It might not be completely on topic with the thread, but I (personally) don't think it's that far off. I had a couple of friends from my lagere school (like mi

It might not be completely on topic with the thread, but I (personally) don't think it's that far off. I had a couple of friends from my lagere school (like middle school and elementary wrapped in to one) which I attended at Lagere school Prinsstraat in downtown Antwerp that went to a beroupsschool (like a career college but starting younger during high school years). So I know there was a big difference in their lives both during their school years, and I would even venture to say their current lives. I think the atmosphere of a beroupsschool would be a lot more like the high school I went to in Colorado. Unfortunately I don't have any experience with universities from either side so I'm not sure how those would compare. On the note of bullying; My father is American while my mom is Belgian; when I was younger (from age 1 through age 12) we moved around a lot - from country to country and then from state to state. When my parents separated, I moved back to Belgium with my mom and I experienced tons of discrimination for being the "American". When I moved to the States at the age of 14/15, I was discriminated for being the "Belgian". I don't think there was much difference in that aspect at least form my personal experience. In the end I think the educational system in the US has a lot of room for improvement, and as it was 15 years ago, the material being taught was at least 2 years behind the material I was being taught back in Belgium.