Major Differences Between U.S. and U.K.

By: Arianna Trevino

It was an eye-opener, listening to everything he said to me throughout our interview;
most of it was very opinionated but it helped me understand what his people go through. The
English are the targets of a lot of stereotypes and Britain is made out to be this terrible,
hierarchical society where people arent happy, when in reality, Britain is so much better
economically and societally than the U.S.
At first we spoke of how the differences in schooling and jobs are, which was very
fascinating at how their schooling is shorter than ours, and it continued into politics and
government.
Their schooling has a total of 13 years and the names for the various levels of schooling
differ greatly from ours, such as high-school is known as Senior School. They also dont learn
about America or the history between Britain and America.
They also have a different minimum wage being 6.70 which turns into $8.92.
We spoke about politics and cultural norms such as the difference in the US having a
Republican Democracy and the UK having a strict Democracy. The monarchy also no longer
exists, now being used only for tourism.
Some interesting differences I found about the two countries are the celebrated holidays,
the cultural differences, and religion. Religion isnt a widely practiced norm nor is it forced upon
people or so widely idealized and advertised as it is in the US. They also dont celebrate as
many holidays as us, having only celebrated New Years day, Valentines day, Mothers Day, St.
Patricks day, Easter, April Fools day, Halloween, and Christmas.
Some different cultural differences are the different foods we eat, different sizes based
on food/drink sizes, we call items different names, they dont have as many health issues in the
UK. They have more education than us, more technologically advances, cheaper prices, a
better economy, and an overall better society.

It was very educational and interesting to talk about, especially since Ive never actually
wondered what life is like elsewhere nor tried to imagine living in a different region. I learned
many things such as that soda is considered fizzy, high-school is called senior school, their
large drinks are equal to our medium drinks - which makes me realize why Americans have so
many health issues - and the minimum wage difference especially.