Here are some statitics from NationMaster.

Tertiary Educational Attainment by Country -
US 37%
Belgium 27%
UK 26%
Switzerland 25%
France 23%
Germany 23%
Netherlands 22%
Italy 10%

Canada "wins" at 42% - good for them. The US is 2nd. The only European countries that make the top 10 are the Scandanavian countries, Ireland and Belgium. It seems difficult to reconcile these numbers with the argument that accessibility to higher education in Germany or France is comparable to that in the US. Perhaps I am missing something.

Kerouac's response may be simultaneously accurate and misleading. The "right" to attend vocational school is not equivalent to admission to a Grande Ecole.

Hi Linda ok i'll answer your original question.
If i would be given an opportunity to work in US, probably i would take it because it would be a different experience. (better or worse it doesn't matter). Of course i would want to live in a big nice city and not in some small village in the middle of nowhere! :-)

Also if I WAS a scientist or something major like an astrophysicist i would love to work in the US because i think i would have more opportunities to develop my science.

These are my reasons. Otherwise the best place in the world is where your beloved ones are!

(smueller with your last comment i understood your point! :-)

My friends cited work (film industry, finance, etc.) and weather as their reasons for moving out here.

When asked why they stay, many cite:

**America's open, optimistic spirit (few Americans would cut a foreigner down with sarcasm, while many Brits seem to consider it sport)

**The weather (I live in California)

**The opportunities (every artist with any ambition at all knows that America is, for now, the place you want to become known)

**National Public Radio (okay, maybe that's not a whole reason, but it really helps)

Then, once they come here, they open great restaurants and throw European-like parties which I attend to make me feel like I've moved to Europe. :-)

The grass is always greener!

"And 71% of us also disapprove of our current government's policies."

It is now 79% of Americans who disapporve of the job Bush is doing. Just one more year!!!!

Many Europeans like the US because of our National Parks, Monuments, etc. Whenever I visit Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Arches, Zion, etc., I always seem to meet a few Europeans.

"It is now 79% of Americans who disapporve of the job Bush is doing."

See - we're getting smarter all the time! (I'm counting the days, bardo1)

Is the Sorbonne a 'vocational school'? It certainly is not a 'Grande Ecole' but merely part of the University of Paris.

I would consider a Grande Ecole to be more or less on par with the reputation of places like M.I.T., Stanford or Harvard. A normal French university is simply on par with something like the University of Wisconsin, Alabama, Kansas or whatever -- but free.

This question reminds me of three young men who talked to me about America last summer when I was in Germany.

One was a young Turk I had met at a Goethe Institute. As I was waiting for my train to depart Schwäbisch Hall, he rather shyly sidled up to me and began to ask me questions about America--what kind of houses did people live in and how large were they, how much money did people make--those kinds of questions. Finally he asked me what was it that made New York so special. For him, America seemed to embody a better lifestyle.

Later, on the train, he was standing near me and I asked him if he spoke English--we'd been speaking German. A young man about 20, who was sitting across the aisle from me leaned over to talk to me. He spoke English with a strong German accent but was an American citizen because his father was an American soldier who had married a German girl and remained in Germany. His face absolutely glowed as he told me that he'd visited American relatives (in a small town in Missouri!) a couple of times and that after he finished his apprenticeship in carpentry, he wanted to return to live in the U.S. The thing that seemed to impress him so much was that "the people are so nice."

Still another young man--Brazilian, as I recall--had lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for a year when his father worked there. He wanted to return to live in the States--apparently because he liked Virginia Beach so much.

Of course, I also met a zillion people who didn't want to visit or live in the States. I'm just mentioning these because they all seemed to have different reasons for wanting to come to America.

But this whole thread reminds me of Robert Frost--"Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

Comfyshoes my kids did go cycling without me worrying about them. They had a lot of freedom as kids. My point was that they couldn't have done that if we had moved to Pasadena nearly so easily or safely. I have never regretted our decision not to go, inspite of lousy weather high taxes etc.
That said we have a Dutch friend who did go and thinks we are insane for choosing to live in Holland, rather than SoCal.
Everyone has multiple reasons for going or not. Getting rich and cheap real estate are not amongst them. New opportunities, adventure, the chance to live in another country without the hassle of learning too much of a new language are all things which do count for many.
People in Europe have a view of the US based on TV and films, and holidays in Florida. Those things make the US seem attractive to many.
For the weather and scenery I would move to New Mexico tomorrow, but for any other reasons than those - no I'll stay here.

