American Reacts How I see the US after living in Europe for 2 Years
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- Опубліковано 15 гру 2023
- 👉Original Video: • How I see the US after...
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That "freedom" he refers to ,the American dream,to be an entrepreneur, we just call that being self employed... And you can get all kinds of government grants and loans and reduced taxes and things like that to start your own business if you want.. and if you want to employ youngsters to train them the government will pay their wages too under the YTS youth training scheme ...that's not a dream , that's very real in the UK and Europe👍
YTS was 40 years ago
however, it is more than in the US suffocated in extreme bureaucracy. That is a fact. I think in the UK, but defnitely here in Germany.
So true sir
I’m English and I left full time employment to become self-employed around 20 years ago. I had 2 young children and a mortgage at the time. All I had to do was inform HMRC (the tax collection, equivalent to IRS) that I was becoming a “sole trader”, so I would do self assessment tax returns. There’s other things I could do, like I engaged an accountant, but not much I had to do, remarkably little bureaucracy. Plus of course I didn’t have to be worried about healthcare, because the NHS covers us all anyway.
What do you mean by "the UK and Europe"? You do realize that the UK is Europe, right?
In Europe we speak foreign languages because we are genuinely interested in other cultures and like to have a basic knowledge of how different people think. It's cultural and not a matter of 'effort'. American 'freedom' is an absolute oxymoron.
You have to do European languages in school.
Outside of the BENELUX and Scandinavia, most Europeans struggle to speak languages other than their own. Studying a second language in school does not equal proficiency or fluency.
@@eastexotic In Portugal, all students can choose between English, Spanish, French or German. A second language is mandatory. We also always use subtitles and respect the original versions of movies and series, unlike in other countries. Therefore, we are exposed to many different languages from an early age and take full advantage of that.
@@eastexotic I live in Romania and everyone I know speaks 2 languages atleast, Romanian/Hungarian/English/Italian, I speak English/Romanian and a bit of Hungarian, my brother speaks German/English/Hungarian/Romanian, my cousins speak Romanian/English/Hungarian some Romanian/Italian, speaking more languages is way more common in Europe than in the US.
I'll pick up on that. In Europe, as opposed to the US, you don't eat to 'fill up your stomach. We eat to enjoy, relax and share with people.
A European baker, or restaurateur, might work well into his 80s, because he LOVES his work. The saying "choose something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life" was never truer. Americans always seem to be striving for the 'payday' at the end of it all. They miss the joy of living, in between.
Ah now, I mean it’s not that straightforward. There’s millions of us who choose a job for the money or convenience rather than ‘because it’s my passion’. I’ll grant you that there is certainly more of a relaxed atmosphere in which to choose a suitable career path in Europe though due to not having the worry of crippling loan debt from attending college.
You always suprise me with your awareness, you manage to see the usa from an objective point of view and understand the issues.
A lot of americans seem to get very defensive at implications that they're not the best at some things.
Your pride in your country isn't blind and i respect that, it really would be an amazing land if they let the sensible people run the country.
Fully agree!
Americans grow up being told that America is the best country in the world and find it very difficult to accept that this may not be true.
word .
@@ktwashere5637 Too be fair that is because for a while there it sort of was the best country in the world. Not anymore, not even close. But a lot of the ideas that are making our European countries great to live in today where pioneered and/or popularized by the USA. The US seems to be in some kind of cultural regression today, but not so long ago it was a country that many other countries tried to live up to and it has definitely help shape a lot of what modern Europe is like. I think that what the guy touches on in this video about Europe's much older history is right when it comes to how we've been more successful at moderation and not taking things too far. Sort of like the difference between someone from a rich family and someone winning the lottery, Europe knew when to slow down while the US was more just "omg this is working, full steam ahead".
He used to get much more defensive but think he’s been worn down after all the videos 😂
I agree with you on the American Dream. It's beautiful to infuse the young minds with a spirit of entrepreneurship, but that leaves a lot of people with a skewed work/life balance. It also feels like the American dream is being utilised to mask the failure of government to take care of its people. I mean, if you're not living comfortably, that just means you haven't worked hard enough, right? Meanwhile, the wealthy are getting big tax breaks and minimum wage can't afford you living space.
Bang on
European food policy: Let's subsidize the production of healthy food-stuffs while making it illegal to poison our population.
American food policy: Let's subsidize the production of corn syrup to make our people fat and de-regulate to generate as many green-backs for the richest 1% as possible.
Originally the US agricultural subsidies where well meant, at least by the state. But as usual they sort of got tricked, someone got super rich, and those people decided it should stay that way for ever.
I moved to the US from Switzerland (huge mistake, I know). It’s a nightmare for me to do groceries in the USA. Most processed foods are poison. I have to check the label of every single item I want to buy. Even pickles, mayonnaise, ect. Sometimes I just give up and leave the store with only half of what I actually wanted to buy.
Absolutely we have way better work-life balance in Europe. I'm so sad for Americans when I hear about your high work hours/low number of days of paid leave/being made to feel bad about taking it/having to take sick leave out of your leave days/having to find your own cover when you are off. No wonder not many Americans travel outside the US, they don't have time to do it. My example: I work full time in the UK (37 hours a week), I have 28 days statutory leave, add to this national public holidays (about 8 a year), and at my organisation I'm also able to purchase up to 10 extra days leave. So I have 28 + 8 + 10 = 46 days off a year and if I'm sick, it's not taken off these days. It still doesn't seem enough to me lol
If we got all the free government money that the government doesn't really have (debt money that we will pay for for generations to come) we'd do more with our free time too. Europeans will pay eventually for all the handouts of printed money. Nothing is free, and the free rides can't last forever. Wow, if real life consequences of a handout society ever hit Europe, and they have to do without, I can see mass suicides, they wouldn't know how to deal with it. We've already seen it recently when they tried to reduce pensions in one country.
Similar to mine: 25 days plus 1 loyalty day extra every 5 years, bank hols, and buy up to 10. Not a bad deal. 😊
In Germany I get 30 days holiday plus national holidays between 9 and 11 days
If I lose my job the government pay me 75% of my wage for 1 year.
Almost the same for me in Finland, 38 paid vacation days plus national holidays from 9 to 11 days depending of the year. Sick days don’t lessen the vacation days. I’m on my Christmas vacation right now, we are allowed to plan our own working hours/days/free days so I get total of 17 days free from work. That includs some of my paid vacation days, national holidays+off work days 😊
And just to clarify to those who don't know you only use a holiday day to cover a day you would normally work, so if you work Mon to Friday. You could go to the airport after work Friday evening, head to sunny Spain for a beach holiday, ⛱️ use 5 holiday days for Monday to Friday the following week, and fly back Sunday night, and be back at work Monday morning after a 9.5 day holiday
Enrollment for university is similar to the US in that you need the best grades to get accepted to the best schools. But it is aslo very different as the competition is based around your own performance rather than your families money. So while you definitely have an upper edge coming from a higher socioeconomic background with lots of home support, a good student can become a doctor or a laywer even though their parents have nothing. You know, kinda like how the American Dream was supposed to work ;)
Some topics you want to study in Germany are closed to students with lower grades, called 'numerus clausus'. Like you have to have very good grades when you want to become a doctor.
