Question to Brits

[Wrath of Dagon]

You will find that UK house prices are heavily predicated on the quality of the local schools, if you see a bargain the first question you need to ask yourself is 'whats the local school like?'.

That's the case in the US also.

[Amentep]

I wish I was a Brit. :'(

 

Working on the accent. I still need to buy the monocle and get the whole "stick out pinky finger while drinking tea" thing down. It's a work in progress. Already have the tophat.

 

Surely, you'll need a bowler?

 

I have a friend who moved to the UK (the catch is his wife is from England) and I've known a few people who've been stationed there over the years. They all seem to like or liked it while they were there.

[Nepenthe]

France and Italy are lovely, but the French hauteur might drive you nuts, and the Italian way of life (and I love Italy) although great means putting up with Italian local government. Which will drive you mad. At least here everybody will understand you.

 

Assuming you want your children schooled in English, you'll generally have to part with a rather sizeable chunk of dough in non-native English speaking countries. Of course, that's "sizeable" when compared to, say, "completely free", so YMMV.

[vault_overseer]

No France or Italy as countries of residence. I want to be able to understand people around me.

 

As of residency in UK, it's not a problem for a US citizen - just have to leave every 6 months(our friends just spend weekends in spain of france). the biggest issue is taxes, but I'm still looking into that.

[Raithe]

I know Reading is supposed to be one of the IT heavy areas in the country.. A lot of Software/Hardware companies seem to be around that area..

[Syraxis]

It's hard and expensive to find a decent school and even then, no one seems to be interested in developing creativity and independent thinking in children.

 

My cousin teaches in one of the local public schools and she can't seem to find anything impressive either; whether it's concerning the facility or the students themselves (though to be fair she blames their behavior on lack of parental supervision).

 

I've decided long ago to send my future kid(s) to private school, as I personally don't see the problems plaguing the public education system being properly mended in the next 10 - 15 years anyway.

[Monte Carlo]

...as long as you don't make a wrong turn and end up in... (whisper it) Swindon.

[Syraxis]

...as long as you don't make a wrong turn and end up in... (whisper it) Swindon.

 

The nation's armpit?

[vault_overseer]

It's hard and expensive to find a decent school and even then, no one seems to be interested in developing creativity and independent thinking in children.

 

My cousin teaches in one of the local public schools and she can't seem to find anything impressive either; whether it's concerning the facility or the students themselves (though to be fair she blames their behavior on lack of parental supervision).

 

I've decided long ago to send my future kid(s) to private school, as I personally don't see the problems plaguing the public education system being properly mended in the next 10 - 15 years anyway.

 

My son's godmother, who's one of my sources of anecdotal evidence to British school superiority, was a teacher in NJ, before going to work in England. She really hated it there and often described environment as jail-like.

[Gfted1]

As mentioned earlier, the quality of the schools in the US is based heavily on how affluent the town its in is. Richer towns (taxes) have more money to dedicate toward their school systems. If that is your major sticking point it would be much cheaper to send your child to a private school then to roll the dice on finding a "better school system" in another country.

[vault_overseer]

As mentioned earlier, the quality of the schools in the US is based heavily on how affluent the town its in is. Richer towns (taxes) have more money to dedicate toward their school systems. If that is your major sticking point it would be much cheaper to send your child to a private school then to roll the dice on finding a "better school system" in another country.

 

And yet, here is our beloved Chi-town with only two good public high schools and some of the highest taxes in the region. But anyway, schools are far from the only reason why i'm interested in moving to UK.

[Gfted1]

Come on out to Barrington, we'll get your son all snooty in no time, lol.

[vault_overseer]

Come on out to Barrington, we'll get your son all snooty in no time, lol.

 

Great, thanks for reminding me of suburbia:( There is nothing that I hate more about this country than suburbia

[Nepenthe]

As mentioned earlier, the quality of the schools in the US is based heavily on how affluent the town its in is. Richer towns (taxes) have more money to dedicate toward their school systems. If that is your major sticking point it would be much cheaper to send your child to a private school then to roll the dice on finding a "better school system" in another country.

 

My gut feeling is that in the U.S. the school district is either underfunded or hell-bent on teaching creationism.

[Wrath of Dagon]

I'm pretty sure US has the highest educational spending in the world, and no one teaches creationism.

