Well, even though we went to war with the USA and they were our rulers for a while, the Philippines would be a lot more rural if not for the Americans setting up bases and bringing a lot of business to the PI. My cousin who last time I talked to him was living in the countryside called me on his cell phone from Starbucks in Manila!

http://forum.ogrish.com/images/smilies/yelrotflmao.gif

Are you serious?? And I assume you've been around the world quite a bit, eh? Of course we can say America is no. 1, since we are Americans. But same case happens in Germany, Japan, China, etc. So don't be ignorant, be humble!
And do your homework: research other countries before you make a remark! :D

You mean like . . . Saudi Arabia?

I think it's good the U.S. has such a disproportionate amount of GDP spent toward it's military machine....thank god canada doesn't, less of my tax dollars!


P.S. If Chretien wasn't falling asleep during Bush's address this morning I think he would have applauded!

you hit it right on the head!!!

everyone wants to come here, and very few leave.

i worked at a summer camp for kids last month with several counselors from different countries like germany, south africa, england and a bunch of others. each and everyone of them talked about how it was their dream to come here and be an american citizen.

btw, i suggest you stop riding my nuts

Even though they turn to us for aid, that doesn't necessarily mean that they have to like us. Or that they do like us. And yes, it's frustrating for citizens to hear people piss and moan but take the money all the same. Kinda like when you hate your parents but you'll still take their money, because it's there. But I don't think we should get on some self righteous high horse because other people turn to us for aid. Aid means nothing. Saudia Arabia gets millions each year from us, yet lord knows they don't need or deserve it. Some countries desperately need it but because of political reasons we don't shell out a cent. How is this fair?? And I think it presents a sketchy problem when we have our troops stationed in vehemently anti-American countries (i.e. Saudi). The only reason GWB and Co. (and past administrations, too, to be fair) associate with these whackos is because of that 3 letter word OIL. They have enough human rights violations to choke a donkey yet we sit by and let them do it because other wise we'd have no oil for our oversized 3 mpg SUVs. I'm not at all a "tree hugging hippie" but I think that in a way we got ourselves in this mess and we need to stop blaming the government and do something about it on our own.

Keep in mind, some people have no reason to emigrate. Not "everyone" wants to leave their country for the United States--there are wealthy, educated people in other countries, you know.

I don't want to nitpick, but the educational system in Northern Florida is just fine. I know that my local district had the top FCAT :rolleyes: scores in the state, and sends kids to the top public and private colleges in the nation. It also has one of the highest starting salaries for teachers in the state. Like in everything else, it's South Florida that gives the rest of the state a horrible name. ;) The majority of public schools in the state of Florida are not horrendous, especially when you factor in the somewhat rural, yet wealthy, North.

Heh-Heh. South Florida always gives Florida a bad name.

There are a lot of good schools in SoFL. I came from a HS in Broward County that is consistently ranked as one of the top High Schools in FL. But, yes, the majority of South Florida schools are in desperate need of help. And the FCAT isn't helping. But that's a whole other debate. ;)

The thing is, there's no guarantee that the studies are useful because most don't take into account the differences between educational systems. I did some more research on what I published earlier and got some clarification on the Germany educational system. At age 10, Germans are sorted into the apprenticeship track and the university track. SEVENTY percent are shuffled into the apprenticeship track. The remaining thirty go into the university track. When educational reports compare systems, most of them ONLY use that upper thirty percent of the German system. That would be the equivalent of only counting American students that take AP and honors-level classes for our scores.

In the Swedish and Finnish education systems, school is only mandatory through age 16. Then there is an optional "secondary education" from 16-19 for those who plan to go on to universities. So again, if an educational comparison were to be done on Swedish versus American secondary schooling systems, the report would give an advantage to the Swedish because it only counts those who are planning on attending universities, whereas the American report counts ALL high school students. There are many, many European systems that are set up the same way. Instead of compulsory primary and two sets of compulsory secondary education, there is compulory primary and secondary education PLUS an optional secondary education. Sort of like having mandatory elementary and middle school but with high school being optional.

So the problem isn't so much that our schools are failing us. If you take the top five percent, the creme de la creme of American students, and compare them to the top five percent of German students, Swedish students, Italian students or probably even the Japanese, they're probably going to be remarkably similar. It's just that many European educational systems allow for them to only educate the upper half of students, whereas the American systems require that everyone be educated until they don't want to be anymore. The problem, in my opinion, isn't so much that our schools are failing us as much as it's that we're failing our schools. If we set things up the way the many European systems run, I imagine our scores would be much closer to theirs, if not comparable.

As a future teacher, I could rant about this for hours, but I don't think the rest of you care quite as much as I do. :D

You got that right... My own alma mater (in what is now known as Miami-Dade County) consistently scores in the bottom of the barrel in average FCAT scores. Last year they celebrated because they went up from a 'D' level to a 'C' level school. I graduated 20 years ago... didn't hafta worry about a basic skills test.

For all of the fall and part of the spring semester, school is nothing but a test prep for the FCAT. Administrations live and die on FCAT scores.

Another thing to consider: our special education methods are definitely tops. Many children w/ learning obstacles are denied education in many of the countries we've already mentioned. Certainly they're not counted among the statistics in reading and math ability, whereas here they can be, provided they have the ability to take the test with only slight assistance. Most of us on here are above average and definitely helped "our side" boost the scores, but we have to take into account those that didn't because they couldn't. In France especially, the educational system is not for the faint of heart or the sensitive soul. While their system does great for overachievers (gives them even more drive) it's hell on kids w/ LD. While sure I think our system could use some tweaks, I'd say we're not too bad overall. :)

I could care less what the world thinks of the US.

After the traffic jams today and yesterday, I agree with you about the UN.

It's terrible. My sister's alumnae chapter is about 95% teachers, and they say their hands are basically tied when it comes to a curriculum for those grades. They are essentially teaching them to take a test, which is relatively new--I graduated in the late 1990s, and I never took the FCAT. I had to take the HSCT, which was a joke.

Oh, a lot of people from other countries think that Americans are naive, loud and stupid. The fact that there are so many embarassing American tourists doesn't help matters much. ;) I for one don't want to be seen as a dumb American--we used to play "Spot the American!" in big tourists spots because we're oh so obvious. :)

LOL! You could certainly play that in France.