@@strenter well Germany may be alone in that, never heard of it anywhere else
Work/life balance here in Europe (the UK). I get 26 days paid holiday + 9 statutory bank holidays (public holidays). So 35 PAID days off a year. And then there's the free healthcare at point of use. Those two things alone are worth their weight in gold.
I get 30 days in Germany.
It's free to go to uni
With my company in the UK there were extra days holiday added for long service.
@@Itsme-xf7sx not here, dutch
daaamn son! and i was thinking Germans were these orderly working bees haha. Apparently you get more free days than me. Greets from Romania! 22 vacation days per year + around 10 holiday days @@Itsme-xf7sx
when i retired in the uk 6 years ago i bought an RV and took off to europe, returning to the uk for 1 month every year, loved every minute of it, not a seconds regret....peace Tim
It's never simple or straightforward - but would I consider changing my Nordic society for the US? Like a snowball's chance in hell, no way! Some things actually at least are pretty simple and straightforward...
Agree. Staying put in Norway.
@gwineth Hello there! I wouldn't change my Nordic society (Finland) for today's USA for 'all the tea in China!'
I lived and worked fulltime in the Midwest (Fort Wayne and Chicago) for some 3 years in the late sixties. Things were not quite so bad back then. No paid vacation, of course, but Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance from my employers. Everything was hunky-dory then, as I was young and healthy. But there were other things like police corruption, the mafia, the white slum to the north of the Loop in Chicago, and the huge black ghetto to the south. People's irrational (?) generalized fear, which made them carry handguns in their cars or on themselves and to avoid certain parts of the city.
The large grocery stores were a disappointment as far as the produce was concerned. I had never heard of 'processed' cheese before, and the big and beautiful fruits and vegetables had been 'improved' to the point where they had lost all of their aroma, taste and juicyness. They looked good but were hard as stones. I had just previously lived in Paris for a year and the difference was like night and day...
What a shame.
Lake Michigan was very polluted with dead fish belly up floating by in a sickly yellow foam on the lake's surface. Anyone fancy a swim? 🤢
To be fair, at the time, there were many excellent things as well - the weather was not one of them - but to somebody used to the Nordic way of life, and to the freedoms offered by that society on a personal level, the restrictions and lack of choices (oh yes) in the U.S. were just unacceptable in the long run.
Now, on the other hand, San Francisco in those days was quite another experience with a distinctively more European feel to it. What was made of plastic in Chicago, was genuine in San Francisco, and there was a lightness in the atmosphere, more open, more tolerant. I hear that the city has changed a lot...
This is a good reminder for all the good things we have since there has been raised voices on how life has gotten worse for a lot of people. We still have things to be thankfull for
Connor I think having lived in a few European countries your thoughts about work/life balance is fair. Europeans have more vacation time and in the Southern European countries breaking for a long lunch time of a few hours is common.
When I lived in Spain it was heartwarming to see on a Friday night sometimes 4 generations of families enjoying an evening meal at a restaurant together.
I had to laugh at the "entrepreneurship" bit. The difference isn't the "spirit" it's just the way in which it is looked at. In Europe it is just being self employed and no-one makes a big deal about it... it's your job haha
In Finland you have to apply to a college or uni and you need to put 5 different options. You are either getting accepted based on your grades only or you have an exam. You can change to another subject. You can have 2-3 bachelors or even a couple of PhDs.
in sweden you have to apply to a university. but you can also just stroll into the lecture hall and watch a lecture without going to that school or the course. So that is pretty nice.
15:14 "You don't even think about the money"
I'll tell you now, as a 30 year old who's been working since she finished Uni in England 9 years ago, I've not ONCE thought about my student loan. The first 6 years there was more interest being added onto my loan than I was paying off.
Even now that I'm on a better wage, I think I'm probably bringing my debt down by about £100 per year. But it doesn't matter to be, it's just a tax in my opinion. Something that's on my wage slip but that just comes out of my wages before I ever see the cash. If you asked me today what I pay each month for it, I honestly couldn't say. Maybe £70 at most - a month. It wasn't considered by the mortgage providers when I bought a house, and I know after 25 years it'll be written off. Myself and all of my friends have concluded that we'll never pay it off, so we don't even think of it.
So , working class folks paid for you and yours friends shit education?
I’m a Londoner, and It’s an unwritten rule between my friends and family, don’t discuss politics or religion, nothing good will result in discussing these topics. I’ve just started watching your channel, and I’m really enjoying it, keep up the good work
I’m Swiss, moved to the US a few years ago and decided to move back to Europe next year. I’m wondering if the UK would be the right country for me. I’m just now starting to investigate and learn about live in the UK.
@@SN-bl6xmKeep your mind open and look out for other options as well... Sadly, UK left the EU, so if you want to travel to other European countries it is less easy nowadays... At least they went decimal in their coin system in 1971. 😉
as a Londoner,after brexit,can you now show us pros and cons of this step?its very interesting..
@@strenterlt strongly depends where in the UK. city life is so different from one place to another. You have Wales and Scotland, as well.Depends what sort of life you desire.
That’s the problem when you only have two sides, it can only end up being oppositional rather than leading to compromise - and it makes too easy for every issue to become reduced to black and white, for or against. And is he said it’s just easy to blame the other side because there’s only other one side available to blame rather than a complex group of parties
In Germany you have to get a certain high school diploma that entitles you to attend university. And with that you can theoretically get into any public university and program. But your grades determine how hard or easy it is. You compete with all the other graduates for thw spots of some programs and if your grades are poorer than the cut off point then you don't get the spot. You can go onto a writing list, though and getvin later. Some fields of study don't have this cut off point and accept everyone who applies.
There are no elite universities in the same vein as Harvard or Yale. And which university you graduated from doesn't really matter. Of course some unis have a better reputation for certain fields or are especially old and prestigious but they dont come with the premium price and anyone an still get in if they qualify. There are some private universities that are pricy but the general consensus is that if you "buy" your degree you're too stupid to earn it yourself at a public university
16:30 - What i also absolutely loved about our educational system in Denmark, is that when you finish folkeskolen (our equivalent to primary school) you get to visit all these different specialized gymnasier (our equivalent to high school - we just have some that are more tailored to certain fields as-well as a more basic one) where we get to experience the different subjects and classes for a day. That way we have a much better idea of at least what kind of field we want to work in, without having to commit to anything first. And when you have finished gymnasie (high school) you can also choose to visit some of the universities you can go to after and hear about some of the different educations you can get. So basically here we get to almost "try out" different educations and fields before committing to anything. Which made education - at-least for me - much more smooth. I knew what i wanted based on these visits and i still to this day enjoy my job a LOT! i couldn't imagine working in anything else.
Oh and to answer your other question, yes here all education is free - you even get paid to go to school after the age of 18 - but we do have to pay for our own books in university and yes we do have to apply to both gymnasie and university and we have to get accepted to go there. But its just to balance out students, so that no school is overfilled. We dont really have specific schools where you need a higher grade, its more so the different fields of education. For-example you can't study to become a psychiatrist unless you have a median grade of 12 (which is our equivalent of A+). So you need to achieve certain grades to go into certain studies. But its purely to ensure that you can understand the material being taught to you.
Regarding work we say "Work for living and not living for working". We use our "Freizeit" (free time) to recover from work and to spend time with the family. On the other side at work we work efficiently and don't talk to much with our colleagues about private things.
