Am I The Only One Who Didn't Know This?

Vienna has the best quality of life of any world city

. The 2010 Mercer survey of 221 cities considered such things as political stability, crime, economy, health services, air pollution, transportation, housing, climate and social activities. As for U.S. cities, Honolulu was #31; San Francisco, #33; and Boston, #37. However, the U.S. did much better on Mercer's "eco-city" survey which considered water, waste removal, sewage, air pollution and traffic congestion. Calgary was #1, but Honolulu was #2; Minneapolis, #6; Pittsburgh, #13; and Washington, #23. It seems U.S. cities aren't as livable, but they're cleaning up their act.

When it comes to the most polluted world cities, a 2008 World Bank survey found 16 of the world's 20 worst were in China. Linfen, a coal mining and manufacturing center in Northern China, was #1. Because of the large amount of coal produced and consumed there, toxic smog hangs over the city, creating an air quality equivalent to smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day. Although no U.S. cities were among the top 20, studies have shown particulate matter from China's mines and factories reaches across the Pacific Ocean to North America's West Coast - a fact preventing us from breathing easy.

Of the world's 33 richest, developed countries, the U.S. is the only one without legally required vacation for workers. The English have 20 days; the Italians, 22; and the French, 30. Denmark, Germany and Switzerland have had national vacation laws for decades and Denmark's 5 weeks of mandatory vacation applies to every worker. In the U.S. the average worker receives 9 vacation days. Twenty-five percent of full-time workers and 66% of part-time workers receive none. Considering only 10% of U.S. workers take a full 2 weeks off, paid vacation is something workers need to work on.

What the United States has been working on is the "Common Core State Standards", which were released June 2, 2010. With the encouragement of the federal government - but not its involvement - states worked together to establish what students should have learned by the time they graduate from high school. Using the agreed-upon standards states will revise their curriculum and tests to make learning more uniform across the country. Kentucky, Hawaii, Maryland, West Virginia and Wisconsin have already adopted the standards and another 40 states are planning to adopt them. That leaves 5 states. It seems regarding education were not the "united states".

by: Knight Pierce Hirst

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