Education is the way to work and so to higher productivity. Demographic trends in Germany mean that there will be fewer school children in the future. But that shouldn’t be an excuse to cut back on education – it is important to create true equality of opportunity by making sure everyone can access high-quality education. Every schoolchild, whether their parents are academics or shop-workers, whether they come from Germany or abroad, should be able to access the education they need hold their own on the labour market. The school a child attends in Germany – whether a grammar school, a comprehensive school etc. – is still too good a predictor of that child’s background. That needs to change. Investing in education is investing in future generations.