In Britain, different universities have different entry requirements. The most prestigious ones - includes the oldest and the most famous for research - demand the highest pre-university grades. Now, universities charge fees - they didn't used to - and people graduate with large debts. However, the repayment is means-tested, and if you remain on a low income for the whole of your working life, eventually it will just be written off. However, I don't think you could do any paid work while doing a British degree. My experience (at a prestigious university) - before university fees were introduced - was that it was two terms of cramming plus a term of exams, multiplied by three.
There were far fewer universities before fee paying was introduced. In the 1970s, when I went to uni, there was stiff competition for uni places - there was no point in applying if you hadn't got high grades in your A Levels - to be accepted on the English degree course at the University of Leicester, I had to get A grades in English Literature and English Language A levels plus an A or B in another subject - and good GCE grades as well.
I taught at college until retirement, and students were getting into universities (albeit not prestigious) with C and D grades at A Level.
@@gillianrimmer7733yeah same in my era. I had been at several interviews around 2007 where I was told more than once that my 1st hon degree was refreshing as it was earned in a time that it meant something.
2:39 as someone from south of France who lived in the US (Boston) for a while, I don't thinj it is exagerated. That was actually my biggest culture shock when going to the U.S, who people in America sacrifice so much for their carreer and miss out of simpler lifestyles
Regarding the education system. In England it is no longer free to go to university, but in the early 90s when I went, it was still free. Universities got paid by the government per student but the government had restrictions on the maximum number of students on each course ( so it wasn't chaos). Unlike in the US we had to apply for a specific course to study for 3 years. The more popular courses were over subscribed so they set very high entrance requirements regarding exams results at school. The less popular courses still set a minimum standard for entrance because they wouldn't spend much time recapping what they expected us to already know. When all the school exam results were released (in mid August) the universities you accepted ( you were allowed to pick your first choice and a backup option) were also informed of your exam results. If you got the grades you needed then you were good to go. If not, you had to go through something called clearing. This is where the courses which still had spaces were matched to the students who weren't able to get into their chosen courses automatically. Even the big popular universities had places through clearing ( I mean Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds etc not Oxford or Cambridge who's entrance system was different). I have friends who got their uni places through the clearing system and got places in great unis and went on to get good degrees and had a lot of fun.
There are always two sides to everything. At the moment we are at the December Solstice. In Northern Europe this means that it does not get light until about 8am and will be dark again about 4pm (I am saying about as an average, further north daylight hours are shorter). Even at midday the sun is low in the sky and it is not very warming or the sky might be grey with cloud for days on end. People from Alaska will be having the same few hours of daylight so they will understand that you are just waiting for the daylight hours to increase. For a lot of people in the USA they will have never experienced this type of winter. The upside is that in summer it gets light at about 4am and does not get dark until about 10pm.
In my experience in Britain, work during the week is very concentrated. In Europe we do not go in for 'presenteeism'. We - only my experience, mind - work extremely hard at work. In Britain we do not have three-hour lunchtimes. Then we're done and we go home. We expect at least four weeks' holidays - sometimes more - per annum.
It depends wildly depending on the country but at least here in Belgium, yes once you finished your secondary education you can enter any first year*. There are a lot of drop outs in the first year so basically it's an entire year of evaluation to gauge if you're good enough.
*Some studies do include an entrance exam like law, medicine and fine arts
About the education you mentioned, at least here in Spain, the best and top ranking universities are the Public ones, and the only important part is your grade to get into those. Even if you apply to one the exceptions and get into one of the good private Universities, they offer you scholarships (we call it Becas) , and even if you have to pay the full price, yes it is very expensive for us, but it is not as crazy as in the US, one of the most expensive courses you can take in a private University here in Barcelona is 15k a year , the average is normally around 8-10K for private.
You left high-school at 17😮. I was working full time at 16 when I left school, and years before that part time. But I did go to college as an adult when I was 21 for a couple of NVQ's (National Vocational Qualifications). Still shocks me 18 in America is basically a child still
French here. I am a retireee now, but when i worked, three years ago, I benefited from a total health insurance (paid out of my taxes and salary), 35 paid vacation days, and I worked officially 38,5 hours a week (indeed rather 40/42, but this was ok).
Exactly the problem with having just 2 political parties. Usually in European countries there are multiple political parties. Those parties can join forces to then have a majority. That system ensures more cooperation overall, a so called coalition
In Croatia, kids go to the local elementary school (in cities; they will receive distant education on smaller islands). High school grades and scores from entrance examinations determine admission to secondary schools and universities.
As for college beeing free, in Portugal, where Dave lives, there are a few fees for public college, and bigger ones for private. There is a certain "prestige" system but public universities work with a certain number of vacancies for any given course. So, if you want to be, say, a medicine student, in the Public University in Lisbon, your grades are competing with all the other candidates for the same vacancies. This makes certain courses that lead to more "prestigious" or moneymaking careers be more crowded by the best students. Like medicine, some business courses, some engineerings, etc. You may choose a university for having say, the best marine biology department, and apply to it, but again you'll be competing with your grades for whatever places they have for new students.
Something that is making college very expensive for some people (and not others) is housing prices. If you live in a place with a University you may at this point prefer a second or third choice course (you can apply to a few course/college pairings through the public system), in the city or town you live in than moving to a place with your first choice, but where you have to pay for housing... It's getting silly, or even cruel.
I don’t agree that the concept of entrepreneurship is less popular in “Europe”. It depends on where in Europe. In most countries, especially in Northern Europe, innovation and entrepreneurship is actually a lot bigger than in the US, with more startups and more private owned companies per capita than the US. It’s simply easier to start a new company and the risk is much smaller since of the welfare systems and the free education. Because of the free higher education and since it’s easier to be an entrepreneur, it’s also easier to change social class in Europe than in the US. The “American dream” is therefore often more of a reality in many European countries than in the US. Portugal may however be on the lower end of the scale of entrepreneurship.
Here in Sweden, the kids go to mandatory school until the year they turn 16 (ninth grade here), and then they (or at least somewhere in the vicinity of 95% of them) go to "gymnasiet", with I like to call "mini-college" for 3 years. There are sooooo many programs to choose from, and though most attend between the ages of 16 and 19, you're actually allowed until you turn 21, so there is an opportunity to change programs if you find it's not for you. A large handful of the programs are meant to set you up with practical work skills, similar to trade schools, some are purely theoretical and/or to prepare you for university. So when you're 19-21, you might be set for getting a job (not that it's easy to get one despite the practical programs), or go on to higher studies if you want, and a lot of students know what they want to study, and you just sort of jump in. At US colleges and universities, a lot of students seem to just be repeating a year of high school while trying to figure out what to actually study. But that might just be my impression, I haven't been to a US university for a while.
