Stupid Americans?
People around the world generally seem to think that most Americans are stupid. Moreover, it seems like even Americans consider most Americans (sometimes even including themselves) to be stupid. For decades the greatest scientists from all over the world have been flocking to America, and Americans are stupid? What's going on here?
What is it that makes people think Americans are stupid? The videos and articles of Americans being confused about geography, politics and arithmetics quickly come to mind. Although I find those clips quite funny, I think they mislead viewers.
First of all, I've been to quite a few countries and I would say similar videos and articles could be made about any nation. It's easy to interview hundreds of people, edit out reasonable people's responses, keep the most outrageous ones and make the whole nation look silly. As a matter of fact, I've seen such clips on Russian television about Russian youth.
Second of all, even if the majority of Americans was confused about geography, politics and arithmetics (which I suspect is not the case), I wouldn't call that a sign of stupidity. It seems more like apathy to me. I believe the majority of Americans is impartial to all three (geography, politics and arithmetics). Maybe it's a little selfish, but I see no stupidity in this. In America, there are computers to do arithmetics for you, so why would Americans want to be able to multiply 3-digit numbers in their heads. Most Americans will probably never need to know what the capital of some far-away country is and the fact that most Americans don't care to do much research before voting in a presidential election is a clear indication that the American government is set up in such a way that who the president is won't have a significant impact on an average American's life.
Specialization is what makes a society work. When living in a society, it's important that everyone can do their job right and I would say that Americans are generally competent to do their job. As long as I'm doing my job right, who are YOU to say whether it's Paris Hilton's latest adventures or Zimbabwe's gross national product that's a smart thing for me to follow in my spare-time?
Comments
I agree that the claim that Americans are stupid is simply based on gossip. There is so much talent and so many great things going on that people in other countries get jealous. Now, I think it is alright to complain about politics and who is running the country, etc., because that can affect the whole world, seeing as the US is probably the most powerful country. There are also a few things about the culture (fast food, for example) that bother me. But I still love it.
I saw on another entry that you wanted to study physics and math. That's what I'm studying! I'm in the US but I'm not from here either. My college is algo huge on juggling. Let me know if you are interested in talking about that. I think you'd like this place.
You get my email address if I post here, right?
Posted by: mari | May 25, 2007 10:46 AM
Hmmm.. not sure whether i agree with everthing said. Heres a few points:
The culture when it comes to education is very different in America compared with other countries, eg. Russia. Children are directed much more by adults which cause them to have more respect and to have knowledge of a wider variety of things. (So they can choose whether they want to study languages or to follow paris Hilton's life, for example).
It also causes the standard of education to be much higher, so a young person leaving school in Russia is likely to know much more than a person of a similar age in the US. This surely would make them better equipped to make descisions??
You said that Americans may never need to know some things. There are many things we do not need to know. The whole point about education is we may not need to know it - but it helps us to understand things in the world. Understanding how other people live, or about other cultures may help to avoid conflicts and enable people to learn from one another.
In general, I believe that people should want to better themselves, but what motivation is there, if your comfortable and think things don't need to get any better.
Posted by: martin | June 18, 2007 03:25 AM
The standard of education is probably the biggest contributor to the falacy that American's are stupid when compared to the rest of the world. Indeed students in european contries undergo more intense education and learn many languages, as I've heard from exchange students and others from there. However, simply being forced to learn a lot more things does not indicate any comparable level of intelligence. If we are talking about how "stupid" or "smart" people are then we should be talking about how intelligent they are. And intelligence is such a broadly defined attribute that it's just ignorant to make such claims about American society. Some of us suck at math, but can compose complex music. Some people suck at reading but can bust out organic chemistry. The brain is convoluted, in more than one way, and we all pretty much came from Europe anyhow. So, if one is to say that American's are indeed stupid, is it really all that likely that their brains have evolved that quickly to become stupid? Of course not.
Posted by: Alex Kowalczyk | June 21, 2007 09:27 PM