Au pairs view America.

Do Americans work too much? Do U.S. women have more career opportunities than those in your country? Describe the American diet. When queried, foreign au pairs working in the U.S. answered, respectively, "yes," "about the same," and "absolutely awful."

The American Institute for Foreign Study, Greenwich, Conn., operates the Au Pair in America program that annually places more than 3,000 English-speaking Europeans between the ages of 18 and 26 with American families for one year. In return for room, board, and pocket money, these au pairs provide 45 hours of child care per week. When surveyed by the organization, they expressed the following opinions about the U.S.: 53% think Americans spend too much time working; 50% indicate that women in their countries have the same opportunities as those in the U.S., but 93% believe American women earn more money; Kevin Costner was the clear winner for their favorite movie star with Brad Pitt a close second and Keanu Reeves a strong write-in candidate; 55% say "Beverly Hills 90210" is their favorite television show (not a single au pair listad "The Nanny"), if they must eat fast food, they prefer to...