I can only speak for the UK and Germany, but yes, you do have to enrol into university and there will always be requirements based on the level of school diploma you need and what you want to study, tuition fees are higher in the UK than in the EU, but not as high as in the US. Many German states have no tuition fees, but even the ones that do have very low ones, where I live it's around 600 Euros per semester, also students receive financial help with the cost of living, unless they have wealthy parents. Work-life balance in Germany is great, after I moved here from England, I have really appreciated it. I work full-time 37 hrs/week, 30 days holiday, which is pretty much standard, though the legal minimum is 24 days. You MUST take at least one 2 week block holiday every year, and they will force you to take any unused holidays by the end of March the following year.
at least in Spain, and UK to access to any University you have to do an exam that tests the basic subjects that you have already passed (high school level) and optionaly subjects called ''specificts'' (that you choose to course during the lasts high schools years). Then knowing the grade you got on this exam you start checking what is the minimun grade to acces to each type of study you want to do on each university. In Spain the majority of universities are public. And almost all of them have enough importance so when you want to find a job they usually don't care about wich one you come from. I know in UK (London at least) the majority of universities are private but the goberment would give you enough money to pay for them and then you'll pay back when you earn more that an specific amount of money and after 30 years you stop paying even if you haven't payed back all of it.
Good reaction Conor. I enjoyed your intelligent perspective on this video. Nice one! 👍👍👍
England is best because I live here.
You can go to almost any lecture (at least in Bulgaria, most auditoriums are open lectures) even if you are not a student. There are some that you would be denied, but mostly lectures are open to anyone. I have been to my friend's lectures at another university. If you want the degree, you need to apply, and you need better grades to get into a specialty you want or one that is highly desirable. In Bulgaria, if you are an economics major, you start your Bachelor's with basic economics classes and it is 4 years. So, in the first year, you have classes on Mathematics 1 and 2, Principles of Law, Micro and Macro Economics, Management, and so on, and if you have electives, they are again in economics (Principles of Economic Theory, History of Economic Thought, and so on). You have 4 years of what you are specializing in, the university assumes you can write, structure, and so on, so no classes on these types of things. Also, it is heavily subsidized by the government. If you haven't studied anything, it is $150-$300 a semester/term; if you have a previous Bachelor's degree, it's $400-$900 a semester. A Master's is 1 or 2 years, depending on whether it is in the same area of your previous study, and you have to take a test to be placed in a Master's program, and it is on all you have studied in 1-2 year Bachelor. Law is always a Master's degree, so a 5-year commitment. Then, if you have better grades than 4.5 (2-6 grading system), you are allowed to pursue a Ph.D. if you want. It is around 4 years more.
Yeah you could do that in the UK too, if you found out what lectures where on when but it’s not immediately available information. Also there’s a lot more emphasis on self-directed study rather than lectures, there were actually very few lectures for my history degree - the US education system seems to place a lot of emphasis on lectures
ALl of the info is on the UNI website, and when you get in the uni they have compures screens where you can check what class is where and when, We have both lectures and practical classes after lectures. Lectures are typically run by a Professor or Associate Professor, while the practicals are run by a Chief Assistant or Assistants. Lectures are attended by all the people in this course and are about 150 people, and practicals are in groups of 30 max and as you said we have things we have to do on our own, research papers and so on. @@vaudevillian7
My daughter (English) shares a house with a French girl both of whom want to do Masters degrees. My daughter is put off by the fees while her friends fees will be minimal, however, the friend cannot get a place as the numbers applying in France far exceed supply. She also moved to England to get a job in the relevant field as again numbers far exceeded roles available
In the UK we have something called UCAS points. We get these for completing A Levels or a Level 3 College course (from about 16-18 years old). The amount of UCAS points you get depends on the grades that you get in your A Levels or Level 3. Different Universities do indeed have different entry requirements, some have lower UCAS requirements whereas some more famous/prestigious ones, such as Oxford University, have higher requirements. Education is free until you turn 19, so you can keep doing college courses for as long as you want as long as you pay, but everyone gets access to free education for the first 2 years of College. I myself did 4 years at college, 2 1 year courses and 1 2 year course. But because I started the 2 year course before I turned 19, it was still free, even if I started the second year after turning 19.
16:00 I was surprised how easy it was to change from another studying place to another one in the middle of the year for my son couple of years ago. It took only going to his student guidance person at his school who contacted the other school and the head teacher of the subject my son wanted to change to called my son and interviewed him on the phone and week after that he changed schools. And because the studying is free he did not have any debt from the two years he already had been studying in the other school. Also he got some studies approved from previous school to his new one.
Back in the eighties I used to work in the exhibition industry 12 hour days were minimum and the norm ,7 days a week , pay was way above the average ,£500 a week after 5 years I was depressed burnt out so sold up and bought a cottage for cash mortgage free at 28 never looked back
(In Portugal) At the university level,yes. You need to enrol, Apply, and there is a selection process. If the school has 100 spots to one course, the top 100 graded to apply get in.
(And it is not always free. But the fees at public universities are like 700 € per year, if your parents earn above some level)
Hi Jibby.
English in Europe -
It all depends on the purpose of your stay -
Is it a tourist visit ?
Is it a business visit?
Are you planning to live (at least for a while).?
Your degree of relying only on English diminishes as you go through those three categories above.
13:55 That certainly depends on the country and the University. But yes, if you complete the required school level, you can in principle apply for all universities. In case there are more applications than slots, there will be some kind of process to sort that out by testing or high school grades.
Yes, you have to apply to EU universities and get accepted or rejected based on grades. If you have really good grades you get in for free but there are also some "pay" spots for people who have slightly lower grades. The ammounts vary from country to country by you can expect to pay around 2000 $ per year for education in those spots. Also, this was my case as well, you can pay for 1 year and then if you get better grades than your peers you get kinda promoted to the free spots in that university. There are also private universities where everyone pays but those are usually considered less prestigious. The state owned colleges are generally considered better.
Universitete in Sweden are free but you have to be qualified, the requirements for prior knowledge depend on what you want to study. When there are more applicants than places, selection takes place. They can take place on e.g. grades, previous university studies, högskoleprov=SAT, here too they can vary between different courses and programs which selection groups are used. You can’t buy a spot and they don’t give anyone a spot because there parents went there. We also get both student grants and student loans from the state to be able to pay rent, food, etc. Student loans have favorable terms in relation to regular loans
14:00 You definetly have to apply, usualy take a test on entry and combine the results with your hightschool final exams. But you definetly can get for free in any college if you have good grades. Also switching is not free, as every country usualy susidize only the first srudy cycle (only the first bachelor degree, masters degreee and so on). And on the subject of just walking in and going to a class, if you look like a student you can probably attend all the classes of a uni without someone noticing (at least in Romania) except the laboratory part and the exams.
There is a saying in Europe:
"Americans live to work,and Europeans work to live"
Pretty accurate as turned out
concerning enrollment for university, I´ve experienced two systems. In Germany there´s the Numerus Clausus system, which blocks certain programs to everyone but the ones with the highest grade averages. In Austria, on the other hand, they don´t, as far as I know, but the first 2-3 semesters are so unbelievably hard that after those are over, about 70 percent of the students that started have peaced out to other areas they might be better at or have more interest in. This is btw one of the reasons Austria is full with German students
In Austria you could walk into any state university and attend class. However if you want an education and graduate you have to apply first. for that you need something similiar to a high school graduation or take a course afterwards.
13:28 it depends on the school, the major you choose and per country.
Some courses are pretty much open to all, whereas some more skill/knowledge specific courses will require certain prerequisites or even an application process.
We have courses in our country that have lotteries among all eligible applicants, because there is a max to enrollment.
