I don’t really think this whole thing has anything to do with a certain generation. In my option I think that most Americans are dumb. Young and old we do not seem to care about education as much as other countries do. Most of us do not want to learn things just to learn them but to get a higher paying job that’s all we think about. When I was in high school my History teacher told me a story that really opened my eyes to American ignorance. Mr. Hollenshead was taking a trip to Haiti to adopt a child. While traveling through the villages he met these native children. The children’s ribs were clearly visible from starvation and they were drinking out of a dirty stream. They began to talk to Mr. Hollenshead in their native language he replied I don’t understand. Then they began to talk in another dialect still Mr. Hollenhead looked at them confused. They spoke French, Italian and Spanish before they looked at him and said huh you cant speak Spanish either? Why is it that the peasant children of one the poorest countries of the world can speak so many different languages when most Americans can barely speak English? 
That's a really good point. Other countries do seem to value education more than we do. It's sad that even in a third world country they seem to know more languages than we do. I think that this is because we think we are better than everyone else and that everyone should be able to speak English so WE can understand them, instead of making an effort to speak their language. My grandfather told me once that most of the French will refuse to speak to English to foreigners if we don't make an attempt to speak their language. And I think they have every right to do so. If we expect others to come to our country and be able to speak English, then we should live up to that standard and do the same for other countries.
ReplyDelete"Most of us do not want to learn things just to learn them but to get a higher paying job that’s all we think about."
ReplyDeleteWhat does this say about our society? Are you OK with continuing this "tradition" or would you rather change it?
I think we do have a tradition of being clueless to the rest of the world, because we are caught up in senseless things. I don't believe everyone one is like that; however, our generation even through schooling was brought up to further ourselves in our interests. I think our education system in the U.S. is the one to blame for America's poor education. Are we being misguided?
ReplyDelete