First question; why is this not in the instructor forum?
I''l be the first one to admit that there are truly miserable schools on both sides of the pond.
As for my experience? I started with my PPL at a flying club where some instructor tried to solo me after 4.4 hrs. I quit and went to a small school across the field. This was in Europe.
In the USA I have seen the resultt of both, very good and very bad.
Uk and non Uk, European and non European ,US and non US.
Hours don't really mean that much to me anymore.
I have seen truly exeptional low time pilots and horrendous high time (>700 hrs)
PPL's.
I have dealt with Europeans that would not be able to pass a US checkride no matter how much training they get. People that have held a European license in excess of 10 years.
In any case I think one of the problems is the time spent on getting the license and staying proficient.
Somebody will earn his/her license in the US in about 4 weeks.
That is all their vacation time for the year gone. Back to their home country and work and family.
Sometimes it will take these people months to get around to finding a suitable club/school and get back to flying again.
After learning a skill in 4 weeks do not expect to be even at solo standard after not flying for 2-3 months.
Check-out instructor at home should not expect this also.
You cannot compare a fresh PPL who hasn't flown in 3 months with somebody who just got their license at your club.
**** edited for beer-induced spelling errors*****