If you don't get in you can try again up to three times, after that you have to look for something else. So you keep your options open if you go for one of those 😅
Many European countries have their own school systems, so I cant speak for what I do not know... but I can speak for the Swedish school system.
Year 0-12 is completely free, lunch included. Daycare is subsidised, but kids have a right to 15 hours per week.
Year 0-9 is just normal schooling. You start getting grades that matter in year 8 and 9. Your grades are determined by clearing criteria by the end of the grade, not by particular tests. So a failed exam at the start of the year doesnt fuck you over, as long as you know what you need at the end of year.
With the grades from year 8 and 9, you apply to different programmes at different schools, you rank your choices by which you would prefer. The spots are usually limited and priority goes to the applicants with the highest grades. The programmes cover many different things. Some are oriented to specific jobs, like... electricians, plumbers, drivers, chefs, hotel staff, sports etc. Others prepare you for further studies by focusing on giving you the prerequisites to apply to university programmes.
If you want to apply to university, there are a few different ways to qualify. First are your grades from courses in year 10-12. Second are a test that gives you are score, basically showing that you are sharp enough to learn wether your grades show it or not... and final is some programmes requires you to submit a relevant work to show your skill. Like, game graphics. You'd perhaps need to show that you actually can draw.
You can apply to any university you want, and any programme. Again, priority goes to the highest scores, and you rank your choices by which you'd prefer. If you qualify for several options, you will have to accept or reject the options going from the top, and once you accept an option, the others are rejected.
All this is done electronically, with no bias like "oh, he is the kid of one of our donors, he have to get in"
We dont really do college sports, and thus no scholarships or such.
Going to uni, you can apply for some money. Not for tuition, but to cover living expenses and literature and such. As long as you dont have a separate income over a certain amount, there should be no reason to get that application rejected.
A Uni programme is usually aimed at a specific path from day one. If you pick the data scientist programme, then that is what your curriculum will be aimed at. You can still pick some totally unrelated classes, like... a 4th language if you want.
A typical uni education is usually between 1.5-7 years. With doctors being on the long side of the spectra, and stuff like... realtors on the short side.
Here in France, some private schools (like for business or engineering) could be quite expensive, a few thousand euros per year. But the universities, managed by public services, are very cheap, even the most prestigious like La Sorbonne in Paris (I just checked on their website, 170€/y for a Licence (3 years). However there are many candidates and the seats are limited so they only take the best, based on their previous student course.
But there are a lot of university and almost everybody is able to study to have a Master degree or a Ph.D for a few hundred euros, you just have to get your diploma from the final high school exam to candidate at universities.
The "American Dream" is a total myth. You can succeed in any country if you have the drive and enthusiasm !
13:30 From an English perspective (couldn't tell you what it's like in Portugal unfortunately, and I know Scotland at the very least has differences, especially when it comes to uni so, this is just an English perspective), but at Primary/Secondary/College there's pretty much two levels:
Paid
Free
Paid - yes, some form of exams generally are undertaken before you're allowed to enter the school. At which point, if you pass, your parents will then spend about £3k-5k per term for your education there. Some may be more if they're also boarding students, or if you're going to on of the absolute elite schools like Eton, you could be looking at more costs there, too.
Free - generally speaking, in Primary school, you'll be put into wherever the council have places for you to go, and usually this is your closest Primary school - again, if there are places. In Secondary school, you can 'apply' for a place at specific schools so long as you're in their catchment zones (usually within a few miles of the school). You're not guaranteed your first spot, and if you don't get into any you apply for, the council I think step in and sort your child a placement.
At university, you're going to be paying somewhere around £9k per year for your classes. Unless you're from Scotland and go to a Scottish uni, then it's free (I believe). Or if you're English but have rich parents who own a residence in Scotland, you can technically go to uni there for free.
BUT generally speaking, university courses are the same price no matter which uni you go to - my friend got into Cambridge as an example and paid the same as me... the only differences really were he had to pay for his lodgings, there were several formal 'school dinners' he had to attend and have suits for, and then probably his books were more expensive due to doing a different course than me. Meanwhile, I lived at home so didn't pay for lodgings besides a small contribution to rent when I got a basic job whilst studying, my most formal dinners were in the forms of dates, and I never bought a single uni book because they were all in the library.
To get into a Uni though, you have to get enough 'points' at A Level (16-18 year old classes) that the. course you're on requires. Again, my friend at Cambridge needed something like 480 points from the classes Maths, Biology and Chemistry (so, pretty much needed all A*s PLUS do another course to make up the additional points needed. I think A*s were worth like 120 points when we went to uni) to be considered onto that course. He also had to attend an exam at the uni as well as an interview.
Meanwhile, I on a basic marketing course at my local crap uni (I did get into Durham which was just an additional 20minutes down the road and I always regret not going), I just couldn't afford the transport there and back and only needed 320 points to get in. I got 240 alone from one class (BTEC Business Studies) and made up the rest with an English Language class and a Media Studies class where I got a B and an A respectively.
So yeah, there are still some differences between universities, but I'd say anyone can still get in so long as you get the right marks for it and in terms of costs, they're not overly dissimilar from your standard uni that most attend.
(Sweden) I usually don't lock my front door. This goes for Stockholm, Karlskrona, Ronneby, and Malmö.
That has three parts.
First, it's not likely that anyone will take advantage of the situation.
Second, if someone wants to break in, they'll do it no matter.
Third, if they come to a house with an unlocked door, they will most likely think that someone is there, and go for another house.
About alcohol, it varies between countries, in the Vodka Belt we binge drink, I'm a beer person myself but in general people in Scandinavia, Poland, Russia, the Baltics drinks hard liquor until they pass out.
I thought us Dutch drank a lot until I met a group of Swedes in Austria when I was a teenager… when it was time to go downhill with the sleds, none of them could stand anymore 😂
You guys also have some weird drinking games!
@@anouk6644 I don't know of any drinking games, but we have the ritual of singing a song before gulping down the liquor
@@matshjalmarsson3008 They did that too! Then two would stand on a table, put 2 or 3 tampons in their mouths and the first who could gulp down a half liter beer was the winner. Did I mention it was a weird one 😅
Our drinking game was drinking a quarter liter beer, run through the snow for 5 meters, put your forehead on a skipole, turn 10x and run back… sort of.
@@anouk6644 Ahh, that thing about drinking a bit and putting your forehead against a pole/wooden stick, turning around, and running to another pole, and repeat I remember from my teens
Yep, here in belgium you can basically walk into college. It's how i did it. Decided on a whim that i'd go into engineering around 5 days before the semester started and I signed up. Of course it still costed some money, i think a little over 1000 euros to enroll and then theres all the books and stuff that cost money, but there was no pressure or stress that i might not get into the university or the course, and i got into a university that's internationally regarded as pretty solid. And of course the price is still miles below what it is in the UK and the US.
Regarding the enrollment: Here in Germany your Abitur grade (somewhat equivalent to high school diploma) is what you need to get into university. This is differentiated by major. Medicine might require an 1.3 or better, mechanical engeneering might require 2.2 or something. Some majors are without this hurdle. Once you meet the criteria, you apply, are accepted, and thats it: you study for free. There's no anxiously waiting for an acceptance letter. You know what you can do with your final grade and if it is within the criteria, you're just in. You can also wait and do something else like an apprentaceship and for every semester you wait, your score requirement lowers by 0.1. So if you had a 1.5 but want to study medicine with a requirement of 1.3, you can jst wait a year and are automatically accepted then. All the most prestigious universities are public here, so the same requirements apply. Private universities are seen as a place where you can buy your degree with money rather than earning it, which is why graduating from those is usually seen as a lesser accomplishment than graduating from public uni.
