saying I am trying to get a new job in Germany as soon as possible because I am
unemployed nowadays. Although this certainly wasnt the norm quote, there was a general
consensus that the agreement was a good thing because it offered Spanish people jobs and the
chance to work abroad. However, 4 out of 18 did respond saying they felt the agreement was
negative. Most of the responses reflected much suspicion and said things like, Me parece un
engao. Se va gente muy preparada a Alemania con unas condiciones no muy buenas (Translated:
I think its a hoax. Highly prepared people are going to Germany with not very good conditions.).
In the German class, 5 out of 6 of the responses said that they thought the agreement
between Germany and Spain was positive, and one response seemed unsure because while they
responded saying they thought it was good news, their response continued on to emphasize how
there are still difficulties and hurdles that Spanish people would have to overcome in order to
integrate smoothly into the German work force. One other thing to note about the 6 German
language responses was that only 3 out of these 6 responses actually knew about the German and
Spanish agreement to begin with. After finding this out, I then wondered why these Spanish
students would choose to take German classes over the summer in the first place, and the
response I got was generally this: Globalization is important, learning languages, meet new
peoplethose enrich us as humans. In other words, these students were there to learn German
for the sake of just learning a new language, not necessarily for preparation for a job in Germany.
United States Survey
On the survey I posted online for my Facebook friends in the United States, I got 12
responses, and only 2 of these responded that they knew about the recent agreement between
Germany and Spain. These two were a Spanish/Geography and a European Studies major
respectively, and so for me it would make sense that these individuals knew about the agreement.

It also made sense to me that very few people in the US sample that I heard from knew about the
agreement as well because, just judging from my own experience, this type of agreement isnt one
that would be normally covered in the local news unless people actively went out and looked for it
themselves. On the question in which I asked them what their response was to learning about the
news and if they felt this matter was important for people in the United States to know, the
answers were generally yes, but with a tone of indifference. One typical response I got was the
following: First response is that it seems to be a nice agreement, but it does not seem to affect me
very much.
With regards to the second question I asked them asking what their opinions were on a
policy that would help Spanish go to Germany and a policy that would allow more Mexicans and
Canadians into the United States work force, I again got generally positive responses, but many of
them also reflected either tones of indifference or an acknowledgement on the lack of knowledge
surrounding the issues. Just to illustrate, a list of some of the quotes included in this category is
shown below:
I think all of those are good ideas. If one country is flourishing, it can be beneficial to them
and the struggling country to share jobs.
Sounds fine to me...
I don't have a strong opinion for either of the two questions. In general, though, I feel that
it would be better to let more people join the workforce (legally).
CONCLUSION
All in all, my conclusions about the role of the media in Germany are hard to make because
my data sample size is so small, but out of the 34 answers I got, a total of 15 people said YES they
knew about the agreement, and the majority of these people, 12 students, said they learned this

news from some sort of media, whether it be television, news (both paper form and online), social
media, or the radio. While it seems that yes, the majority of people that do know about the
agreement did learn though forms of media, the media seemed to reach only less than half of the
total sample size. In Spain out of a total of 26 people, 17 responded YES to knowing about the
agreement and 15 of these people said they learned through some form of media. It would appear
to me that in both countries, the media is the most popular form of learning information for those
who do choose to be aware of current events. Additionally, the media about this news seems to be
reaching comparatively more Spaniards on average than Germans. However, my sample sizes
make it hard to make complete conclusions on this matter.
In an analysis of my data, I came up with one overarching conclusion. I found that in both
the media and the conversations with people I have talked to, people tended to bring up questions
about the Spanish and German agreement oftentimes using a logic that reflects national ideas and
terminology. What I mean by this is, for example, some of the responses I received from German
students and professors included hints at the idea the vocational system and jobs in Germany are
inherently German, and so therefore having Spanish people come into the system is a disruption
and potential source of negative effects. The fear is that Spanish people would come in and be
taking away jobs meant for German people. Other German accounts worried that if more Spanish
people were to immigrate to Germany, the Spanish would be the targets of discrimination and
segregation simply because of who they are and the fact they are not German. In Spain, those
who consider the situation at the national level tended to reflect opinions that said something
along the lines of Spain should be left to solve Spains own problem. People were sometimes
suspicious of Germanys motives for sharing their jobs and vocational training and thought that
moving people outside of Spain in order to get jobs was not the solution. Those from Germany ,

