Is the grass really greener?

[Loosehead]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5237236.stm

[Boo Boo]

IMO, the grass really is greener. I emigrated to Australia and would agree with the BBC poll that the reason I moved was "...a better quality of life, better weather and a feeling that the UK is too expensive." Also the anti-social culture in the UK was a major factor in my decision to emigrate.

[fee-is-me]

Presumably it depends on the individual and what they make of their circumstances.

My brother went to Australia about 10 years ago after an illness and wanted a few months of relaxation. He met a lovely Aussie girl and they eventually settled down together.

The problem they now have is that he does not want to come back to the UK to live as he hates it here (the weather and the thought of coming back and doing the same sort of job he was doing before he went away - although why he would 'need' to do that, i don't know) but she hates Australia - loves coming here, rain or shine, loves the people and says that as long as she isn't in London, the people here are far friendlier than back home.

Lol... they are actually desperate to live in the other's home country. At the moment he is winning...

[Clanad]

The answer from fee affirms the old adage that, while the grass may indeed be greener... it still needs mowing...

[ugly_bob]

It's not necessarily that the grass is particularly green anywhere else, just that it seems a nasty deathly brown over here.

[cameo]

The grass is not greener...
It's just a different shade of green!

[mimififi]

Hi Loosehead;

Not sure is the grass definately is greener, but I travelled around alot as a child and lived in a couple of different countries also. Now as a mummy myself, my husband is possibly being offered the opportunity to work in Japan for several years. This idea appeals to me as i spent so much of my time in Asia Pacific and I do love that whole area. Also, my daughter has been learning Japanese for a few years and is quite proficient now. I think it would be good for her to improve her language so that when it comes to UCAS, she can apply for a more poplular course but with japanese, thus hopefully giving her the edge over more boring peers.

However, the thing that really appeals is that i would send my under fives to Japanese kindergarten and then schools and be confident that they were actually being taught. Then there are the crime rates; the visible policing of streets, the cleanliness, the attitude to working, i.e that you do, experience of a different country, and the opportunity to work myself (visa permitting) as a language teacher, in which I am trained.

I am dissillusioned with Britian and don't really know what we stand for here anymore. None of the values that I consider important seem to be being upheld any longer and i fear for the future of this country. The stat's speak for themselves i guess, the ruling parties are driving out a large proportion of Britons through the poor standards that they are endorsing.

Is the grass greener? i think the problem here is that there isn't any grass anymore.

[bancodegaia]

mimififi - I don't understand - you proclaim that children who don't speak Japanese are More Boring, yet you want your really intersesting child to go to University here (seeing that you're looking at UCAS). Why don't you and your interesting child go off to Japan and study there? - surely the grass is greener there?

[mimififi]

provocative, banco. Not my choice to go to Uni here, frankly, I cant think of anything worse. It is my daugter's choice; she plans to read the law at Oxford which is just a tad on the over applied for side.

Looshead asked if the grass was greener, I replied with my opinion using my personal experiences as a mother, teacher and citizen of Britain. At the moment, such is the state of education here that I feel I need to home educate my children in order for them to actual come to the other end with a good level of Ed. From what I've seen in schools here from ones I've taught in and ones that I am in catchement for, I wouldnt' send a dog there. I resent the fact that I feel that I have no other option than to home educate when I pay more than enough tax to have a decent E.S. And schooling is just the tip of the iceburg. My local 5 star hospital, which is a beacon teaching hospital and reclaimed internationally is being downgraded with serious services axed, services like maternity, childrens surgical, A&E etc because it is not financially viable.

And who knows, in 8 years time, maybe we won't be looking at Oxford at all, if the uni situation continues and the standard of degrees here (which has been dumbed down over recent years to account for the dumbing down in standards in school at alevel and gcse)continue to decrease, maybe we'll be looking at Harvard. If the country carries on the way it is going, I wouldn't be surprised in the least.

And please don't ever be so disrespectful as to talk about someone elses children with such a scathing tone again.