@mcjibin To apply for college in Portugal you have to have an average to get in.
For example, grades vary between 0 and 20, and for to enter medicine your average has to be above 18.
Of course there are college tuition, but it's not as absurd as it is in the USA.
You also have private colleges, and they pay well and the average grade is much lower and only one pritave college in Portugal has medicine.Greetings from a Portuguese
Regarding the educational system, I guess it depends of the country. For example, in France most of the universities are free but for specific areas you better go to a private school (for business). To enter the best business school, you need first to enter a prep school that is really really difficult and then pass a very selective exam. The same goes for ENA (the school for politicians and high state administrators) or ENS (the most prestigious school in France).
Also, for most of the master degrees in Uni, you need to have a certain grade to enter them.
We also have more "technical" and specialized schools you can enter before high school. There, you learn a specific job. Idk if you have smth similar in the US.
Regarding university, speaking for Belgium here... there's no entry requirements (anyone can go, except for doctors I think, you need to pass an entry exam). Uni costs 1000 euro per year. If you think about it, that's super affordable, you basically earn this in one month during summer doing a student job.... cool! Thanks Belgium. Yet, I just totally messed up my uni years, lol.
13:41 To enroll in a university, it is usually enough to pass the entrance exam
but good grades are also required (they carry up to 30% of the enrollment points)
and if you are above the enrollment line (ranking list), the state will pay for your education
if you are below the line, you can always pay for your education at that faculty yourself
When he says schooling is free, it doesn't mean you can freely access to any school. it means you have to enroll in a school (depending of the places) to access, but you won't pay. But there is also some "private" schools or university that are not free. For those you have to pay to enroll.
In Belgium you can enroll in any university if you have a high school diploma. Some subjects do have an entrance exam (eg medicine) but most don’t. Higher education is not free, but fees are nowhere near as high as in the US, plus you can apply for subsidies if your (your parents’) income isn’t high enough.
Interesting thoughts. With education, growing up in the Netherlands and living in Switzerland I know both educational systems rather good. The prerequirements to go to university are prety high since there are more levels of high schools and only the "Gymnasium" like will get you a ticket to the university. And that is much tougher than the everage high school. However in both countries I lived you can switch if you don't like it without big financial impact. However if you don't get your degree within a certain amount of time there are penalties, but not comparible with the costs you would have in the US. Pro for the US are there top ranking universities. Harvard, MIT, Yale or Stanford are extremely good. But generally spoken, the level of universities in Europe is very high, depending on country they can be for free or like the ETH here less then 2000 dollars a year, and that is a prety good university also on international rankings. Personally I think universities should select on talent not on money and everybody should have to possibility to change his mind and start a second study. I didn't like you no what to study when I was young, and like you I made a mistake and spoiled a year. What I like also especially here in Switzerland, is that they don't forget to invest on quaiity in "lower" education systems. The level of technical school, healthcare school etc. is also very high and you really are someobody in Switzerland if you are a trained nurse, electrician or dental assistant and they get also good salaries.
About university, in Portugal you have to choose 6pairs of universities/degree. Then the system gathers all the aplications and you are placed acording to your grades in the 12°grade national exams. You are given a number and its done anonymously.
Yes, there is a sort of appliance recommend a) it's not your choice where the next free place for your choice is offered.b) the n.c ( numerus clausus) is mandatory for some studies. But there are always ways to...go around them.
Be aware that Europe is not same everywhere. Soutern countries tend do be a bit laid back due to easier climate etc. Norhern nations had to work harder simply to survive (due to colder climate for example) so working harder is more important in their culture. Anyway Portugal is more on "laid back" side of Europe.
Schools. I think there’s a bit of confusion there where in the US you can refer to university as school or college. In Europe school doesn’t refer to university really, but it can refer to specific sectors within a university Eg the political science school.
The simplest way to see it is school is education before university and then university (or college in Ireland) comes after school, and usually involves admittance tests etc based on final school exams.
And then university costs depend on the country - some countries have free university, some charge a fortune (the UK). And student housing costs vary across Europe a lot as well. It’s just very different in different European countries.
For school, in general education is free or very cheap. Unless you go to a private school or an international school, where fees can be high. I went to a catholic grammar (high) school in Northern Ireland and we basically didn’t have any costs - education was free. I was lucky with university - got into Edinburgh uni the last year of £1000 per per year fees. The year after it went up to £3000 and now I think it’s £10,009 upwards if you’re from the UK. Pre-Brexit, education for EU students in Scottish uni’s was the equivalent of what a Scot paid (which was 0 when I went to university), whereas other UK students paid the UK student rate. This was reciprocal across the EU. You paid the equivalent in EU member states as your home fees (if the EU university was cheaper you paid the cheaper rate - Scots always paid nothing). Other international students had fees between £10-20,00 per year in UK universities. Now that applies to all EU students too. So you see fewer EU students at UK universities and more UK students in EU universities now post-Brexit.
It always sounds funny for me when Americans spoke about how they are "hard-working guys" "10 hours a day" compare to Europe where we don't work that much and have paid vacation ...
I've worked with an US kid who came in Paris to learn French culinary, who already works in some fast-food in the US, and thinking he knows what was "hard work".
Damn we left him traumatized.
In Czechia, you obviously have to enroll in university to attend it, but your high school grades or extra activities don't usually matter much. There are entrance exams that you have to pass and sometimes you can get extra points if you got high grades on your graduation exam or if you have some kind of certificate related to the subject (like a language certificate for example). There are schools that are considered more prestigious, but the enrollement process is pretty much the same. You don't need resumes or extracurriculars or anything like that. Your high school years are summed up in your graduation exam grades and most universities don't even really care about that, as long as you actually graduated.
To clarify Connor - free education does not mean no standards and that any idiot gets in. You have to apply, you have to be offered a place at the university dependent on getting the grades they say. In my case it was an offer dependent on achieving ABB in my A levels. I surpassed that and achieved AAB, and thus went to one of he best universities in the country (University of Sheffield) and the world.
McJibbin, usually during high school you choose the type of course or professional route you want, so if you need this or that subject to the course you want to get into, you choose that area. You have mandatory exams during your high school on specific areas like Portuguese and Maths, and those of the area you are in. The average "note" you have is according to your high school average and the exams and or specific exams, each public university issues the vacancies and averages to enter the specific course and you apply, these averages are issued by the State with the data of the public universities and the needs in services, so the state might decided to lower the average "note" to enter a specific area to allow more people to be trained as doctors, engineers, whatever is needed. After finishing high school, you can also apply to professional courses in several areas in public institutes, or to a private university, were, in private universities, you pay commercial tuitions that are, I can say, accessible. But tuitions in public universities follow the same standard we use in other services, you pay according to your household income, so a poor student might not pay any tuition at all and a rich kid will pay a full tuition that is also accessible to anyone. The only issue we still have is the lack of sufficient university dorms and the high price of housing for students.