Spain, and the United States who looked more holistically on the situation brought up the problem
of brain drain several times and how the migration of those who are qualified in Spain to other
countries could potentially hurt Spain as a whole.
Conversely, this is not to say that there were not people who gave me an account of their
opinions on the matter focusing only on personal and familial benefits. In Germany, some of the
opinions that looked at the German and Spanish agreement with a positive light recognized the
fact some Spanish people are in need for a job to support themselves and their families, and said
that the benefits would be to let those in Spain who really need jobs be able to get them. These
people were the ones who also said that they wouldnt mind letting Spanish people into the
German job market if Germany has a need for the types of workers they would be able to get from
Spain anyways. From the other side of things, some Spanish people also reflected a similar opinion
and said it doesnt matter to them that the jobs are in Germanythey would prioritize getting a
job and coming out of unemployment even if it meant moving to another country and having to
learn another countrys language and culture. My survey of a small audience from the United
States showed that people from the United States in general dont see themselves as having a
personal stake in this particular agreement. Oftentimes, the opinions regarding the agreement
were of indifference but reflected positive views that the two countries were at least trying to do
something to relieve youth employment.
As a result, if we examine these two ways of looking at the situationone that tends to
view the situation with the interests of the individual and/or a family and the other which tends to
view the situation on the national and global scaleit would seem that these two opinions are in
conflict with each other. On the other hand, there are clear benefits from the agreement to those
who need a job either to support their lives or are looking for personal development abroad. It is

for the very reason that these people would be going to another country, however, that people
who are taking into account the welfare of the nation and long-term ramifications oppose the
agreement. From this, I infer that personal and private interests are in conflict with national and
largely public interests, and this is the root to why the German and Spanish agreement has been
seen as controversial and questionable in both German and Spanish populations.
Group Conclusion:
In conclusion, our group has come up with a schematic to try and explain how educational
choices made at the early stages are influenced by outside factors. First, the structures of the
educational systems in Germany and Spain lead students to have to consider why getting a
university education may be important for them either personally, professionally, or financially. In
addition, the questions as to whether or not a student should choose to study one of the STEM
subjects is a process that students generally have to weigh the same interests in order to reach a
decision. Of these influential factors, we found that the economic situations and current job
markets in each country had a significant effect on the choices students made during their
educational years. This led into an exploration as to how the economy and job market could affect
a students decision, which ultimately led to the idea that it is the peoples perceptions of the
situations as portrayed by the popular news sources, namely the Internet and other media, that
helps to influence this decision. From here, we gathered some data as to what some of the
perceptions were revolving an important event in the newsnamely the recent German and
Spanish agreement to try and relieve the job crisisand tried to understand what values people
on both sides felt were at stake.
CULTURAL SENSITIVITY

My bias in this project is that, being a teenage Bioengineering student living in the United
States, I have limited knowledge of both German and Spanish culture. I may have brought over
opinions or perceptions on things that do not match up with the local understanding of the same
thing. I know I have my own ideas of what I think of when I think of nationalism and being a
citizen to ones country, and when exploring this idea in European countries I had to be careful to
not judge them by my own standards and rather to learn from their point of views what they think
each of these things are. In addition, I make the assumption that technology and social media are
perceived in more or less the same way among youth in Germany and Spain compared to youth in
the States, but in actuality I have gained only a little insight as to what their use of the media and
reactions to things they see on the Internet are. However, I am ultimately an outsider looking into
the current situation in the Eurozone and, therefore, mostly free to study the acclaimed economic
crisis without feeling as personally attached or affected by what I have learned as those in either
country.
Throughout the process, I guess I can say that the biggest surprise was learning how
difficult it was to get the information I wanted. The biggest limitations were by far the amount of
time given to us (you would think five weeks is a long time but it really isnt) and various language
barriers in both written and verbal form. It was great to be able to survey as many students as we
did in both Berlin and Len, but with our data lacking the opinions of German STEM students and
non-summer class students in Len, we cannot fairly say that our data samples were neither
accurate nor representative of the general university student bodies in either city. Also, Im sure
my limitation in being only able to read articles from German newspapers that were written in
English and only somewhat understand those from Spanish newspapers written in Spanish could
have skewed my perception of the news in my analysis. Doing research in these other countries

