6 More Things America Can Learn from England

1. Night Life

In England, university students hit the clubs Monday through Thursday and then head to the nearest house party Friday and Saturday when the older, professional crowd that works during the week overtakes the clubs. American students, we really have no idea of what we are missing. Frat Row does not count or compare.

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2. Co-ed Living

Boys and girls live together both in university housing and in off-campus housing. Co-ed living is more realistic and more fun than single-gender living, and despite southern beliefs, it is not uncomfortable nor does it create a hothouse of sexual tension and fury where cream has to be scraped off the walls.

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3. Less Academic Output

In England, I put forth one-fifth of the work I put forth in America at BSC. Class met only once a week, assigned weekly readings, and required only one presentation and one essay at the end of the semester. Despite this reduced course-load, I learned and retained more from most of those classes than I have from many of my American classes at BSC, because I actually had time to learn and to process the material instead of constantly stressing about churning out relentless, unindicative results in the form of quizzes, tests, and the God-forsaken unending stream of papers.

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4. Blind-Friendly Notes

In England, what Americans call dollar bills are called notes, and in England, each note is a different size corresponding to its amount: a twenty pound note is bigger than a ten pound note which is bigger than a five pound note and so on. The indicative sizes make the notes blind-friendly, and blind-friendly makes the world a happier place. Yay.

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5. Pubs

Really? Does this one require an explanation? Okay, okay, here it is: food, drink, community.

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6. Drying Racks

What’s highly unnecessary? Clothes dryers. Why? Evaporation. I did not meet a single English house with a clothes dryer. All clothes were dried on drying racks placed outside during summer or placed over a radiator during winter. Saves electricity; saves money; better for the environment.

My backyard in Birmingham, UK spring 2011

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