gymnasium than boys. Very few pupils who did poorly in standardised tests in the fourth grade were admitted to gymnasium. However, those who were, were able to improve their performance in those tests in subsequent years. Even after testing performance in grade four, those who were admitted to gymnasium outperformed their peers who were not at grade six Study by the University of Mainz A study by the University of Mainz revealed that of all children living in the city of Wiesbaden, 81% of children from the upper social classes and only 14% percent of working-class children received a letter of recommendation from their teachers. It also showed that only 76% of working-class children whose grades placed them at the top of the class, as well as 91% of children from the upper social classes in the same situation received a recommendation. The big-fish-little-pond effect According to scientists Joachim Tiedemann and Elfriede Billmann-Mahecha, there was a big-fish-little-pond effect. Children were more likely to have their teacher write a letter of recommendation if the remainder of their primary school class was not too bright. They stated, A high share of students with above-average academic achievement, cognitive abilities and achievement-oriented parents actually decreases students’ chances of getting into higher educational tracks (Realschule and gymnasium instead of Hauptschule). Are children with immigration backgrounds discriminated against? According to the same study, they are not. The researchers stated, After controlling for individual students' competencies, e.g. their cognitive abilities, the common assumption that children with immigration backgrounds are disadvantaged could not be confirmed. Even a high proportion of children in a class who do not speak German as a family language does not induce adverse results in recommendations. Do gymnasia help working-class students catch up with their middle-class peers? In 2003, a study revealed that lower-class and working-class children attending a comprehensive school lagged behind their less disadvantaged peers in terms of mathematical abilities. The same study revealed that working- and lower-class children attending gymnasium nearly caught up to their peers attending the same school. However, special care must be taken in interpreting the data, since lower- and working-class children admitted to gymnasium may be different from other pupils in their class ab initio. Does gymnasium matter after all? A study done by Helmut Fend revealed that gymnasium may not matter as much as is generally perceived. According to the study, parents' social class, not schooling,