171–180 of 200 posts
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This is so mean spirited, and honestly just wrong. Why do you think this?
I've actually tried it with people. And in US-own media, I've seen people unable to name the vice president, think Africa is a country, not know the 50 states, and all kinds of things.
What's interesting is if you did this for just about any other country, there would be a wall of star spangled banners. If you ever travel outside the US, you inevitably hear about what the US is doing, what they're discussing, who the important people are, etc. The reverse is not true: - Everyone outside the US knows the top US politicians. You even know what issues they are discussing, like gun control and healthca…
This is because America is the wealthiest and fastest-growing economic nation in the history of the world. It has the right combination of laws, institutions, freedoms, infrastructure, and people, to create a new life. There's a reason it's by far the top destination for immigrants around the world.
What's interesting is if you did this for just about any other country, there would be a wall of star spangled banners. If you ever travel outside the US, you inevitably hear about what the US is doing, what they're discussing, who the important people are, etc. The reverse is not true: - Everyone outside the US knows the top US politicians. You even know what issues they are discussing, like gun control and healthca…
So the US has the most headlines for about any other country? I highly doubt it. All your following points actually contradict that assumption.
What's interesting is if you did this for just about any other country, there would be a wall of star spangled banners. If you ever travel outside the US, you inevitably hear about what the US is doing, what they're discussing, who the important people are, etc. The reverse is not true: - Everyone outside the US knows the top US politicians. You even know what issues they are discussing, like gun control and healthca…
There are two parts to this. One is (cold war) propaganda where there is a somewhat vague feeling that the USA has to a greater or lesser extent a set of shared (western) values and aligning ourselves next to them is probably in our own long term interest given the uncertainty that a world dominated by Russia and now China, or, gasp, religion (yes, I know) might bring. The second is aspirational - generations of Euro…
Right, of course, how could we forget the petrodollar.
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> You'll know the names of the states. How many other foreign countries do you know the subdivisions of I prefer to compare the USA with Europe as a whole, its member countries as states. In that light, I wager many Americans would know quite a few. Norway, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Ireland surely would make the majority? Maybe even Belgium. Are we still allowed to say UK? Americans love to chast…
What percentage of Americans could confidently name one state of India or one province of China? Our education system somewhat talks about Europe, but most of the world is basically ignored.
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I'm not sure about geography, but the vast majority of U.S. population is proudly uneducated in mathematics and many hard sciences. Math taught in high schools is pretty laughable and physics isn't even required in many places. Source: Lived in the U.S. for many years.
Strangely, living in the U.S. for many years doesn't qualify you as a credible source, just as someone who's collected a bunch of anecdotes.
My degrees are in mathematics and physics, and I've tutored students in elite colleges, so I know a thing or two.
What's interesting is if you did this for just about any other country, there would be a wall of star spangled banners. If you ever travel outside the US, you inevitably hear about what the US is doing, what they're discussing, who the important people are, etc. The reverse is not true: - Everyone outside the US knows the top US politicians. You even know what issues they are discussing, like gun control and healthca…
One little thing my American expat friends always find strange: maps are centered "wrong". As in the US is located at the top left and Asia is on the right. I'm quite sure this is the world standard map, but apparently many grew up only with one that has the states centered.
When America is in the middle then Asia is broken in half.
With America off to the side the "edge" of the map is the International Date line, thus no land-mass is broken.
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What percentage of people outside the US will know the name or location of more than a few US states? I'd bet it's extraordinarily low. I'd bet less than 1% of the world's adult population can name more than six US states. My experience has been, educated people I know from Europe struggle to do a lot better than that. Point them out on a map? Forget about it beyond the obvious or famous ones like California, Florida…
To be fair, as an American I don't even need to go to Europe to prove how little non-US geography I know. I can't even name or point to any Mexican or Canadian regions except for British Colombia
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I'm not sure about geography, but the vast majority of U.S. population is proudly uneducated in mathematics and many hard sciences. Math taught in high schools is pretty laughable and physics isn't even required in many places. Source: Lived in the U.S. for many years.
I agree that our primary schooling in general is suboptimal and inconsistent across regions. Where I disagree is that we are happy about that at a population level or somehow intentionally undermining education because we enjoy being ignorant (disregarding religious nonsense). In fact, if you look at where people decide to settle, school district quality is often a strongly weighted parameter.
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This is because America is the wealthiest and fastest-growing economic nation in the history of the world. It has the right combination of laws, institutions, freedoms, infrastructure, and people, to create a new life. There's a reason it's by far the top destination for immigrants around the world.
Then why is there so much harsh criticism of America from Europeans? Seems like Europe should be the top destination for immigrants seeing as it has superior healthcare, workers rights, gun control, drug policy, etc.