The American education system is yet another topic other countries tend to harp on. Americans are notorious for not being able to speak any other languages and for being comically bad at geography (even their own nation’s geography). For example, a 2019 survey testing Americans on geography, foreign policy and world demographics found that less than half of the participants could “identify Afghanistan as the country that provided al-Qaeda with safe haven prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, despite America having waged a war in Afghanistan due to this fact for nearly two decades”. And slightly over half of the respondents could locate Iraq on a map, even though 100k American soldiers were stationed there fifteen years ago. Less than 30% said they learned about foreign policy in school, and most of them could only answer about half of the questions correctly. Schools are lacking funding, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find passionate and effective teachers because educators are often overworked and underpaid.
Even though we all like to make fun of the US, there are certain achievements that the rest of the world can acknowledge. The Pew Research Center conducted a survey in the fall of 2021 to see how 17 other nations perceived the US, and the results weren’t all negative. Most respondents considered American technological achievements, entertainment, military and universities to be above average or the best in the world. American entertainment is particularly embraced by young people around the globe, with over 75% of respondents between the ages of 18-29 considering movies, music and television coming out of the US to be some of the best in the world. The majority of participants also said that they think the US government protects Americans’ personal freedoms and rated President Biden’s international policies positively.
Every nation has its pros and cons, but as a country that tends to boast that it's the "best in the world", the United States deserves to be the butt of a few jokes. These memes are all in good fun, and we recognize that the US is a massive country full of a wide variety of individuals. Enjoy the rest of these pics, and don't forget to upvote all of your favorites. Then let us know in the comments what you think the best and worst parts of American culture are, whether you live in the US or you're an observer from the outside!