>.. the death penalty has been abolished in Europe, and nobody has to worry about the execution of someone who may be innocent.<

Nor does a murderer have to worry about killing one or more additional persons.

((I))

With hindsight even Coventry seems more appealing! >>>>>>>

That settles it for me - if it's worse than Coventry then it must be pretty grim indeed.

"America is still a place where land is cheap and home ownership is real. As long as that is the case, people will come here."

Ha ha! This made coffee come out of my nose. I live in California, and not the hinterlands. Property is extremely expensive.

I can't imagine why a European would want to live here. I'd like to live in Canada too but cannot fathom the winters. So I plug along here, overworked, underpaid, beholden to both a mortgage and considerable student loan debt. But at least I don't need to own a coat.

dncdave- “Also, for those who attribute it to the climate, I hope the people in Chicago and New York won't get mad, but their weather is lousy,”

I thought it would be obvious that I meant the numerous southern states that don’t get long, cold winters. (See slangavar’s post.)

elina- Thanks, good to know.

Bloom

I am an American living in Europe. Many of my friends have lived in the US for the exact same reason that we live here: the job and adventure.

Personally, I think many of the Euros who would never live in the US should just for the experience and the same goes for those Americans who would never live in Europe! :)

IMO this should be moved to the forum, this is not offering helpful travel advice. Lets get back to travel talk. It's the human relationships that make life great, not necessarily the whereabouts.

My DH & I are Brits and have lived in the US for 13 years. We have been US citizens for 4 years and would never consider returning to the UK.
Our main reasons coincide with WillTravel's above: economic and personal opportunity, freedom and, most importantly, a different class structure. In the US you are classified by what you do and how you behave as opposed to where and to whom you were born. Because of this there is much more opportunity to work hard and progress on the basis of your own merits. Hence I feel much more freedom here.(I am speaking only as a WASP; I'm sure it is much harder as a minority).
I also feel safer here! The chances of being targetted for crime are much smaller and I have much more confidence in American cops to respond appropriately if needed.
Of course there are things I don't like about the US.....the health system being the main one (what a shambles!) and the bland food (yes, really!) Also I may think differently if I had kids....not that I don't like the education system, but more that the social pressures on kids here seem much more extreme.
Overall though, I just feel more "at home" in the US than I ever did in the UK.

I'll have a go, being European. I have to preface this with the fact that I have not yet visited America, and haveno first hand knowledge. My preconceptions are based on my Sister living in the US for 3 years.

For me the pros would be the adventure, new places to visit, new experiences etc. My wife works in Scientific research, and the oppurtunities would appear to better in the US. As stated earlier - an escape from the class system. There are parts of UK society that are very difficult to get into without background. I believe over 85% of High court judges in the UK went to a very small set of exclusive private schools. It is quite rare to meet a trainee doctor who didn't go to a private school.

In the "Against" column would be percieved differences in culture - different sports, different world outlooks etc (an earlier remark condeming British sarcasm surprised me - sarcasm, cynicism, slightly black humour and "ribbing" of friends is all part of UK life - not seen as negative at all)

My point about vocational schools vs Grande Ecoles was that the description of all baccalaureate holders as being eligible for "university" was misleading. Some of those are actually only eligible for the French equivalent of a vocational school. In the US, "university" has a very specific meaning - an institution of higher learning that offers graduate-level degrees (Masters, Ph.D., M.D., etc.).

>sarcasm, cynicism, ... is all part of UK life - not seen as negative at all)
Thanks! Now lets all hail George W. who helped making the world the safe place it is today. I would move to the US tomorrow, even if the devil himself would run the country. All I need aee $450000 per year at least, 12 weeks off or a 4 day working week and 10 weeks holiday. It´s that easy. Just tell me when to start :-)