[Syraxis]

My son's godmother, who's one of my sources of anecdotal evidence to British school superiority, was a teacher in NJ, before going to work in England. She really hated it there and often described environment as jail-like.

 

Where? Trenton? Newark?

 

As mentioned earlier, the quality of the schools in the US is based heavily on how affluent the town its in is. Richer towns (taxes) have more money to dedicate toward their school systems.

 

What also factors in is how said tax money is used by school admins/board members. Using my cousin in another example; she teaches in an upper middle class area yet the board allocates more funding into sports programs than into actual education material. For perspective reasons, their computer lab consists of a bunch of beige boxes with a mixture of pentium II & III's running '98. Yet take a look at the sport teams' equipment, quite the contrast.

 

To top it off, they spend a decent amount on a program that takes some students from one of the poorer municipals (not based on any type of aptitude according to her) and allows them to attend the schools in [her] district. Want to bet which students she has more headache stories of? That fraction of $ should be used to improve the facilities.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Syraxis

[vault_overseer]

I'm pretty sure US has the highest educational spending in the world, and no one teaches creationism.

 

The only problem is in the way those funds are spread. Also, a lot of the teachers are lazy and lackadaisical(check me out showing off)

 

 

Where? Trenton? Newark?

 

Not sure, but it was full of ghetto kids. Right now, she lives in Cambridge though. And while she loves the school she works at, she hates living in UK. But then, she was always the crazy one...

Edited July 27, 2010 by vault_overseer

[Gfted1]

My gut feeling is that in the U.S. the school district is either underfunded...

 

 

Oy, you've got that right, particularly in Illinois. Our state is challenging California in the race to see who can have the largest defecit and our schools are some of the hardest hit because of it. There is literally a sign posted to the front door of my daughter school which keeps a running tally of how far behind the state is on providing state funding, currently around half a million, iirc. And thats applies to every school in the state.

[Monte Carlo]

Right now, she lives in Cambridge though. And while she loves the school she works at, she hates living in UK. But then, she was always the crazy one...

 

Cambridge. Picturesque, interesting, cultured. And bloody windy. The wind comes across the fens like a whip, and doesn't stop. It's really flat out there (then again, you are from Chicago, the Windy City, right?). I prefer the western side of the UK TBH, and I'm originally from deepest Sarf Lunnon. As for schools, a country the size of the USA is inevitably going to have an amazing diversity of provision, from superb to disgraceful. You'd call it a zip-code lottery, what we call a post-code lottery.

 

It's strange for Americans to move here unless they are sent here for work reasons. Having said that, I've met a few (more Canadians TBH) and they all seem to like it. Unless they're from somewhere hot. I'd prepare myself, were I an American, for the following:

 

* Very long conversations about the weather. This cliche is completely true.

 

* Dreadful, prurient tabloid media that makes the National Enquirer look like the Washington Post

 

* No guns, well not very often and certainly not anywhere nice unless you happen across one of these wierd rural death-wishes we've had recently

 

* Football. Lots of football. Jesus I hate football, get into rugby it's far more interesting

 

* Excellent beer. Good wine is cheaper than you find in the States, too. In fact, get used to British drinking. The British are drunks, we will look at you strangely if you are not partaking...

 

* ... which brings me onto pubs. Find a good one, dig in, get known, enjoy and you won't go home. Literally.

 

* Old buildings. Yanks get really freaked out by the old buildings. My local church is Norman.

 

* Driving on the correct side of the road

 

* The Queen. Don't diss The Boss

 

* London. London is a post-modern Rome, a city state that is part Blade Runner, part 16th Century Venice and completely loopy

 

* Walking. We walk. We don't drive everywhere, mainly because that gets in the way of us having a drink

 

There's a starter for ten.

 

Cheers

MC

[Monte Carlo]

* Oh, and curry.

 

Forget the Indian claims about curry, ours is a bizarre Bangladeshi hybrid created to pander to the infantile British palate filtered through distant cultural osmosis from the Raj. And completely delicious, best enjoyed with a drink (q.v.)

 

Never had a good curry in the States. Never. Great Chinese food, but for some reason the Indian food isn't right there.

[Syraxis]

* Very long conversations about the weather. This cliche is completely true.

 

Care to give an example? I'm having trouble picturing a conversation between two people about weather that is longer than three sentences.

