Vitaliy wrote:

>> I didn't understand where you were trying to get at with your comment in
>> this context. I don't think the flow from GDR to FDR had anything to do
>> with education quality on either side of the border.
> 
> I remembered watching a program a long long time ago (I don't even remember 
> what its main theme was), and in one of the episodes it was said that the 
> East Germans felt it was unfair for people to get free education there, and 
> then leave East Germany to seek employment in the West.

Right, that's what they said on occasion. But while this may have been one
of the reasons to close the border, it was never a reason for leaving the
GDR or the FDR (at least not that I know of). Besides, this has nothing to
do with the education in the FDR -- neither in price (free there too) nor
quality (I can't compare, but neither could they :). It's just a "we want
our guys working here, and end of story" type thing. 

BTW, this is the same with every emigrant: you get something from a country
while you're young, and then spend your productive years somewhere else.
Following that crooked logic, nobody should be allowed to leave their
country, state, county, town, family... as everybody got some "investment"
from (some of) these institutions when young. 

Then there's of course the question what free education they were talking
about when they closed the border before 1950... Free lessons how to scrub
Russian tanks? :)

Gerhard

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