Is the high-school physics curriculum better in the US or in Europe?

[teo123]

I know that, in the USA, basically no physics discovered after the mid-19th century is taught in high-schools. That means that, in the US, high-school students are taught nothing about thermodynamics and nothing about modern physics (special relativity and quantum physics). Many people consider the science education in Europe to be better than in the US because of that. However, I am not sure that's the case.

Can a high-school student really understand thermodynamics? I was the best student in my high-school and I misunderstood thermodynamics completely. I understood the Second Law of Thermodynamics to mean that bombs cannot exist. And I thought rockets cannot be made compatible with both the Newton's 3rd Law and the First Law of Thermodynamics, and that therefore rockets cannot exist. Obviously, the "knowledge" I gained from studying thermodynamics in high-school is worse than useless.

I mean, I misunderstood a lot of physics that I was taught in high-school. I thought the Torricelli's Law proves that airplanes are impossible. Maybe high-schools should teach relatively little physics, but they should actually teach it. You know, they should make sure students actually understand what they are being taught. Maybe the American high-schools are doing a better job at teaching physics by focusing only on basic physics. What do you think?