Europe in America

[rhaegari]

I have read in article that americans don't know anything about other states all around the world, mostly EU is supposed to be a big ? .
I just want to know if that is true.
I understand, that they have different education system and that they need to learn 51 of their federal states by heart... but still

what is your opinion?
if you are from USA i would be delighted to hear your opinion on that matter...
and i want to say also, that the reason for this topic is also that i have to learn every single little dirty detail about USA for my exam in high school at geografy ....
and i asked myself if they do it also about EU and Asia, Africa and so on...
(i am from EU by the way...)

[gumOnShoe]

You should know there are 50 states.

And I had to take a geography class in high school, though its since been abandoned. Mostly we learn history here in the U.S. I took A.P. Euro & Western Civ in high school. You know, romans all the way up through the schism, colonization of the new world, all the little European wars etc. For some reason there isn't much emphasis placed on learning about the current world.

Anyway, its becoming more common to take a foreign language. French, German, and Spanish are the main three, though I've heard of people taking Latin, Italian & Chinese as well. These classes generally focus on the group of countries which speak that language. So, I learned a lot about central america, south america & spain in high school. Well, a mediocre amount anyway about culture and whatnot.

Anything else wasn't focused on.

[NumbahPlate]

Im European and im starting to think england as a little america, so i keep with the manners, the bad teeth and the total snobishness* to keep it going

snobishness aint true, if it was, why am i on newgrounds :D

[TDwizBang]

only once had a had to learn about the differant countries in europe (it wasnt the european union at that time) and that was just color in the countries in a differant color and label them... i cant say i actually learned anything that way... i later took it upon myself to learn them... it is a common joke with american late night talk shows to showcase random people on the street looking like an idiot when it comes to world events or world trivia... actually as of late the main stream news ran polls to see how many people knew who the vice president was... let us just say that i hung my head in shame...

one woman went as far as to say she "dosnt care because america sucks and she is moving to england" when asked who the prime minister was she didnt know that either...

other programs have compared americans vs. iraqi citizens on american trivia... lots of people in iraq shown to be very up beat on the political systems of america (even children) and the americans were in a big group in new york and couldnt answer hardly any of the same questions the iraq citizens smiled at...

i guess it really goes to show how tuned out to populace of america really is...

let it be known that there were americans that could answer the american trivia questions on the programs but not many were showcased so in no way am i saying that the programs are a legit tally, not rigged for amusement...

[Tancrisism]

I, personally, am a geography freak and am very good at naming all of the European countries by heart, although the Baltic countries can be difficult (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia). Asia is pretty easy too, except the island countries, and South America. Africa is quite difficult except the biggies - North African countries, South Africa, the Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, etc.

Anyway, when I went to Europe it seemed like most Europeans knew much less about America than we Americans knew about Europe. An odd thing considering America has had a very dominant role in the entire world's history for the past 60 years. Perhaps it's denial.

[lapis]

At 11/13/09 05:59 PM, Tancrisism wrote: An odd thing considering America has had a very dominant role in the entire world's history for the past 60 years. Perhaps it's denial.

Really? I think most people know about Nixon and Watergate or JFK getting shot. Then again, why would a random European need to know something about Gettysburg or the 1812 war? On the other hand, your country was founded on European ideals, you need to know something about European history if you want to know something about yourself, which is good for shaping national identity. Since the need to know is different, the knowledge will be different.

[animehater]

At 11/13/09 05:59 PM, Tancrisism wrote: although the Baltic countries can be difficult (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia).

I find it easier if you name them from north to south (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) I always found those damned little island nations in the Pacific and the Caribbean to be a bitch to sort out.

At 11/13/09 06:20 PM, lapis wrote: your country was founded on European ideals,

Some might say it was actually founded on a modification and/or a complete rejection of them.

[Zoraxe7]

I'm good at history, so that kinda also makes you good at geography somewhat.

[lapis]

At 11/13/09 06:25 PM, animehater wrote: Some might say it was actually founded on a modification and/or a complete rejection of them.

A "complete rejection" of, say, Locke and de Montesquieu? A modification is logical, everyone will have his own interpretation of ideals and even more so when he founds country, but there was certainly no complete rejection of European ideals. Of absolute monarchy, perhaps? Yes, but even though in that time the absolute monarchy that opposed the founding fathers came from Europe doesn't mean that the oppostion to it was thereby inherently non-European.

[ohbombuh]

I don't know much about Europe yet, but I just took a test where I had to know all 54 countries in Africa, their location, and a brief history of Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and South Africa.

[Der-Lowe]

I know where andorra is, but I can't distinguish the flags of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. I can distinguish venezuela's football team shirt, since it's red wine. Yum.

About knowing the US, I studied the 50 states and its capitals at english school. It was fun. And we had this little book about New York. Then, since the Argentinian constitution is basically Ctrl+c Ctrl+v from the American one, I've come to know more about the US constitution than many here.
Oh, I also studied the Civil war in highschool, but I don't remember much, though. But well.
Malvinas argentinas or sth.

