MovieChat Forums > Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (2007) Discussion > Why Are Europeans On This Board Talking ...

Why Are Europeans On This Board Talking About How Ignorant Americans Are

posted 15 years ago by speed_rae_cer
11 replies | jump to latest

??????

There are ignorant people in every country and
besides if they didn't pick idiots to be on this
show, they would be shelling out a million dollars
every week.

On top of that I would like to say something from a personal stand point: Family friends of ours have 4 children all ranging in ages from 14 to 22 and throughout their childhood starting around elementary age with the youngest, their parents decided to do missionary work around Europe causing them to travel all across in places like France, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Norway. Their parents heard about how advance the education over there was and their parents homeschooled them to "catch them up" a year before they left for Europe. The said that they felt confident in their education over there because they were at the top of their class every year making straight As and having no problem, they came back to America later and dropped to Bs and even Cs. They all agreed that the education was a lot harder and more challenging in America than it was overseas and now laugh at the fact that Europeans actually credit themselves with a more challenging education then America. My school hosts exchange students every year (usually about 16 of them, mostly from Germany, Russia,and Norway) and even they agree that while it is harder in America, they feel that they have gained more intelligence and feel more accomplished than they did in their home schools and most try to stay for their senior year, if they are classified as a junior, so that they can graduate with an American diploma.

T~O

[–] megdownthehatch 14 years ago

I think what you're saying about them feeling like they've gained more intelligence in their home country is very true. Here, so many of my teachers are obsessed with busy work. Even throughout High School, I had to color and draw diagrams that took longer to do than it did to actually LEARN the subject.

Shadowhunters: Looking better in black than the widows of our enemies since 1234

[–] hot_potatoe619 14 years ago

I think the Europeans are offended because of Kelly Pickler (sp) appearence on the show since there seems to be alot of clips on youtube about it. So rather than just ignore it they decide to sink to the 5th grade level and call people dumb based on 1 person

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] silver-surfer1 14 years ago

We Europeans laugh at US-Americans because they ARE dumb! That's a fact. In Europe (and, by the way, in Asia), dumb people are the exception. Most of Europeans (and Asians) are intelligent. - But in the U.S.A., it's the other way round. Dumb people are the norm.

Canada is different! Canadians are overseas Europeans; they are intelligent. US-Americans should try to learn from Canada.

------
"These men are celibate -- like their fathers, and their fathers before them."

[–] sweetpeanance 14 years ago

As an American.....I couldn't agree with you any stronger if I tried. Most Americans are so dumb and/or ignorant that it makes me sick. The sad thing is that most of them are so ignorant and/or dumb that they don't even realize it.....and yet others seem to take genuine pride in being ignorant! Sadly, and mainly in white America (which I am a member), there seems to be a large number of people who have a disdain for education, science, the arts, and seem to attack anyone who is highly educated (often accusing them of being brainwashed). Is it any wonder why Americans rank way down the lists of everything that would indicate an educated society and good students?
Is it any wonder why Europe usually gets things right 100 years before the US does? Is it any wonder that most Americans of European origin were essentially bastard Europeans that had nothing going for them there? And if people still are not convinced......how do you explain 8 years of George W Bush.....and all of the nuts running for office now days? I suspect George W Bush couldn't have gotten elected London Loo Inspector......yet here (where we don't even have direct election of our President......because the "founding fathers" thought the people too stupid to handle such an important task.....as was the case until the 20th century for electing the Senate as well) we got him for 8 years!

And what you said about Canada.....you were spot on!!! I always look at Canada as being just like the United States......absent all the crap!!!

The United States has been getting full of itself through its "greatest country on Earth" (usually stated by people who have never stepped foot out of this one)montra for way too long....simply "because we say so!" Funny thing, when comparing countries.....we aren't the greatest in anything (ok, aside from people in prison, people executed, ability to kill people, ability to destroy the Earth, creating trash, using the finite resources on Earth, and other great things like that!)! The United States needs to keep in mind that, when you have to advertise something, and you are virtually the only one advertising it, it probably isn't true......true things speak for themselves!

[–] katspajamas22 14 years ago

As an American, I have to agree with you, as well. It is just a fact. American education has dropped off so bad in relation to the rest of the world it's scary. And if just gets worse. I was in a journalism class with a Dutch exchange student my sophomore year. My teacher made the remark that her grammar and English was better than most of the people in the class. And it was true. The Dutch girl also said that her math and science classes were a breeze. They were so easy to her because she had already learned most of the stuff in elementary school. Stuff we were just now learning. She also sppke 6 languages. I don't know about you guys, but that scares the crap out of me. It scares me when I see children passing and graduating when they have no business doing so. And they are out there, in the real world, and don't know a damn thing. It scares me when parents complain about their child's work load in school and their homework and that their child's curriculum is too difficult. That is where the problem is. No one wants to work towards anything.

Did anyone see that episode of Oprah when she was talking about education, and they spotlighted a girl from Tennessee who was valedictorian in her class and gotten a full-ride to college. But when she got there, she realized she didn't know anything. She had no idea what they were teaching. It was such a reality check. It was really sad, I mean, can you imagine. It is time for us to wake up!

I'm from Texas and my husband is from Montreal, born in Poland. We've decided we want to live in Montreal so our daughter can get a top-notch education. We lived there for a bit and it astounds me just how much more intelligent EVERYONE is there. I mean everyone. Everyone there, my husbands friends, the people on our street, their children is going to or went to college, or is making good grades in high school, etc. Everyone has a future, a good job or is working on a degree. At my high school, they basically told the kids the only thing they're cut out for is blue collar work and then military. In Montreal, of course everyone speaks French and English, (the rest of Quebec just speaks French, but more and more are learning English these days) but most of the people I know speak 3+. so I feel good about moving there. It's the best for my daughter.

[–] BeforeDarknessFalls 13 years ago

American's aren't dumb - they just don't want to learn. They don't bother to learn anything unless it's within their tiny sphere of interest. For example, an American mechanic may have the potential to understand and memorize all the works of Shakespeare, but he wont do it because it doesn't interest him. This is the problem with America. They don't want to learn anything about the outside world because it doesn't concern them.

Case in point: I went to class with this girl who was a soccer fanatic. In class, we were discussing world cultures and travel and everyone was talking about where they've been, where they want to go and what they want to learn. When asked her opinion, this girl said that she felt that no other place or culture would enrich her at all and since soccer was her life, all she wanted to do was play soccer for our college and that's it. She said she had no interest in doing anything that didn't relate to soccer or her goal of playing soccer for school.

People in other parts of the world WANT to learn and that's why they go to college, travel and aspire to do great things. American's don't seem to care about these things. They just want to live a comfortable life. They don't seem to care about enriching their minds or lives at all. :(

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] anthonyberryprofessional 13 years ago

My ex wanted my son to go to her old high school. My only problem with that is she's a freaking idiot. Granted I'm an idiot also for marrying so young. My point is that the education system in America is trash. I got my ged in 06, because I worked a lot. I could have tested out of high school. Thats all school is. One big test I'm willing to pay for my sons education so he knows a little more than I do

[–] yuoke 13 years ago

So I guess "Are you smarter than a fifth grader"=Let's trash America.

[–] Redhawkof2008 11 years ago

The problem is the shoddy public school system. We have great colleges, but public school is less to be desired. Frankly, I think a lot of the stupidity comes from the 'bible thumping' portion of America.

Son, you got a panty on your head.