Poll and why an American education is better, even if it sucks

Some of you remembered my blue electric guitar and voted accordingly. The thing is, the right answer depends on what you define as ownership. The first guitar I ever carried out of a shop was actually black. It was a Fender Squire Stratocaster and I hated it. I "owned" it for a week before I realized something was wrong with the nut that caused the B string to buzz a little. It bugged me. I took it back and exchanged it, payed a little more, and walked out with my beloved, blue Ibanez G10, complete with the rainbow guitar strap.

If you're the one who voted black, don't get too excited, because I do, in fact, consider the blue Ibanez to be my first guitar. It's the one I sold for our wedding with the amp and pedals. For those of you who remembered the blue guitar, name all the pedals I had and what brand my amp was and you get a post dedicated to you.

So, trying to plan a semester in Germany is again proving to be nothing short of ridiculous. Someday, I'm sure, they'll realize that America's user-friendly universities aren't user-friendly because american students need to be coddled and guided along in choosing courses to suit their needs, but rather because having a choice in courses (and lots of them) and allowing easy interdisciplinary study is key to obtaining an education worth having. Granted, the german educational system, as good as it CAN be, consistently fails to provide students of all ages with choices that allow them to shape their own future. That's the major drawback to an even somewhat social government. Just so you all don't think I'm socialist after that post last year, I don't support a socialist system for the simple reason that it just doesn't work with us imperfect humans. I think some important elements of a socialist ideal would help some of America's problems, but no help is worth the cost of what a child would have become without being told from 4th grade onward what their academic potential is, and therefore what their future position in society will be. So, since Germany does do that to a point, I suppose it's understandable that interdisciplinary study, a choice of courses (i.e. times offered), and the ability to become what you want to at any point in your life isn't an option here. So, even if your education is mediocre, at least you have a choice in what and how you study. We Americans are silly, aren't we.