Well, school systems in Germany changed so often in the last decade that it is really hard to say anything about anything. We used to have a three-school-split. A level students went to the "Gymnasium" (13 years) and graduated with the Abitur. Only they could enter the university. B level students went to the "Realschule" (10 years) and C level to the socalled "Hauptschule" (9 years). Real- and Hauptschule were for students who later wanted to enter a vocational school. I thought it was a pretty good system and I always thought I got a pretty good education too. The problem was that there were many problems in the Realschule and Hauptschule system, lots of students who quit school and integration problems with students from other countries. Also after the reunification they started to reduce the Gymnasium from 13 years to 12 years, but without reducing the hours, so students were put under a lot of extra pressure.

Nowadays, there are a lot of "Gesamtschulen" which include students from all levels, but (I think) you can choose different levels of classes... or so. One problem is that they try so many new things without anyone really knowing where to go. They try one thing and without trying it through to the end, they seem to panic in the middle and try something other. I only have a tiny view into those crazy systems because of my mom's godchildren who are all still in school and who moan about confusing systems.

And yes, sometimes things get "improved" simply because they "can", not because they "have to be.