I earn an average pay and I paid about 22 euros last year for my "visit" to the ER that included doctor examination, blood works, xray, and other exams and about 12 euros in the pharmacy, and all my exams were registered in my NHS data base and copies of the exams were given to me printed so I can use them in the future. Waiting times in the NHS are vary, some people are still used to old systems of going straight to the hospital instead of going to the local health center, but its getting corrected. Bottom line no one goes without care if they cannot afford it, during the covid pandemic we even vaccinated illegal migrants, Sweden did the same if I recall correctly.
With whatever occasional problems it as, our system works, and its objective is to the citizen to pay according to their income, and to provide health care first and ask questions later. And no, it is not perfect, and there are dangerous places in Portugal, all you need to do is follow the locals advise, but it is a calm place, and civilized, and we know how to eat, I worked in it up to my late twenties being a son, grandson, great grand son and onwards from bakers.
Also some of us are beer drinkers, I am, maybe because I am part German, but you have not experienced life if you have not drank a red wine from South Portugal or a Porto wine (bad wine usually give you headache if you mix it with other drinks or it is of inferior quality).
Nice video.
Winning a place at the university of your choice is pretty much the same criteria as in the USA; however; one tends to NOT worry too much about the cost even here in England where higher education is not free, but since it is subsidised and repayments are structured, it is considerably easier to deal with.
University question (answering from Sweden): Yes, you apply to schools, and there are more and less prestigious universities. However, the only thing that matters is your grades. Not if you play violin, volunteer, have an intriguing life story, or belong to any specific minority group. (Tbh, US applications seem absolutely ludicrous). Of course, the system is different if you're doing something practical (like playing an instrument or theatre). In general, you can get 6 years of paid student time (a monthly payout + a very good loan deal). If you want to study more, it's still free, but you won't get any payouts and aren't eligible for student loans.
Hello there! Yes, of course Europeans have to enrol and pass entrance tests to universities. Some courses are more popular than others, so those are more difficult to get into.
Some courses are easier to get into.
The difference to the U.S. is the MONEY, the outrageous costs of studying in the States. So, if you notice that you chose the wrong subjects, all you've lost is time (and that's no small thing of course), you won't be deep in debt, and you can choose something else to study and go on from there. Many students do, it's no big thing. They've got knowledge that may be useful in the future anyway.
If you don't get in into your chosen course the first time, you can always try again, and again, doing something else, like working, in the meantime.
Many university students work while they study to get some money for everyday expenses. Subsidized living quarters and lunches are available.
Special rates for transportation, entrance fees and so on are also available in some places.
The tuition itself is free for residents of the EU, but costs something for people outside of the EU, if I remember correctly...
In short, you're right in that there are entrance exams to pass. If somebody fails time and time again, they may choose to go to a vocational college instead (think MIT...). Finland is the land of academic-professional engineers and architects.
Btw, some 36% of the Finnish population have an academic Masters degree or something similar. Of a total population of some 5.5 million, that is quite a lot.
And it is one of the reasons for Finland's relatively fast change from a modest rural society into a high-tech, innovative Nordic welfare state.
Education is the Key...
In Sweden Universities are free, except for the literature you need (and your cost of living). But you still have to apply with your grades and they only accept the best that has applied. But you can apply in different groups: grades, results in a test called Högskoleprovet and you can also have previous worklife experience count to you adventage in some cases. But most are accepted on grades. But the difference from the US is that you don't have to be rich to go to the best University. You "only" have to have good enough grades.
So many Americans now, here in the UK. Today I asked a supermarket staff member for Brandy Butter, she said Brandy budder ? ( American), oh I don’t know, she said and asked two colleagues (English) no clue either… during the week two of my three home visits in one day were Americans one very nice guy one not well, a large gentleman quite normal to hear and meet Americans not visiting but living here.
85€ for premium insurance with pretty much anything included;
500$ for a below average insurance that had issues being accepted anywhere.
"Yeah, but how much do you guys pay in taxes to have free healthcare?"
A lot, but nowhere near enough to bridge that gap unless you're making high 5 digits a year through taxes alone, I can tell you that much.
Education cost is not the same all over Europe, depends from country to country. Here in Belgium: Basic and highschool each has a maximum cost per year a school can bill the parents allowed by our government. For highschool this is max 1500 euro per year. University the enrollment fee is about 2400 euro.
But if your parents have a low income they can apply for a government arranged kind of scholarship for these
In France for university it's almost free, you can go anywhere but for some school you need to pass a "concours" but usually it's a "commerce school or Ingenery school".
I choose to do 3 years of History (Bachelor's degree) at the university near my parents home like a lot of my friends. I was able to go to university even if my grade were C+/B- ; here you just need to have your high school degree.
For my master's degree (2years) I was able to go to Paris Sorbonne University to continue in history but I prefered to do law in another university.
Paris Sorbonne University is very well known in the world but for us it's not prestigious as you can think, everyone can go.
Conner, there is nothing wrong with fast food if it is made with real, untainted, food.
It's still full of fat though!
Nothing faster that a couple of free range eggs cooked in a variety of ways.
14:00 Yes we still have to enroll (at least here in France) but it s really cheap (one year of college cost me about 200 dollars, free for low income households). Here we apply through an internet site (garbage site but still gets the job somewhat done), afterwards universities decide on who they accept and who they refuse. Also we have a "right to continous education" which involves that if nobody accepts you in an university you still have the right to go to college and can arrange a way to still get accepted, happens a lot for graduate schools (not sure how its called, but when you graduate once and wanna keep studying a more precise topic)
You can change what you study really easily and some degrees that have similar subjects (like f.i. biology and medecine, stuff like that) allow to not restart from the beginning your new degree as long as you already studied that stuff.
The low cost allowed me to start a second degree last year after a failed work experience during Covid and i feel like that would never be an option for an american.
Education is not free everywhere in Europe. In the Netherlands people still have to pay 'schoolgeld' (schoolmoney) and pay for the books every year. Not exactly sure how much this is though. But going from that people have to pay for college/university too here. In my days it was about 2500 Euro for 1 college year. The way you get into college or university depends on your level.
High schools here got 3 levels, depending on the level you did you can get to college or university.
lower level ----> medium level HS or low tech 'college'
medium level ---> high level HS or medium level college
high level ---> college or university (depending on how high your level actually is)
So it mostly depends on what your intelligence level is.
In Italy healthcare is free but you pay a fee ranging from 25 to 45 euros for visits and tests at the hospital. if you are hospitalized, everything is free. the family doctor is free, you can go and be examined as many times as you want. the dentist is private, you pay for everything. you must consider that the employer pays the state almost 100% of the salary it gives to each individual worker. For example, if a worker earns 1,000 euros, the company he works for gives almost 1,000 euros in taxes to the state. the worker leaves 23% of his salary to the state. the highest tax rate reaches 36% for the richest incomes. Furthermore, there are taxes on consumer goods, VAT at 22%, and fuel is taxed at almost 100%. As you can see, all that glitters is not gold. in college you have to pay for the registration which I don't remember exactly the amount, but it's not huge. what it costs is: books and food plus accommodation. in Italy the college provides food at a low price but sleeping is your business. you have to find accommodation, which is not easy to find, and is usually expensive because those who offer it take advantage of it
Sounds funny an American describing going to Europe as a "gigantic risk". 😅
I think he meant selling up and taking a chance, or atleast I hope he meant that. I know what you mean though
In Norway... All schools are free and all have the same good learning system. The university which is free and private schools are equally good. Here it depends on whether your grades are good enough to get free education. Those with the best grades get into the university for free and those with a worse rate have to pay for private school.. if you go to a private school, you get help from the state with scholarship and good repayments deals.
