@ShaggyJebus
America is very different. There are basically three types of high schools: 1) Public, which differ depending on the area but usually suck ass; 2) Private, which accept anyone as long as they pay the money (and are usually Christian-based); and 3) Magnet, which are for the really smart kids, though a magnet high school in the States may only be as good as a regular high school in another country
Doesn't seem all that different...We have three kind of HS's here too:
1)Public
2)Private
3)Selective (you do an examination in your final year of primary, you put in preferences and if you do well enough you get in)
For one, high school is mandatory is the US, so there can't really be tests to let people in or refuse them. Because of this, and the fact that high school students are teenagers (and the teenage years are when kids rebel the most), a lot of students don't want to be there.
High School is mandatory here too. I'm guessing public HS also has a high percentage of people who doesn't want to be there.
Then there's of course the shitty work ethic that almost the entire US has. Put those all together, and you end up with a crappy high school experience where you don't have to really do anything.
Our teachers seem fine, other than the odd one or two who probably got through Uni with means other than study if you know what I mean.
Finally, after you have a crappy high school experience, if you go to college, you're going to be overwhelmed because college is usually serious business. A student in college will face five times the amount of work he did in high school.
Here, good experience doesn't make it any better. I'm more stressed than I am for my University exam on an average basis.
America may be the "best country in the world," but we suck at a lot of things. It's no wonder so many people don't bother with college and just find work straight after high school.
only in terms of raw numbers.