My kid is just about to start school. I’m currently living in California where the state-mandated curriculum is… not terrible in terms of historical and political education. But I’m also in a fairly reactionary part of California.
Given how expensive it is to live here and the relative geographic freedom my job has, I’ve been contemplating if we should stay here. Doing my best to set my kids up to be leftists is pretty much #1 on my list.
So where do you all think is a good place to raise your kids to help them grow up to be leftists - both generally or specifically?
Fwiw this is one area where I do think it’s better to be around “liberals” than reactionaries. At least with liberals you tend to not have history lessons about how slavery was good actually and your kids feel social pressure to go to the evangelical mega church that all their friends go to.
Or maybe literally none of this matters, everywhere in the US is basically the same and I should just be where I feel I can be the best parent?
Edit: I should mention, I’m white and my kid is white so I think being in a diverse place is important too, admittedly California is pretty decent in that regard.
what country would you recommend for an english speaker?
I've only casually looked into this because my finances aren't anywhere near close enough to just pick up and leave but if you're looking for an English speaking country and you make a decent amount of money maybe Australia or New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, or Vietnam would probably be in my picks if you're willing to pick up the language.
NZ seems nice fs. i'm definitely open to a lot, though i think somewhere in the EU would have the least hassle for me. i'm lucky, my mom's from germany, so i could get dual US/german citizenship through jus sangueni or some shit. afaik, EU citizenship lets you live and work anywhere in the EU/schengen, without a permit/visa or anything.
how you feel about Ireland? that's lowkey been a dream for a while. i've also been considering germany, but there's a couple cultural turn offs (american-like individualism and everyone over 30 being the biggest rule stickler)
i have 3 more years of college, so i'm thinking about studying abroad for a semester to potentially find somewhere for when i'm older. was worried about the cost at first but i think i could actually save money from my american uni
Not the person you asked but Ireland is good in a lot of respects but I think the job and housing market is pretty rough. The social security net is generally really good though. Another alternative that is similar that gets overlooked is Scotland.
Both countries are far from utopias however.
NZ is a good country especially if you want your kids to engage in postcolonialism because, as a western English-speaking country, it's hard for me to think of a country that has made as much progress with regards to indigenous rights as NZ. It's a vast distance from being good but it's much better than its neighbour, Australia, in this respect. NZ is a bit fucked with regards to its economy though.
An incredibly grim statement notwithstanding that it's also true
Cold: NZ
Warm: Australia
looking auckland's monthly averages i'd say NZ's the warm one and australia is the unbearably hot one
those labels are just someone's opinion. australia's more reasonable than i assumed but i looked up auckland's climate before making that comment, 60s/70s F most of the year is defo very warm to me, especially with no winter/proper seasons
also ive heard australia's UV index makes those temps feel a lot worse but idk
That's because presumably you live somewhere very cold - snow in the cities themselves is pretty rare in both New Zealand and Australia so if you're coming from Europe and Northern USA/Canada it will feel warm/mild even in the cooler places for most of the year.
Hobart is closer to Auckland or colder too
UV is mostly the same, can be a bit deceptive in NZ when it's cooler and/or overcast
near NYC so defo not very cold but slightly i guess, still got hot summers. i remember going south and judging everyone who thought 60F was chilly that's like my favorite/most comfy temp for a walk lmao