11:33- That is one of the side efects of public healthcare that is not discuss in the US when talking about socialize health care.
Because the cost of treatment is in the state, the state is incentivize to invest in healthy options. We spend milions subsidize agriculture because we reap the benefit in healthcare cost.
13:26- I can´t talk for all Europe but in my country yes you also have enrolment criteria but only on universty. Every universty in country have a number of spots for a certain degree. In the end of the year high schoolsers apply to diferent universtys. Then each universty start to fil there spots starting withe the students withe better grades up until all spots are filed or there are no more applied students. So usualy the best Uni atract the best students and the best students try to enter in the best Uni.
13:55
*Education is not free everywhere in Europe, but probably way more affordable than the US (though I can't speak for all countries in Europe, I've only heard about a few here and there).
I'm from Belgium, I was in uni about 5-10 years ago, so the prices might not be up to date anymore. But at the time for a full year (60 credits) you paid a bit less than 1000 euros [11euros per credit + some other fees). Of course this does not include studying materials, some studies/years/uni's required more expensive ones than others. I remember in my first bachelor year I paid between 200-400 euros per semester for books, but for my master year I doubt I paid more than 150euros for the entire year. Most of the teachers in my master worked with their own PowerPoints that they just shared with us.
There is also a system regarding these credits, if you run out of credits, you pay more. A full year is 60 credits, a bacholar is 180credits (3 years). Courses get a certain amount of credits attributed to them depending on how much time/effort they require, so how 'difficult' or 'important' the class is (both the class hours as well as the expected extra time you need to spend at home for for example homework). At the start of your studies you get 140 credits. Let's say you follow the standard program, then you use 60 out of the 140 credits in the first year. If you pass the class, you get the credits back, if you fail, you loose the credits. So e.g. at the end of the first year you passed 11 courses but failed 2. One of the failed courses was 3 credits, the other 2 credits. That means you only get 55 credits back, so your total credit is only 135 credits. The following year you need to retake those classes + the classes of the second year (assuming you don't want to push some of your second year classes to the third year), so in the second year you invest 65 credits (and pay 5x11euros more). [There are also rules about getting double the credit points back for classes you passed in your first year, but I don't know the exact rules for this.]
This system encourages you to actually pass your courses and not keep failing them, because if you do, there will be a moment where your credits are gone and you will have to pay more for the education. Though it does leave quite a bit of leeway, failing a few classes here and there won't get you into big trouble.
*Regarding enrollment (again for Belgium). As long as you have a high school diploma, you can pretty much enroll in any studies.# Though you might be disencouraged to do so if your high school program does not correspond with the studies. If you have a very wide studies in high school, you can pretty mucht do everything. If you were in a direction with very little mathematics and you want to study 'Mathematics' in uni. Yes you can enroll but you will be disencouraged by everyone who gives you advice (e.g. your high school teachers) On top of that you will have a high chance of failing, because the university maths courses probably start at a higher level than what you did in high school, or it might start at your level but go really really fast over concepts that are difficult and new to you, but that are repitition for the people who had more maths classes in high school.
# Medical studies is an exception. There are only limited places for medical studies. during your last year of high school there is an exam you can take, that will determine if you can go on to do medical studies the next year or not.
I think for some art studies you need to do a project, but I'm not sure if they actually disallow you from enrollment depending on what you submitted. I think it's generally more to get an idea of who they are getting and to disencourage people who really don't below there.
Free school system means you don't need to pay for tuition. And yes to get to some schools there is of course entry requirements (you have to have certain grades etc), but you don't pay anything for tuition. And for primary school here also books are free, only expense than are pens and scratchpads.
Walking into a university -
When I had a copaine in Paris, I sat in with her in a lecture à la Sorbonne (which is something like Harvard).
I just walked in with her, no-one asked any questions, not even the professeur in the class.
About “free” education:
In theory, anyone could just walk into a university, sit in a lecture hall and listen to lectures. There is no one to stop you, there are no security guards, no check-ins etc.
Many pensioners have a lot of time on their hands and just enroll because it’s cheap and interesting.
In Germany I pay 85€ per semester now. It was 170€, but that also included a solidarity pay so that any student of the Uni can buy a semester ticket for public transportation. So you would pay the tuition and buy the transportation ticket and you could just go everywhere throughout the city by train, tram or bus.
Now we (in the state of Bavaria) have a 29€/month ticket for the entire public transport in Germany.
I don't know how other countries in Eu do this, but in Romania you can just walk in any university lecture and participate. You can't take exams or earn credits tho if you aren't registered
Italy here. About universities, you can enroll in any university you want, the exceptions are limited number degrees (medicine, for example). Let's say I want to enroll in medicine, I live in Tuscany and for my convenience I want to go to Pisa University. I have to take a national exam, but the position I get in the ranking is only applicable for the university where I took the exam. If the places available per year are for example 200 and I placed 250 I cannot attend medicine. I can try again the following year at the same university or another, but only one university at a time, cause the exam is held at the same time throughout Italy.
There are universities that can be considered more prestigious, but this does not mean that they are harder, or other universities that are easier. Some universities are better for certain degrees, others for other degrees.
We go at the university right after high school and the level of education is that of your universities (your college is more similar in level of education to our high schools).
To obtain a high school diploma we must take a series of exams at the end of 5 years (4 days in total). Three written exams that are the same throughout Italy: 1st day essay; 2nd mathematics/economics/foreign language or other, depending on the type of school attended;
3rd a series of open questions (we don't use cross tests, ever) on the subjects that are part of the course of studies (history, geography, foreign language, law... it depends).
Then there is the oral exam which concerns the discussion of a thesis prepared by the student which has a central topic chosen by the student trying to connect together as many subjects as possible that are being studied (I used the topic of "from student revolts to the years of lead" and I managed to connect mathematics, Italian literature, English, French, history, law and economics), the commission of professors can ask questions at its discretion.
The sum of the marks obtained in the individual exams consists of 75% of the final mark, the remaining 25% is the school average for the year (60/100 is the minimum to be promoted). There are many other things, but I don't want to be more boring than I already have been
Depending on what you wanna study and i what country. I m dutch we do pay for college and University its only a couple of thousend dollars a year if you don't go to a private one (wich there aren't very many of).
O and the "public" ones are really good. Now some study's have a yearly limit then your grades give you a better chance in the lottery you have to enter. For the other ones if you had the right subject or if you pass the exceptence exame you can enroll.
I can only speak for Norway, but yes, you do have to apply for college and such. It's not entirely about grades though, it's a point system and various things gives you points, like work and age, as well as how you did in school. Like if you're fresh out of high school you need another tree years of math, language, science, etc, before you get enough points to apply for college. But if you're an adult you can do these in one year and skip some of the courses. And you automatically get points for being older, like over 30, and so on, because it's assumed that by then you've accumulated a lot of this knowledge on your own.