[MultiCanimefan]

At 11/13/09 05:59 PM, Tancrisism wrote:

An odd thing considering America has had a very dominant role in the entire world's history for the past 60 years. Perhaps it's denial.

Denial of what? If anyone's in denial, it's certain Americans' denial of the European influence on the United States practically since it's creation.

[Airprogressive]

At 11/13/09 05:59 PM, Tancrisism wrote: Anyway, when I went to Europe it seemed like most Europeans knew much less about America than we Americans knew about Europe.

I'm not sure about that. I can draw a map of the USA with all the states and capitals, and I'm pretty sure that few americans can draw a map of France, England, Germany or Spain with all the regions, for example. And something similar happens with history.

Do an american know something about the Spanish Independence war? or something about the 30 years' war? or something about the 100 years' war? or something about the beginning of the first world war?
An average european do know about USA independence war

[animehater]

At 11/18/09 06:09 PM, Airprogressive wrote: An average european do know about USA independence war

About how much would be enough to Know about it? And what about the war of 1812? The Mexican American war? The Civil war? The Spanish American war?

[camobch0]

Well I'm 14 and I know all the continents, over 160 countries, many regions in many of the countries.

[Goldfire64]

I will take it by the 51 he was counting Gaum. I know some of the other state like entites in other countries, Such as Canada, Mexico, and Spain. Was working on learning area in Japan. I think the problem is if we don't learn things early it is hard for us to remember.

[Me-Patch]

At 11/22/09 02:59 AM, Goldfire64 wrote: I will take it by the 51 he was counting Gaum.

I think Puerto Rico would be a better bet.

[Warforger]

At 11/18/09 06:09 PM, Airprogressive wrote: Do an american know something about the Spanish Independence war? or something about the 30 years' war? or something about the 100 years' war? or something about the beginning of the first world war?
An average european do know about USA independence war

Well I did a project on WWI, what sucked was that I had to strip it of alot of info because I had to do a 5 minute speech and turn in a 5 page essay, my essay was 12 pages in length and my speech was 8 minutes long, of course I had trimmed my essay to 5 pages by the end, amazing what you get by taking out alot of adjectives. I can name all the countries of Europe and show where they are, but thats of course, something I did on my freetime.

Also yes, we learn about the 100 years war in mediveal studies.

[SmilezRoyale]

America's political system was primarily rooted in classical liberalism. Which originated in Europe and itself was a rejection of the European Status Quo, Monarchy and Merchantilism.

But in the end Both America and Europe Embraced a Mix of Nationalism, Socialism, and Imperialism.

[basherboy357]

At 11/13/09 12:38 PM, rhaegari wrote: I have read in article that americans don't know anything about other states all around the world, mostly EU is supposed to be a big ? .
I just want to know if that is true.
I understand, that they have different education system and that they need to learn 51 of their federal states by heart... but still

Way to stereotype a bunch of people you obviously don't know about.

[Zoraxe7]

At 11/22/09 08:24 PM, MickTheChampion wrote: To quote Frank McCourt: "It's not enough to be American. You always have to be something else, Irish-American, German-American, and you'd wonder how they'd get along if someone hadn't invented the hyphen."

I was under the impression that Americans, as a country of immigrants, were pretty aware of their roots? Therefore a lot of them would have a decent knowledge of Europe? Or at least the parts their Great-Grandparents and such came from?

It really depends on who you ask.

Lots of us are so mixed that we don't really have much affinity for one European country over the other.

I myself am about 50% French-Canadian, 20% Polish, 30% other European. (As far as I can tell)

Whereas some other families are still rather ethnic, like, all the families that run the Pizza restaurants in my Town are Greeks. And the city of Boston has a lot of Celtic people.

[gumOnShoe]

At 11/23/09 11:09 AM, Zoraxe7 wrote: It really depends on who you ask.

Lots of us are so mixed that we don't really have much affinity for one European country over the other.

I myself am about 50% French-Canadian, 20% Polish, 30% other European. (As far as I can tell)

I'd have to say this is becoming the norm. 50 to 100 years ago when most immigrants were European, this was definitely more true. But a lot of immigrants are now from Central America (legally/illegally) or Asia. And these groups which have maintained their identities have generally also kept to themselves and created centers. IE chinatown. There's a lot of people in china town who know about china, but outside of that and you're in another country.

The more people mix, the less they learn about where their family came from.

My grandparents knew Yiddish, I just know that they knew it and a couple of the dirtier words they'd called me when I was a kid. But I'm a mix of everything: Russian, Polish, German, Austrian, English, Scottish, Irish, & Native American (I'm probably forgetting one or two). Part of my family married into a Mexican one, so there'll be more diversity with the next generation.

The stuff fades and becomes less important.