"Learning years aren't earning years," according to an old German proverb. Many apprentices have plenty of experience of that: getting up at the crack of dawn for three years, working in factories or on construction sites, studying theory at vocational school - and all for low wages.

Germany's dual vocational education system makes demands on trainees, but it also has plenty to offer, and more and more university dropouts value it as an alternative. A report by Kilian Schütze-Alinsky.