[Hurlshort]

So I live in the Bay Area, and apparently that isn't part of the US, because other than the school budget problems I have none of the issues you people are talking about. There are plenty of great schools in our area with great teachers. There are also a variety of different types of schools, magnets that focus on science, math, the arts, etc. There is also some pretty good Indian food.

 

I'd like to live in the UK, but it's because they have castles and cool historical places to visit.

[Monte Carlo]

^ Don't believe you about the Indian food.

 

Nicholas 'The Hardest Working Man in Hollywood' Cage has moved to Europe and keeps buying castles. Because he can. Like I say, Yanks love old buildings.

[Monte Carlo]

* Very long conversations about the weather. This cliche is completely true.

 

Care to give an example? I'm having trouble picturing a conversation between two people about weather that is longer than three sentences.

 

Me to Mrs. Monte: "Is it raining where your office is?"

 

Mrs. Monte: "No, but it looked like it might a minute ago."

 

Me: "****ing Meterological office. Sack the lot of them."

 

Mrs Monte: "What did the weather report say?"

 

Me: "Slightly cloudy, twenty degrees, no rain. It's bucketing down here" (I work about six miles away from my wife)

 

Mrs Monte: "I wonder what it's like down at my parents?"

 

Me: "Raining. I bet it's ****ing raining, despite the weather report. They didn't get the weather wrong for D-Day and that was almost 70 years ago."

 

Mrs Monte: "Calm down Monte, I think the sun's coming out over here..."

Rinse and repeat

Edited July 28, 2010 by Gorth
London accent may be harmful to sensitive ears

[vault_overseer]

Right now, she lives in Cambridge though. And while she loves the school she works at, she hates living in UK. But then, she was always the crazy one...

 

Cambridge. Picturesque, interesting, cultured. And bloody windy. The wind comes across the fens like a whip, and doesn't stop. It's really flat out there (then again, you are from Chicago, the Windy City, right?). I prefer the western side of the UK TBH, and I'm originally from deepest Sarf Lunnon. As for schools, a country the size of the USA is inevitably going to have an amazing diversity of provision, from superb to disgraceful. You'd call it a zip-code lottery, what we call a post-code lottery.

 

It's strange for Americans to move here unless they are sent here for work reasons. Having said that, I've met a few (more Canadians TBH) and they all seem to like it. Unless they're from somewhere hot. I'd prepare myself, were I an American, for the following:

 

* Very long conversations about the weather. This cliche is completely true.

 

* Dreadful, prurient tabloid media that makes the National Enquirer look like the Washington Post

 

* No guns, well not very often and certainly not anywhere nice unless you happen across one of these wierd rural death-wishes we've had recently

 

* Football. Lots of football. Jesus I hate football, get into rugby it's far more interesting

 

* Excellent beer. Good wine is cheaper than you find in the States, too. In fact, get used to British drinking. The British are drunks, we will look at you strangely if you are not partaking...

 

* ... which brings me onto pubs. Find a good one, dig in, get known, enjoy and you won't go home. Literally.

 

* Old buildings. Yanks get really freaked out by the old buildings. My local church is Norman.

 

* Driving on the correct side of the road

 

* The Queen. Don't diss The Boss

 

* London. London is a post-modern Rome, a city state that is part Blade Runner, part 16th Century Venice and completely loopy

 

* Walking. We walk. We don't drive everywhere, mainly because that gets in the way of us having a drink

 

There's a starter for ten.

 

Cheers

MC

 

let's see...

 

TO start off, I'm not American, I'm Russian, but I've lived here since I was 15(will be 26 this year), finished high school and stuff. That being said:

 

1. My currently favorite TV shows are: Doctor Who(watched all of the nuWho, watching classics), Green Wing/IT Crowd/Black Books, Top Gear and Skins(first two seasons)

2. My Favorite beer right now is Samuel Smith's lager

3. I really like steak and ale pie.

4. I like EPL(even though it does look like volleyball sometimes)...

5. One of my favorite bars to visit is called the Globe and is one of the best football bars in the country. It's owned by an Englishman and a Scotsman and on Saturday morning, during EPL is filled to the brim with British expats. Love those chaps.

6. I also like walking, old buildings(I live in a historic neighborhood, although here historic means 100 years) and whiskey(and by whiskey, i mean scotch, not bourbon)