Average Students need not apply. Swiss High Schools admit only brightest 20%

80% of Swiss secondary Students do not qualify for Gymnasium (High School). Only the top 20% with highest IQ pass stringent selection, testing and a half year High School trial period.  Swiss High Schools proudly restrict High School to those students considered a worthy investment for University study.

Schweizer BildungssystemSwiss IQ researcher worries that 1/3 of High School students have IQ of under 112.5 and should be at the High School. Switzerland expects a return on the high investment of schooling students up to University Graduation. To say it very Un-PC:

Swiss proudly restrict High School to top 20%,
(top 18% in Zürich)
keep dumb students out of High School and College

Those 80% deemed unfit to successfully finish demanding Universities are steered towards “lesser” schools,  a 3-4 year apprenticeship (Berufslehre) and possibly professional colleges. Swiss salaries are among the highest in the world, and Swiss have a highly qualified work force.

1/3 of High School Students too Dumb for High School [German][English Translation]

“In Switzerland some kids in High School don’t belong there because they have only average Intelligence”, says IQ researcher Elsbeth Stern in the “Tages-Anzeiger”. She has tested the IQ at several high schools and calculated that many students do not reach the theoretical minimum IQ of 112.6.

More than a third of the students flunked the test. “You have to look carefully, who goes on the academic track,” says Stern.  “For he who seeks an academic career later, later will have problems.”

For comparison, the USA: