Check the following link which says Switzerland has slipped down in the list of best places to live :

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_ne...l?cid=28710122

That is in part to the inclusion of length of obligatory schooling !!!! I really dont understand!

I thought USA is the best country to live? seriously Europe? those numbers are a joke..

If they actually started to teach kids to read and write from 5 years old instead of 8 it would solve the problem. Why do they waste so much of a kids life doing just drawings and learning the name of the offspring of every type of animal that lives or ever lived in the area of Switzerland? It is criminal.

Well, the idea behind it is to make them easy enough to work with. Obedience, cooperation, team work...I disagree. A good teacher will master all this while teaching kids numbers, letters, reading and writing, age appropriately. I think it does demotivate kids, teaching them to tame their inquisitive nature and creativity, but we are not there yet ourselves, our child is 4. We started feeding alphabet and writing, numbers to our child when she asked for it, a few years ahead, trusting her to behave in school later on. Teachers say kids get bored when they come to school already knowing this, but I say we expect too little from teachers..Raise the bar, give kids chance to compete with foreign schooling.

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“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

Say what? Are you kidding me? I'm still trying to understand the whole schooling system here (Gymnasium et al). I had no idea they start teaching them to read and write so late. Is this really true?

This question is a joke......

This basically says that the local Swiss are becoming less educated, which means that if you are a more educated foreigner, then your value goes up.

OT: Swiss education system described here in EN.

PDF diagram here.

Hi Meisie,

No that is not entirely true, I have a 7 year old in 3rd grade :-)

They don't teach to kids to read to 8 more like 6-7. Anyway, it's still in debate whether teaching kids to read at 5 has any benefits at all.

Art and creative expression are also important to child development.

Criminal? Wow.

Here we go again.......

Yet another fantasticallly peculiar index of supposed great places. I mean in all honesty out of all the countries on all the continents with all the climates in the world who in their right mind would agree with Norway being the number 1 country to live? I mean really!? And then Netherlands... eh, Denmark, Germany

I think these lists must be dreamed up by Pim Fortuyn types.

Me........er...what's wrong with Norway??

this study is rubish (like all other studies who try to compare quality of life). if the ranking is based on things like school years but doesnt take into account the fact that some countries have a Dual Education System i just cant take it serious.

I am guessing it probably has something to do with the 'repetition', or repeating a grade, which is done here all the time. I believe canton Vaud has the highest repetition, something like 40%, and most cantons do not limit the amount of times a student can repeat, so some are just held back until they finally pass.

If it is any indication, if you have read the swiss news today about the Geneva school students, secondary school that is, that were arrested in Rome in recent days for violence, etc. and being held in Italian prison, they were 17, 19, and 20. I was quite shoked at the age for secondary school, most 19-20 year olds are generally more than part way through university in many places.

They are students of the Commercial school of Geneva and not of a secondary school.

Comparing different education systems is fascinating. I was educated to Bac+1 here, then did Hons Degree in UK - and worked intensively with France, Germany and Italy. All systems have their strengths and weaknesses - and all suit some students better than others. It is true that formal education (reading, maths, etc) in Switzerland starts later than in the UK, and that students here generally can leave from year 10 - but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Repeating a year can be very helpful, and/or humiliating and discouraging (one of my school friend committed suicide aged 13 as he daren't tell his parents he'd fail the year)- again depends on the case. There is definitely no 'one size fits all'. I would have hugely benefited from the UK A'Level style - as I would be unable to write down on the back of a stamp anything I 'learnt' in maths, chemistry and physics for the Bac! - but would have loved to do another language or two, and some subjects like sociology and performing arts instead.
I was lucky to have a brother who was a science genius who somehow got me through the exam - I then 'buried' the lot as deep as I could.

Even if the rumours about the year 2012 ever comes true ............I wish that my resort on last days of the earth be in some Swiss tunnel with nuclear bunkers sitting on a 30yrs reserve of food and medicine.

Because when the doomsday would be over,CH would still be the best place on earth.

I prefer the prosperity index as it looks at overall factors that lead to wealth and wellbeing. And they explain their rankings too.

http://www.prosperity.com/default.aspx

Switzerland doesn't fare well here for education either. But they are tops for governance.

Specific details on Switzerland:

http://www.prosperity.com/country.aspx?id=SZ

I too question the accuracy of the ratings - New Zealand only managed 3rd