Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
And don't get me started with America's education system! I have known people who finished h.s. earning their diploma who read at a 7 or 8th grade level. I actually met a guy who is now 26 years old, with two kids and made it all the way up to the 10th grade before dropping out! He is illiterate and cannot get his drivers license because he cannot read! How the hell he got up to 10th grade? I wonder! This is the crap education one gets if you are poor in the U.S.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Saritaschihuahua
I look back on my education, and while I do admit that I learned some things in school, I am the first to say that a huge amount of what I learned, I learned reading as a child. From elementary school on, I can't recall ever being without a book. Even now, I'm always always reading a book of some sort.
I don't see most kids reading nowadays. I see most kids doing their best to avoid reading. They're on the TV, they're texting, and they're online and playing videos. Of course, when it comes time to doing any homework of any sort, or any school reading, forget that.
The education system, or rather, the PUBLIC SCHOOL education system, is a joke here, especially for a "first world nation."
Helloimage, your story has been told time and again about adults who have full lives, but are BARELY literate, if that. I'm confused as to the barometer the govt. uses to christen people as literate or not, because it requires more than just knowing how to write your name to be literate.
And you are right, Saritaschihuahua, most of what I learned, especially in regards to writing, reading, critical thinking, etc., was done on my own with a book, by reading subtitles when watching tv, or by (I probably shouldn't say this, as it can work both ways) surfing the internet. Education these days is all about reaching a kid quota, making sure kids ascend the grade ladder. It's not about actual teaching. No Child Left Behind only exacerbated the problem, but the ins and outs of the public system itself (including how teachers are treated, paid, hired, etc.) also needs to be criticized.
In a world where more and more people are competing for spots, educating the youth should be a top priority in order to maintain competitiveness.
This is probably the main reason I voted for the US in the poll.
"Eighty percent of poor households have air conditioning"
"two-thirds have satellite/cable TV"
"almost 75% have a car"
"vast majority (of homes) are in good repair, with more living space per person than the average non-poor person in Britain, France or Sweden"
"The very liberal Los Angeles Times published.." - yeah, right.
Oh ok. I see what you are talking about. You're talking about actual credit cards.
No, I don't mean those. I mean cards for people who have horrific credit, which aren't really credit cards at all and only "hold"' whatever money the person deposits into them. They're just a medium for payment, and nothing else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Glucorious
Because the card issuer offers you credit. The deposit is not on the card.
University jobs give you 3 weeks right off the bat, for a maximum of 4.
The US WAS the land of opportunity. Unfortunately, that's changing for the worse. A degree (Bachelor's) no longer guarantees high income. Let's hope the US is able to turn that around and get back on its feet. The political climate doesn't give me much hope for that, however.
I had a job at a cosmetics company. You could accumulate vacation days. Once I had 21 vacation days accumulated (4 work-weeks plus 1 day).
It's not just university jobs where you can get over 2 weeks of vacation days.
No, Poland isn't first world. But it's getting there.
Australia....you're biased, you realize. I would say Canada and Sweden, or just Sweden, would be at the top. I'm not sure what you mean by "social alienation". You could have a point, but please explain that. Sweden and Switzerland are rated as having the highest standard of living in the developed world. i believe that rating was done by a UN agency, I don't recall exactly.
Many jobs in America only allow 2 weeks' vacation. I haven't heard of anyone opting to not take their vacations. But there are jobs that allow 3-4 weeks' vacation, too. Those are some state jobs, university staff jobs. Teachers and university professors get 2-3 months' vacation. And now with this bad economy, Americans get unpaid vacations as well. Those who work for the state of federal governments are furloughed for a few days or a week now and then, due to lack of funds. This isn't a good thing.
New Zealand is at the "low end" of First World standard of living? Why so?
I generally do not use my vacation days- no vacation allows me to get overtime pay that I wouldn't have gotten if I was on vacation. That's bc with vacay they pay the days based on 8 hours but if I'm in the office I work longer than that so I'd get paid more if I don't take vacation.
Transport is an issue I was going to raise. In the US in many locales, there is no choice but to own a car. That right there is a huge burden on a person's economic situation. Many people who are required by circumstances to own a car can't afford to feed, care for and insure one. My idea of quality of life is a top-notch transport system that frees people of the economic burden of owning a car. It's liberating. The US used to have a good transport system (still behind Europe in some ways, especially the train system), but that was crushed by the car, oil and highway interests. Now only a few cities have good public transport, and inter-city transport is extremely sparse.
btw, the ridiculously high salaries are also a recent development, relatively speaking, and only apply to the financial services industry and certain corporate positions.
This is not entirely true. Obv there's always airplanes but even Amtrak has trains that go to a lot of destinations. If you're looking to get a train to Duluth, MN from NY that's probably tough but most bigger cities you can access by train. Amtrak can get you from NY to FL if u want, or NY to Chicago... Granted its a loooong ride but it's not impossible.
When I lived in Europe, I was pretty amazed at how differently they looked at work, overtime, working hours, vacation, and time off. While no two people are alike anywhere, there are trends and cultural ways you can identify. In general, in Europe (even Germany, according to my German friend here in the U.S.) I found that people preferred time off to spending it working overtime. They preferred having a small house or condo, and to use the balance of their money enjoying month-long vacations wherever. They preferred not having to spend their life fixing and adding to houses and so on. Enjoying the hours of life which we each have seems more important to them than accumulating or working toward something else.
When I lived in Europe, I was pretty amazed at how differently they looked at work, overtime, working hours, vacation, and time off. While no two people are alike anywhere, there are trends and cultural ways you can identify. In general, in Europe (even Germany, according to my German friend here in the U.S.) I found that people preferred time off to spending it working overtime. They preferred having a small house or condo, and to use the balance of their money enjoying month-long vacations wherever. They preferred not having to spend their life fixing and adding to houses and so on. Enjoying the hours of life which we each have seems more important to them than accumulating or working toward something else.
I PREFER time off... but when ya have a mortgage to pay it's kind of tough. I would love to have time off but I can't afford to. I don't know what the houses cost in Europe but I live in the most expensive area of America (NYC metro) and houses here about 5x people's incomes.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I would say Canada and Sweden, or just Sweden, would be at the top. I'm not sure what you mean by "social alienation". You could have a point, but please explain that. Sweden and Switzerland are rated as having the highest standard of living in the developed world. i believe that rating was done by a UN agency, I don't recall exactly.