where I dont entirely understand everything is hard, and I really do owe it to those I met in both
countries that took the time and patience to help and teach me so that I could begin to understand
the situations in both Germany and Spain.
For me, my main interest in this research project was to explore what sorts of influences
are affecting people in deciding whether or not to pursue an education in STEM because, I know at
least for me personally, I did not discover Bioengineering as a discipline until I had completed well
over a year in college. It was also of interest to me to study the effects of media and how people
are reacting to things they learn about in the media, especially since being exposed to media and
information technology is almost inevitable in todays day and age. From here on, numerous
people and I both foresee that technology will only proceed to become more and more prevalent
in human lives, and therefore I find it important to begin to understand how exactly technology is
affecting us and what ramifications and changes in society will happen as a result of this.
From a group project point of view, I really enjoyed how I was able to explore with a group
an almost complete narrative starting from how students make the decision to pursue higher
education to what sorts of values were taken into account to make these sorts of decisions. It
helped me to understand how research is very much a collaboration between many individuals
each studying a specific thing and then coming together to piece their results in order to gain a
more holistic understanding. I have also greatly broadened my understanding of what research in
the humanities and social sciences fields is like. As a Bioengineering major, I value the fact I have
been given the opportunity to do research in a field completely unrelated to my major and will
take my insight and what I know with me as I continue my university career.

APPENDIX
1. Copies of the survey given to the German and Spanish university students
German version
Student Survey. Participation is optional. Thank you for your time!
Die Teilnahme ist freiwillig. Vielen Dank fr Ihre Zeit!
Age Alter: _______
Gender:
Major Studienhauptfach: __________________________
1. How strongly did each of the following factors affect your decision about choice of major? Wie stark hat jeder der folgenden Faktoren
Deine Entscheidung ber die Wahl des Studienhauptfachs beeinflut?
Weak Schwach
Moderate Mig
Strong Starke
Family Familie
1
2
3
4
5
Economy (job market)
1
2
3
4
5
Wirtschaft (Arbeitsmarkt)
Secondary Education
1
2
3
4
5
Gymnasium/Oberschule
Media Medien
Personal Values
Persnlichen Werte

1
1

2
2

3
3

4
4

5
5

Personal Interest
Persnliches Interesse

Social Benefits
Sozialer Status

Other: ____________
1
2
3
4
5
Andere
2. In your opinion, what is the purpose of a university? (Rank in the order of importance) Deiner Meinung nach, was ist der Zweck einer
Universitt? (Rang in der Reihenfolge ihrer Wichtigkeit)
Job preparation Vorbereitung fr den Beruf
Personal development Persnliche Entwicklung
Prestige Prestige
Other Andere: _______________________
3. Does the fact that there is a higher demand for technical/engineering jobs make you consider those fields more than you would if all fields
had the same job prospects? Why or why not? Hat die Tatsache, dass es eine hhere Nachfrage auf dem Arbeitsmarkt nach technischen
/engineering Jobs gibt, einen Einfluss darauf, dass Du diese Arbeitsfelder mehr in Betracht ziehen wrdest, als wenn alle Arbeitsfelder die
selben Berufsaussichten htten ? Warum oder warum nicht?
4. (Circle one) The media portrays the current German economic situation relating to youth employment and unemployment Die Medien
portrtiert die aktuelle deutsche Wirtschaftslage in Bezug auf die Beschftigung von Jugendlichen und die Arbeitslosigkeit wie folgend:
Positively
somewhat positively
somewhat negatively
negatively
positiv
etwas positiv
etwas negativ
negativ
5. (Circle one) The government and school system encourage me to study the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields. Werde
ich durch den Staat und durch das Schulsystem ermutigt, Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaften und Technik zu studieren?
strongly agree
somewhat agree
neutral
somewhat disagree strongly disagree
stimme
stimme eher zu
neutral
eher nicht
auf keinen Fall
6. Do you know about the recent agreement between Germany and Spain to offer Spanish people vocational training and/or jobs in
Germany? Kennst Du die jngste Vereinbarung zwischen Deutschland und Spanien, die jungen Spaniern und Spanierinnen eine Berufsausbildung
oder Arbeitspltze in Deutschland vermittelt?
(Circle one)
YES
NO
Ja
No
7. If yes to the above question: how did you learn about this news? Circle all that apply. Wenn ja auf die obige Frage: Wie hast Du von dieser
Nachricht erfahren? Zutreffendes bitte umkreisen.
Television
Fernsehen
Radio Radio
Paper news
Zeitung
News online
Nachrichten Online/Zeitung Online
Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Soziale Medien (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

