Canada vs USA Education?

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The Gadfly

The guy above is spamming every question with his ridiculous link.

Canadians are interested in the rest of the world, Americans couldn't care less about other countries, unless there's profit to be made there, or they are the current scapegoats chosen by their leaders.

Art

To be fair to a point, a lot of us Canadians also don't know that much about the USA, saying this, many more Canadians do know more of the USA then the Americans of Canada. Most history taught in lower and high-school in the USA is about the USA--it the way they do, to imprint their culture on them--the "American way" so to speak. Canadians have been exposed to more American media then Americans to Canadian media--its natural with 300 million person market compared to only a 30 million person market in Canada. The sad thing about this is, is that very little in general media is actual history---sure you see a lot on PBS and History and Cultural TV and other outlets, but this is a small exposure market compared to the large commercial outlet market. I guess you can say Canadians are forces to be exposed to American media because of the larger media exposure; and therefore, we are exposed to their culture more extensively--and learn a lot from that about them. And a lot of it is not truly reflective of the exact American culture--you get that true value from history books and other fact base outlets. In the last few years a number of USA colleges are taking on "Canadian Studies" in a broad field of learning about Canada. I hope this helps you.

AUCT!ON

Yea you are absolutely right many Canadians including me know alot about the world around us and keep up to date. Not only do we learn it in school but we pay attention the media stuff like that. In history we learn about the American side of it as well. Since we know alot about other cultures and countries we tend to be more understanding. But if we didn't do that then there would be huge confusions and people wouldn't get along. It's one of the main reasons that people with different cultures usually get along here in Canada.

Imaka

Canada tends to look outward much more than the US does. The US tends to look inward and learn mostly about their own history, while Canada tends to take more of a global outlook.

The US is so big in terms of numbers that it is probably easier for them to do that, while here in Canada our numbers are so small for such a huge country that it would be very isolating if we did that. I suppose in some ways the US feels that it is an entity unto itself and doesn't need to concern itself with knowing much about the outside world.

LindaLou

In the global scheme of things, the USA is a more dominant player than Canada. The US has much more global influence in many areas, especially politics, media and entertainment and therefore has a much bigger cultural influence all around.

Kelly + Eternal Universal Energy

I think in recent years the US has recognized this difference especially after watching Rick Mercer's "Talking to Americans"... The last time I watched that show he was talking to professors and students at Harvard, Princeton, Yale and they were absolutely ignorant about Canada didnt even have a clue!! I mean honestly I dont understand how you can not know that Canada has a flag and at least know part of our national anthem.... I have known the flags of almost every country in the world and what the colors and patterns on them represent since 3rd grade where we learned about the flags and anthems of other countries, heck I remember having a whole month in school where we learned all about international foods, culture, history, with particular emphasis on our neighbours to the south. We learned about thier presidents, thier government system and the differences between our government, we learned alot about Lincoln and slavery, we even learned about all the wars and battles fought over there, the declaration of independance, the differences in thier holidays and culture... everything and not just the US... Japan, Russia, Italy, United Kingdom etc

Its not the fact that it isnt seen as often in the media, I think its the general attitude of the country... there is an aura of self-interest and as a general rule the rest of the world is ignored because of whatever reasons.. and they dont bother to teach anything about our culture in their schools... I mean seriously you sometimes see US maps and they completely cut off Canada and in fact make it look like there is water where we are supposed to be and leave Alaska floating by itself, how can the people know about Canada when it is largely ignored or overlooked?? and entirely neglected in the education system.
The whole entire show with Rick Mercer not one adult questioned the idiotic scenarios he presented to them... the single person on the entire show that corrected him was a little boy about 9 or 10 years old who said "Hey, hang on, Canada has Provinces" in response to a remark about Canada's "states"... LOL So maybe they have started to teach their children more at least, I was proud of that little boy for being so much more informed than the members of thier distinguished universities. After watching that show I wondered how Americans would feel if they watched it, if there was a show called "Talking to Canadians" where my fellow countrymen displayed such ignorance I know I would be ashamed and would try to change the situation. From the reaction of the boy I think they maybe have included at least basic history and info on Canada which is only right since we should ALL be aware of the world around us.

Bobby B

I know a girl from Canada and they teach a lot of slander about the US...they actually TEACH kids that Bush setup 9/11 and "study" footage of "explosives" going off in the WTCs. And they also teach them that the US was in WWII for only a year....yah i dont get it...its messed up

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