sooo... the US has now invented education?

[ithis]

Chris Hu said:

ithis said:

Kasz216 said:

A) Not... really related to a single thing in my post.

B) The biggest US hanidcap is Summer break.

C) The average Belgium/Netherlands person speaks 2 or 3 languages, becuase they pretty much have to by default due to being so close to so many foreign speaking countries, and the fact that belgium has like 3 official languages if i recall correctly.  That and it's way easier to learn languages if you have to when your younger and you have a lot of people speaking said language around.

Additionally, there really is a less pressing need for Americans to learn a second language, because English happens to be the most important language in the world.  It's the international language of buisness, and as I believe the leading taught second language in the world.

Why is that? Others have Summer break too.

But not for twelve weeks

Wikipedia to the rescue. Summer vacation lasts from 2 to 3 months with few exceptions in Europe, just like in the US.

I can tell you from personal experience. Summer vacation has nothing to do with it. In Romania we have 3 months now and it was 3 months 20 years ago. The percentage of kids that know stuff that comes out of High Schools today is much smaller than it was then. YAY for western style education.