Just Another Day . . . With Germans

This week has gone so slowly! I'm glad Wednesday is almost over. Thursday and Friday fly by. I have to be really intentional about working on my thesis this weekend though. I planned on using my free Fridays to research and write. I haven't been very good about that yet, but really, last Friday was the first one of the semester, so I can't feel too guilty. I just found out today that the deadline is mid-March, not mid-May. I really have to crank it up a notch and get on the ball with this. I think most people spend more than six weeks writing their Theses. I do have some work done, just not as much as I should. I meant to work on it over Winter Break, but could never get motivated. Excuses won't get me a degree though.

Today was just another day. I had class at 8am this morning. I only have 10 students enrolled for this section, so it's fun, and not too difficult to get them involved. I don't really know if they enjoy my classes as much as I do, but my evaluations have never been bad. I think teaching really appeals to my extroverted side. I just love being up in front of people, leading a discussion, telling stories, or just listening to their opinions and stories. I always leave class feeling energized, even at 8am.

By the time I got to my own class this afternoon, I was ready to crash. I enrolled in this class at the suggestion of my advisor. She said it would help me clarify some of the theories that I'm trying to refute in my own research. So far, I've been kind of bored. Today, we were talking about how people develop political attitudes and how those attitudes change over time. One of the books we're using is Russel Dalton's 2005 edition of Citizen Politics. He uses survey data to help determine people's political values in post-industrial countries; specifically the US, France, the UK, and Germany. I was surprised at the responses of Germans on many of the questions. For example, one of the survey items was a statement and respondents were supposed to agree or disagree with it. It said, "women need children in order to feel fulfilled." Only 46% of Germans disagreed with this statement (39% of French disagreed). Another question was about the importance of the government providing jobs for the unemployed. This wasn't really a priority for Germans, and my professor revealed why. Apparently, there's a law against firing employees. Once someone is hired, they can't be fired. They can quit, but the company cannot lay them off. The outcome, in one situation, was that a man was hired by a labor contracting company and immediately requested his six weeks of paid vacation. This is another benefit to German employees. The day he was supposed to start work after his 6 week paid vacation, the man called in sick. He said he was depressed and took another 6 weeks of paid sick leave (no limit on the number of sick days). After paying the man for three months and never getting a single day of work from him, the company tried to fire him. The man took them to court, which ruled that the company had to keep him on the payroll AND pay damages for attempting to fire him! I couldn't believe that. What an outrageous system!

A second example my professor gave was about an employee who embezelled $40,000 from the company. He was arrested, convicted, and spent a year in prison. Upon his release, he returned to the company wanting his job back. The company refused and he took them to court. Can you guess what they ruled? Amazing! The man got his job back! I just don't get it.

Maybe I shouldn't think it's as funny as all that, but I just couldn't believe my ears. Was it possible that a major world power treated its businesses so poorly and its workers so irresponsibly. There can't be any incentive to do a really good job. Maybe good employees get raises, but if you can't get rid of the losers, then what good is that? One of my colleagues suggested that every few years companies should just close down and then open up again with new employees. It's not that easy though. The professor then informed us that if a company closes or goes bankrupt, etc. and opens up in the same field of business as before, it must re-hire all its old employees!

This is the problem with social democracies. Of course there are some great advantages, national health care, free education, great maternity benefits. But the taxes are high and it must really suck to be a business owner. I can see how countries that are trying to get on their feet and establish a stable government and economy may need more government intervention to keep their people from getting trampled by globalization. But really, what business does a well established government have muddling in people's everyday lives like that? It's just a different way of running things, but I just can't see it working well for long. If that's what the people want from their state, then more power to them. I just really hope it's not a trend that picks up here in the US anytime soon. All I want from my government is protection from the fear of getting blown up on a daily basis. Now I realize, that it's not doing a hotdog job of that now, but I don't expect much. I also think some social issues are important for the government to address, like homelessness, the declining quality of education, clean air and water, and maintaining National Parks. Also, maintaining highways and interstate transportation is good. But really, the most important thing my government can do domestically, is make sure everyone has the freedom to say as they please, pursue their dream job, live in a neighborhood they like, and marry who they want. Really, is that so hard? A lot of that is not even up to the government. Racism is still prevalent, and the government can't do anything about changing people's minds and attitudes about who they like and don't like for whatever reason. I think that's a personal issue that starts at home. That's one thing we talked about in regards to political attitudes, is that they're passed down intergenerationally (and they're directly correlated with affluence). Duh! Sometimes political scientists (or social scientists in general) spend a lot of time stating the obvious. Attitudes are learned through socialization. And that is definately not up to the government.

I'll get off my soapbox now. I have to get back to work, because, here, I CAN get fired for being a crummy employee. Even though, 12 weeks of paid vacation and sick leave wouldn't be so bad.