The Underworked American
The Underworked American: Children are exceptions to the country’s work ethic. Yeah, no kidding. There is so much I could say about this…
I’m not sure if the “American work ethic” is so much better than the European one, though. Or at it applies at all here. If this was a matter of work ethic, you’d think that Americans would instill these values into their children. On average, this just doesn’t happen. The general consensus seems to be that it’s OK for kids to be lazy (or to have other vices, for which plenty of excuses are conjured up… but I won’t go into that right now).
The fact that Americans have to work more than Europeans, probably has to do with the way worker movements evolved. In most European countries, these movements fought for better worker rights. In the US, such movements were much weaker or non-existent, so as a result, Europeans tend to have more paid holidays, better unemployment compensation, etc. I think the current situation has more to do with that, than that Americans *like* to work hard.
By contrast, in Asian countries like Japan and Korea, working hard is generally considered “good” and admirable. Over here in the US, the feelings seem to be more mixed. Long work days are just something you have to put up with (mostly because you have no other choice). You can brag about it, but who really is envious?
On a side note, the article claims that “the average American gets only four weeks of paid leave a year”. Who actually gets that? I don’t think I know of a single person here who does. From what I have seen, you should be glad to get any paid vacation at all. But then again I’m in Florida; maybe the situation is better up north or in California.
(Also, I’m not sure about the lengths of the school weeks described here… 60 hours in Sweden? I’ll have to ask around to check if that is true…)
[Disclaimer: The above is simply based on what I've seen and experienced here in the US. And, I'm sure you like to work hard and your kid does too. Great! But I'm talking about the average American here. :-)]