European education system better than US?

Question

Why is it that most European students know what they want to do and have completed an apprenticeship by the time they are twenty where as American students are still wondering what they want in their twenties?

I believe that the European schools, in conjunction with businesses through apprenticeships, provide greater opportunities for students to learn and acquire skills at a younger age than in the US. Most students will not be CEOs and the job market will always be in the shape of a peramid. Making a good living the honest way is undervalued.

Answer 1

In Irish schools there is a lot of education on what courses are available in third level as well as the different types of apprenticeships. Irish Secondary(High) schools also encourage students to check up on what careers they would like. There is also plenty of time for change of mind.

There is also programmes to encourage vocations, e.g. plumbing, construction, hairdressing, electricians. Basically people that ensure the world goes round.

In Ireland there are two forms of our final examinations. The Leaving Certificate includes a vast array of academic studies, this is necessary to be accepted to universities and institutes of technologies. The Leaving Certificate Applied focuses on a practical subjects, i.e. construction(highly advanced "shop") draftmanship, pratical maths, enterprise(business, accountancy, etc) and other such subjects, with the excemtion of maths and english are optional.

The Leaving Certificate also has a subject available called Vocational Programme which is taken as a subject, it includes many practical elements and promotes entrepreneurship.

People who say socialism is forcing students to take a certain vocation have no understanding of European education systems or public policy. Most European countries have either free of heavily subsidised Third-Level education and this opens up courses such as Law, Medicine, Biotechnology to students that are intelligent enough to meet the requirements as opposed to those who meet the financial requirements.

The employment situation for young French is not because of idleness, but that there is a top heavy employment ladder, whereby older people are not retiring and there is a negative trickle-down effect whereby adult workers aren't progressing and leaving entry level jobs. There is a turn around and unemployment is plummeting. It is not because these people are lazy or dependent on the state, you will find that most Europeans do not like being unemployed and do anything to find a job. Just because some people have a misconception that a safety net for employment in the form of the dole encourages laziness doesn't make it true. Living on that little means you can eat and have shelter, thats it, and that for young people in particular doesn't meet aspirations or emotional needs.

Answer 2

Well to be honest it's kind of true. Sadly, here in the U.S it depends on where you live and your financial status to get a good education. If you live in a bad neighborhood then most likely your school won't be that hot. The literacy rate in European countries are generally high. In addition education is taken very seriously there and teaching is a very noble profession. Here education seems more of a mandatory thing and teachers are not paid well or given the respect they deserve.

Answer 3

It's not the system... it's the students. If the the American educational system is so poor then why do people come from all across the globe to American Universities? Everywhere from India to Korea to Mexico to Europe. America has the premier higher education system in the world. It's just that Americans are so spoiled and coddled that they don't take advantage of it.
Children are taught all the same things in the US as other countries.. they're just more interested in what Paris Hilton is wearing to care about learning.
It's the students... not the system.

Answer 4

Unfortunately, the European students are under a form of
social and mental conformity which has its basis in Marx's view of history that is called dialectical materialism.
This in turn has some of its roots in Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's dialectical process .... bringing about a mindset
of the overcoming of truth with 'popular opinion' and a manipulation of facts to cause a conformity to a 'majority rules' society.
Here is a quote for the summation of your question:
"Within its great factories it would not only create the technical base for socialism--mass production--but it would create as well a trained and disciplined class who would be the agents of socialism--the embittered proletariat. By its own inner dynamic, capitalism would produce its own downfall, and in the process, it would nourish its own enemy..."For Marx and Engles, the dialectic led to the future and that future, as revealed by the Communist Manifesto, pointed to an inevitable communist revolution which this same dialect would produce....

imho...individuality is murdered in the European system.
In America we still nourish and cherish the fight for individualization.

Answer 5

I've spent a lot of time in the UK.. their 20 year olds are not smarter or more ambitious than the US 20 year olds. Entitlements and socialism doesn't promote ambitious youth.. it creates lazy people looking for freebie's.
In September, an incredible 21.7% of 15- to 24-year-olds in France were unemployed, compared to only 11% in the U.S. and 12.6% in Britain. France isn't alone -- other European countries, such as Belgium, Spain, Greece, Italy, and Finland -- also have persistent youth unemployment rates above 20%.

Such sky-high levels of idle youth are a by-product of the welfare-state mentality that's still pervasive across much of Europe. The idea is that government's main role is to provide a safety net for the population, in terms of jobless and health benefits. Generating growth and creating jobs takes a distinctly lower priority, resulting in high unemployment, especially among the young.

Answer 6

I recieved a fine education in the US as well as my wife. It is that American parents in general are not involved with their children's education and are always second guessing the teachers. Parents have to be involved and take an active role in their children's education which we are not doing. Children do not respect the teachers or higher authority. I truly am worried for our future.

Answer 7

You are mistaken. European students don't get to decide what they "want to do." My wife grew up in W. Germany. she was told what she was going to study. She didn't like what they told her and moved to the US where you do choose. It may not be as efficient, but it is American. God bless the land of the free.

Answer 8

They don't have the same stresses that American students have. I've known European students that studied for years and didn't have to pay for it.
Their medical care is also covered and they're less likely to have an unwanted pregnancy.
Less likely to live in fear half the time.

Answer 9

Every education system is better than America's. That's because we let the states come up with the curriculum. If there was a NATIONAL standard, then everyone would be taught the same thing, and we might be able to pass an International standard.

Answer 10

because the way it works there is an employer pays for their college tuition and then the kid makes a contract saying how long hes going to work for them after they earn their college degree

kids also know that if they dont get an education they are going to go nowhere...some people dont understand that here.