Having returned from l'Universite de Sherbrooke in Quebec province in Canada and visited my friends at a couple of American schools, I have a few things to say about the education system. Primarily that I like Quebec's better.
In Quebec, primary and secondary school are followed by CEGEP (Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel) which is a two-year (or sometimes three-year) program. It's kind of like community college, in that you go after secondary and there are public ones everywhere. At CEGEP, there is a pre-university track and a vocational track. University is then typically 3 years to get a Bachelor-equivalent degree. I like this system because it means that there is more cultural respect for those who choose not to go to university- the choice is built right into the system. Also, everybody comes into university with a better idea of what they want to do (at least, it seemed that way to me). Finally, this also means that Quebec students generally hit legal drinking age (18) while living at home and in CEGEP. All these factors contributed to a university population that was slightly older and more mature than that of the American universities I am familiar with. Having lived in dorms here and there, the ones there are hardly ever filled with drunk freshman shenanigans; I can't tell you how often I felt the need to check that no-one was dying or yell at people to be quieter in Skidmore dorms.
That's just a bit of what I found interesting while abroad. I hope anyone still in finals here does well on all their exams.
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