Considering Education...

The Low Down This is a hot topic for debate, and depending on how you view things the result is different. The big difference between the public Canadian versus American system is that Canadian education tends to be quite consistent across the country. American schools however drastically range in quality, which is why when people are moving to another city a big factor in house location is dependent on where they find the good schools. I'm not really sure what the reason for this is. My vibe on the situation is that in Canada the provinces have a lot of control over how education is implemented. So you have set standards across the province. In the States it seems to be much more localized, where a lot of the school budget comes from the local cities budget. So, poor areas tend to have bad schools due to funding issues. Which is one of the reasons there's such a divide in the States between rich and poor. If you grow up in a poor area, you get a bad education, and it's immensely difficult to break out. Canada's education is fairly good, and better then the average school in the United States I think. But where Canada's level can be used as a baseline, American schools can be worse, but they can also be much better. So if you play your cards right you can find schools that are exceptional (IE in the really good areas). The one thing about the U.S is that if you've got the money, you can always get better. Unlike Canada which is socialist (mild version of communism), everyone gets the same thing. If that 'same thing' is good, then no problem. But if that 'same thing' is bad, everyone gets screwed. When it comes to higher education, the United States clearly dominates. Canada has almost no well known schools, it has no IVY league schools, has no A or B level MBA schools, or MBA schools that are even ranked and recognized internationally. The universities in the United States are a lot more well funded by gigantic corporations funding research projects and aren't reliant on the Government for their budget. One 1999 broad study shows that the United States and Canada are pretty much the same when it comes to education, with the U.S having a slight edge. Though in any case, neither country dominated.