Outside Ourselves.

Something I find extremely important to have knowledge about and an interest in is cultural education. Currently, many societies, nations and ethnicities are extremely ignorant about cultures other than their own. I am not just pointing fingers at Americans by any means, because cultural ignorance is a disease that plagues the entire world. It is not just a matter of Americans assuming that people from South America live in tree houses in the jungle or that people from Africa live in huts or that all Asians are Chinese and everyone from the Middle East is a terrorist. The press and the news never cover the rampant hatred that streams from other nations and cultures external to the United States. Israel is constantly under threat from Iran because of the religious and cultural differences, as well and economic disparity. The nation of Sudan has been torn apart and turned into a war zone in the region of Darfur, where the fighting is between the Muslims and the Black Africans, over issues of religion and other cultural factors. Cultural education is not just something that is lacking within the minds of the people of the United States, in fact, I find our country to be quite a tolerant one. We mostly accept people who sexually identify as homosexual, whereas in other nations they would be a taboo, or even worse, criminals needing to be executed. We take time to be politically correct and avoid offending various cultural groups. However, avoiding committing an offense and actually becoming enlightened on a culture different than our own are two different things. We should learn about other cultures so we can avoid ignorance, and so we can understand the workings of the world in its entirety. You cannot have the United States without Britain, and you cannot have South America without Brazil, etc. All parts of countries and cultures are important; they contribute to a much greater whole. If people accept ignorance as their main method of dealing with the differences we face in society, then feuds and hatred will always continue, because misunderstanding something causes fear, and fear spawns the hatred that fuels genocides and cultural clashes.

An F for Failure or for Fabulous????

The education system that is currently the norm in America is failing. And it will continue to fail as it continues to be not only accepted, but watered down more as time passes and students of other nations fight to rise up. This was the general theme of the pieces "Blame the Student" and "2 Million Minutes." Both were quite enlightening as well as straightforward and outright true. I agree completely with the content of both of these compositions. Students in an American public high school are set up so that failure will be avoided at all costs, no matter if the student actually tries or not. In China and India, the competition is much more fierce, the standards much more high. And students from these countries fight many more issues external to school work, but they never let it get in the way as many American students do. Poverty and disease, as well as government problems, plague almost all parts of these countries. Even the poorest people in America are so well off compared to the poor in these regions. In America, there is no emphasis placed on mathematics and science compared to students in Asian countries. There are exceptions, American students who do try extremely hard and over achieve by the standard here, and they are typically put in special honors classes and given endless opportunities to advance their personal education and knowledge. In China and India, every child studies the same amount, and the same amount is a lot. Even if one student were to be exceptionally brighter than the majority of the rest, it is likely his/her school would not have the resources or connections to get them into special programs to meet their needs. American students are not bad people, but they have been taught that mediocrity is not only "o.k." in fact, it's something to strive for, because in our system you can receive "As" with mediocre effort. The lack of motivation will ultimately hurt American students in the long run, and it is likely that it will lead us into the downfall as a super power nation, and it will pave the way for the students in China and India who devote a majority of their time to studying to rise to the top and rule the world.