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| This year, about 2,300 teenagers from all over the world will spend about 10 months in US homes. At the same time about 1,300 American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new languages and learn the rest of the world. Here is a 2-way student exchange in action. Fred,19, spent last year in Germany with George's family. In turn, George's son Mike spent a year in Fred's home in America. Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived. But after 2 months of studying, the language became easy for him. School was completely different from what he had expected and it was much harder. Students rose respectfully when the teacher entered the room. They took 14 subjects instead of 6 that were usually taken in the US. Family life, too, was different. The father's word was the law. All the activities were done with the family rather than individually. Fred found the food to be too simple at first. He also missed having a car. "Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out to have a good time.In Germany, you walk but you soon learn to like it ." At the same time, in America, Mike,a friendly German boy, was also forming his own ideas. "I suppose I should criticize American schools" he says, "It is far too easy for our level but I have to say that I like it a lot. In Germany, we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many other activities. I think that maybe American schools are better in training their citizens. There ought to be some middle ground between the two." 1 between American school life and German school life  |