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xv Demographic change in Europe can be described accurately with three key terms: fewer, older, more diverse. According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, the number of people aged fifteen to sixtyfour in the European Union will decline by 50 million between now and 2050 and those sixty-five and older will increase by around 60 million (while the EU’s overall population is estimated to fall to 450 million). Although immigration and family policies might mitigate this shift, it cannot be stopped. A response of defeatism, however, would be misplaced. Rather, it is important to acknowledge that this change has advantages as well as disadvantages and to learn how to deal with them most effectively. But that is precisely where we fall short. In recent decades, Europe has become more “colorful” in terms of the ethnic origins, languages, religions, and cultural traditions of different population groups. In Germany alone, according to the Federal Statistical Office, one in five residents is a so-called person of migrant background, that is, according to the official definition, all those who have immigrated to the Federal Republic of Germany as well as all persons born in Germany without German nationality and all persons born in Germany with German nationality but with at least one parent who had immigrated to Germany or who was born there as a foreigner. Among children up to age six, one in three now has a non-German origin or mother tongue. But this diversity has not been associated with equality of opportunity , understood as providing each individual with the supports needed to develop his or her potential. To the contrary, social and ethnic origin still strongly determines the chances young people have at school and their transition into the labor market. A study by the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB), commissioned by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, found that the upper reaches of German society are much less permeable Foreword xvi    Foreword than in almost any other industrialized country. Less than 1 percent of adolescents whose fathers are laborers will have the chance to enter an executive position. While this dilemma affects everyone, it has a particular impact on children in families with a non-German origin. Against the backdrop of the Enlightenment and its call for equal opportunity, it is harmful for a democracy to exclude a significant share of its population from social advancement because of its origins. Education and the ability to acquire new knowledge now, more than ever, decide individual life chances. Although many unskilled and semiskilled workers, including many immigrants and so-called guest workers, could enter the labor market during the 1960s and 1970s, rationalization, automation, and the shift from an industrial to a service- and knowledgebased economy have since eliminated these jobs. This is the new context in which the integration of migrants and their descendants is taking place. Especially in an older and shrinking society, we are more dependent than ever on enabling each individual to maximize his or her talents and abilities. Because we face the threat of a massive shortage of skilled and educated people—and also a homemade lack of innovation and creativity—our aging societies cannot afford to exclude or willfully withhold opportunities from a significant portion of the population. But that is exactly what is happening to many children and young people of non-native origins. The OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has found that one in five of Germany’s fifteen-year-olds, including many whose mother tongue is not German, cannot meet the minimum standards for successful entry into professional training. Educational attainment is associated with social background in every society, but this nexus is stronger in Germany than in any other OECD country. Migration research tells us that members of some national-origin groups do better than others in any given social environment and it also shows consistent differences across national settings for any given group. It is well known that the United States is much more at ease with the notion of assimilation, while the debate centers on integration in Europe. It is striking that migrants and their descendants in North America find it easy to feel American without neglecting or denying their connections with their familial country of origin. Neither Germany nor Europe has come to accept the concept of hyphenated identities to the same degree. Furthermore, religion plays a different role on the two sides of the Atlantic . The United States is a comparatively...

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