If I may amplify a comment of Cat Driver's, similarly tongue in cheek .. four or five thousand feet for OEI missed approach practice is a good idea ... allows for a cup of coffee while the aircraft progressively descends on one engine to a much lower height where there might be a semblance of excess thrust to arrest the descent .. should this coincidentally occur at an altitude higher than the ground ... then that is a GOOD THING.
On a serious note .. the quality of instructors is critical, regardless of their origin.
I had the very good fortune to submit to the tender mercies of a couple of very experienced (and no longer with us) old greybeards (they must have been all of 45-50 .. I was around 17 at the time) for my initial training (a long time ago). As the RAAF was paying (some of the older Oz pilots might remember the now long defunct ATC scholarship scheme) they saw no reason to be other than (nicely) merciless (ruthless?). The end result was a course of 10 or so which progressed very rapidly and learnt a great deal...
I cannot speculate regarding the overseas experience but here, in Australia, I see much evidence that the sort of instructor typically encountered in the 60s (competent, gruff and grizzled) has, to an uncomfortable degree, been superseded by the "be nice to the student" style significantly driven by the commercial imperative of "the student might go someplace else for the next lesson".
One consequence of this sort of situation, I suspect, is that mediocrity begets mediocrity and the overall (GA instructor) industry standard here has, for good or bad, gone somewhat downhill over the past 20-30 years .. this is not to suggest that there are no superb instructors about .. there most certainly are ... but there are also a great many mediocre examples of the beast.