Entscheidung fürs Lernen

A new building for the Halle district’s polytechnic raises the question of why some 20 percent of all East German girls leave school prematurely to work after 8th grade. Using interviews with teachers, parents and the schoolgirls themselves, the film explores whether “backward thinking” is the cause of that trend. Female workers at the Saxon machine factory point out how necessary theoretical knowledge is. What emerges from this report made up entirely of interviews is that East Germany’s new economic system of planning and management, and continued automation required “all-round educated persons”.