Word of mouth Mundpropaganda

Job Center / Career Services
Other Andere : _______________________________________
8. What were your first reactions to learning about this news? Wie war Deine erste Reaktionen ber diese Nachricht?
9. If you didnt know about this agreement: how do you feel about a policy that would make it easier for more Spanish people to join the
German work force? Wenn Du nichts ber diese Vereinbarung wusstet: Wie denkst Du ber eine Politik, die es einfacher machen wird fr
Spanier, auf den deutschen Arbeitsmarkt zu kommen?
10. Other comments/thoughts Andere Kommentare / Gedanken

Spanish version
Student Survey. Participation is optional. Thank you for your time!
Encuesta para estudiantes. La participacin es opcional. Gracias por su tiempo!
Age Edad: _______

Gender Sexo:

Major rea de estudio en la universidad: __________________________

1. How strongly did each of the following factors affect your decision about choice of major? Con qu firmeza hizo cada uno de los
siguientes factores influyen en su decisin sobre la eleccin de la especialidad?
Weak Dbil
Moderate Moderado
Strong Fuerte
Family Familia
1
2
3
4
5
Economy (job market)
1
2
3
4
5
Economa (Mercado de trabajo)
Secondary Education
1
2
3
4
5
Enseanza media
Media
1
2
3
4
5
Medios de comunicacin
Personal Values
1
2
3
4
5
Los valores personales
Personal Interest
1
2
3
4
5
Inters personal
Social Status
1
2
3
4
5
Posicin social
Other: ______________
1
2
3
4
5
Otro
2. In your opinion, what is the purpose of a university? (Rank in the order of importance) En su opinin, cul es el propsito de una
universidad? (Posicin en el orden de importancia)
Job preparation Preparacin para el empleo
Personal development Desarrollo personal
Prestige Prestigio
Other Otro: _______________________
3. Does the fact that there is a higher demand for technical/engineering jobs make you consider those fields more than you would if all fields
had the same job prospects? Why or why not? El hecho de que hay una mayor demanda de puestos de trabajo / tcnicas de ingeniera
hacen que considere los campos ms de lo que si todos los campos tenan las mismas posibilidades de trabajo? Por qu o por qu no?
4. (Circle one) The media portrays the current Spanish economic situation relating to youth employment and unemployment: (Marque uno)
Los medios de comunicacin retratan la actual situacin econmica de Espaa en relacin con el empleo juvenil y el desempleo:
positively
somewhat positively
somewhat negatively
negatively
afirmativamente
algo positivo
algo negativo
negativamente
5. (Circle one) The school system encouraged me to study the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields. El sistema escolar me
anim a estudiar Ciencia, Tecnologa, Ingeniera, Matemticas.
strongly agree
somewhat agree
neutral
somewhat disagree strongly disagree
muy de acuerdo
algo de acuerdo
ni acuerdo ni desacuerdo algo en desacuerdo muy en desacuerdo
6. Do you know about the recent agreement between Germany and Spain to offer Spanish people vocational training and/or jobs in
Germany? Usted sabe sobre el reciente acuerdo entre Alemania y Espaa para ofrecer a los espaoles la formacin profesional y / o puestos
de trabajo en Alemania?
(Circle one)
YES
NO

No

7. If yes to the above question: how did you learn about this news? Circle all that apply. Si la respuesta a la pregunta anterior: Cmo se
enter de esta noticia? Encierra en un crculo todos los que apliquen
Television
Televisin
Radio Radio
Paper news
Peridicos (en papel)
News online
Peridicos (en lnea)
Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Redes Sociales (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
Word of mouth
Boca a boca
Job Center / Career Services Centro de Trabajo / Servicio de Carreras Profesionales
Other Otro : _______________________________________
8. What were your first reactions to learning about this news? Cul fue su primera reaccin sobre este mensaje?
9. If you didnt know about this agreement: how do you feel about a policy that would make it easier for more Spanish people to join the
German work force Si usted no saba nada sobre este acuerdo: Cmo te sientes acerca de una poltica que har que sea ms fcil para los
espaoles que llegan al mercado laboral alemn?
10. Other comments/thoughts Otros comentarios / pensamientos

2. Screenshots of online survey posted to my personal Facebook page geared for an

American survey audience. The survey was created using Google Forms.

3. Symbaloo webpage presented to us in one of the presentations in Len.

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