What do you think of the education /knowledge Americans have concearning the rest of the world ?

On yahoo answers I have seen Canada rebuked for celebratting Thanksgiving on a different day then the States.They believe it is to celebrate thier history and the Mayflower.While infact Canadians -Americans did not invent Thanksgiving. It began in Canada. Frobisher's celebration in 1578 was 43 years before the pilgrims gave thanks in 1621 for the bounty that ended a year of hardships and death. Abraham Lincoln established the date for the US as the last Thursday in November. In 1941, US Congress set the National Holiday as the fourth Thursday in November.

I've also seen on yahoo answers them ridiculing Boxing day as something Canadians started instead of it being from Britain .

Most have no clue that Canada in an independant country in the common wealth or that Britain plays a big part in our history.

I also read a yahoo answer just recently that stated Britain and the united stated has similiar history in black slavery .Not sure what they were refering to. Just used for examples

What do you think of the education /knowledge Americans have concearning the rest of the world ?
It appears that in the USA people can go though school, including trade training and know next to nothing about the wide world.

Prolly only the ones who have a good knowledge are those who have gotten through uni.

--Charles, That Cheeky Lad
Reply:Thank you for the compliment and choosing my answer best of the lot.

Please keep the good questions coming, I appreciate them.

Charles "Working toward greater cheekiness in 2007" Report It
Reply:One word= censorship Report It
Reply:Get over it, really. Most Americans don't give a damn about Canada or the rest of the world.
Reply:We can all benefit from more education - and don't we just love the internet for giving us access to all of these different views and sources of knowledge!



I guess each generation has the opportunity to improve - we soak everything up as kids (important to our survival) and then shake some of it off as we grow and educate ourselves (important for growth). When education is used to control (such as the dominance of Creationism in very religious US states), you'll eventually get people with a lot more growing to do before they actually have independent knowledge. Then think about all of the distractions from learning - drink and playstations come to mind (mmm, I fancy a beer).



Is it any wonder that so many people are misinformed about the simplest things? I don't think it's unique to the US, but I think the US is a standard bearer for the rest of the world and therefore suffers more when it's citizens are shown as ignorant or arrogant.



Matto
Reply:With regards to black slavery, USA and England do have similar history. We, as Britons, traded in slaves until William Wilberforce, from my home city, called for abolition. Obviously, during this period, Canada was completely neutral and classed as a free state.



With regards to Americans education. They are brought up and trained to believe that they are the best country in the world and that they are better than everyone else.



Only thing is, no one dare tell them they're not!!!!!



I didn't even realise thanksgiving was started by the Canadians. I thought it was the pilgrims thanking God for their first harvest in a new land. The Indians helped than plant crops etc.
Reply:This type of question seems to elicit knee jerk reactions from people. Phrasing the question in the way you have seems to be generalized to the point that it is meaningless. It almost seems to be a reverse nationalism in response to americans' perceived indifference to the rest of the world. There are Americans who are more informed and those who are less informed.
Reply:I used to sell cruises on a cruise ship out of Texas, a lot of people didn't know where Alaska was, or Florida. Most didn't know approximately how far Europe was. Some even thought that England was a make believe place. Americans need to travel, the only reasonable/geographically aware ones I've met have been to other places, and not just on stupid cruise ships
Reply:america is a dictatorial democracy. citizens are taught to think in the spirit of "we're the best, f**k the rest". Anyway... the EU is gonna kick as* in the future. I can't wait for america to get a slap in the face. a wake-up slap.
Reply:I think SOME of the americans on here think because you are close geographically you must be close in every other way.



just don't mention that their nation was just a con by the French landowners, that pisses them off.



SOME Americans don't seem to be taught much history at school

SOME british are rather ignorant too

As argument must suppose SOME Canadians are too
Reply:I don't think it's as much a consideration of education or knowledge as it is a lack of respect for foreign cultures, which is not at all exclusive to America or Americans. I've seen equal slandering of the United States and it's citizens from other nations, and I've also seen some very specific attacks upon America, it's cultures, and it's people by Canadians. I still don't see that as a reason to assume that Canadians or anyone else is uneducated or lacking in knowledge, but simply lacking in respect.



It goes both ways.
Reply:I think of myself as well educated and well read, but I learned something from your "question". Thanks for teaching me that Canada's Thanksgiving came before the first one in the US.



One the other hand, I still don't know what Boxing Day is. I've asked many Brits, and I get many answers.
Reply:I agree with a lot you stated there.

The reason for it? I have no idea..

Have you ever seen the Rick Merer Show? He is a Canadian Comedian that showed the ignorance a lot of Americans had about Canada.

Examples.....

Canada has a 25 hour clock

We just got newspapers

Canada is just north of South America.

The list goes on.

Maybe they just do not want to know.
Reply:I called Greyhound (a US bus company) once to book some tickets and the woman I spoke to asked me if the UK was in Canada :-)
Reply:Generally speaking, very poor! Typical island mentalities wit the few exceptions of people that have actually traveled outside the USA.
Reply:What?! There's more world out there??? Why didn't anyone tell me?