Are Americans Stupid? - Statistics, Studies and Research
Dmitri June 9th, 2007
We made a couple of posts concerning people’s perception of Americans around the world and the things American tourists do to enforce that perception. Now we come to the next part; are there any statistical data that gives any indication in favour of the world perception of Americans? The answer is yes, there is and I have compiled it right below, in this very article. Sources quoted, you can check them out for details on the studies and research methods.
USA scores the lowest in national average IQ among the developed countries of the world, at a national average score of 98. The data is obtained from IQ and Global Equality by Dr. Richard Lynn (professor of Psychology, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland) and Dr. Tatu Vanhanen (University of Tampere, Finland) who have done extensive research on the subject spanning several years. The national average IQ score of Americans at 98 is below 22 countries (including Switzerland, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, North Korea and China). The low Intelligence Quotient (IQ) score of United States puts the Americans at a lower intelligence level on an average as compared to the other industralised nations.
The mathematical skills and abilities to process mathematical problems put America on a weak spot. American high school students scored 483 in the test Program for International Student Assessment. The average scores of American students were way below those of top scoring countries like South Korea, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, etc. all of whom scored between 503 and 544 (significantly higher than US scores). Mathematical skills, scientific temper and the ability to apply mathematical knowledge are essential in the present world and they are the roots of logical and scientific reasoning. If this becomes a weak point, a person’s ability to fare well in science, logical and anaytical thinking would suffer as well.
Another study as a special report by ABC showed that in scientific and mathematical skills, an average Belgian kid scored better than a skilled American. By age fifteen Americans fell behind 25 countries in this test. They scored worse than countries which spend much less in education. The report also states that in US, mediocrity is encouraged by monopoly of public school and opportunity based scholarships, which is hurting the academic ability of Americans when compared to the rest of the world. Yes, monopoly hurts because there is no competition to better oneself against, but when it comes to countries with lesser quality of education it says something. Those countries are not well off either but in spite of that they do better than US.
“American adults in general do not understand what molecules are (other than that they are really small). Fewer than a third can identify DNA as a key to heredity. Only about 10 percent know what radiation is. One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth, an idea science had abandoned by the 17th century.” This is an excerpt from an article by New York Times which did a study and survey of Americans to determine their awareness. Coming from a nation where half the schools do not teach the science of evolution, scientific outlook is discouraged and a lot of emphasis is laid on religious education, the results are hardly surprising.
Now with all these statistics and research data it is up to you, the reader to decide if Americans really deserve the ’stupid’ tag. As with any nation, there are always exceptions which means not all Americans fit these statistics. But a majority of Americans do which creates the average data at a lower level than the other countries.
Possibly Related posts:
- Are Americans Stupid?
- The Stupid American Tourists
- Aby The Liberal Statistics for June 2007
- Obama Cannot Stop Global Sentiment Against Americans
- America , Internationalism
- Comments(177)
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I like this site! Well written and well spotted.
It will not be strange if Americans start crying foul because they have been PROVEN using FACTS. I like the way it is presented good job!.
I agree with a lot, except I am aware in many other countries the weaker students are place in tech schools so they aren’t competing. But why would you mention that?
@ericoak - I am unaware of such a trend. As far as I am aware, the industrailised countries have their best students opting for science and technology related fields. Which is a contrast to conservative United States, where science and technology are looked down upon and soft skill jobs like law and consultancy regain supreme. No wonder kids are mathematically weak and uninspired, there is hardly any incentive to do so.
You’re analysis of the data isn’t only totally absurd, it’s also extremely shallow as well, as it shows who really is lacking in intelligence. Of course, when it comes to IQ scores the USA’s scores are going to lag behind all much smaller and more homogenous countries, simply due to the fact that the USA takes in a much greater percentage of immigration from the third world than all other countries! It’s also going to cause a few other statistics to lag as well. Don’t quit your day job you ignoramus!
@ A Zionist
We do not mind normal criticisms from Americans on articles as dealing with touchy and sensitive topics like this one. I did not however, expect blatant insults and personal attacks, false accusations it speaks for itself what you are.
First, all the countries US lags behind in IQ scores are not homogenous and small nations. The PRC of China which scores seven points above US scores has a population of 1.3 billion which is about 4 times that of US. It has a heterogenous mixture of Hans, Tibetans, Mandarins and Russians which disputes your claim of homogenity as well.
Secondly, you made made an errorenous claim that the US takes a greater percentage of foreign immigration than all other countries. The countries with the largest percentage of immigration are UK, France and New Zealand. In France 85% of immigration is from African countries where low IQ rates prevail. While in US, citizens of foreign origin are mostly from high IQ countries like China and Japan which should give it America a boost against France or UK; but seeminly it doesnt. And it is no suprise that the lowest scorers among Americans are not among the immigrant citizens but among the non-immigrant Americans.
Most of the brilliant scientists, doctors and academics are of European or Asian origin despite the fact that these people move to US only when unable to find a satisfactory job in their competitive home countries. You should be thanking the immigrants rather than spreading hate based propaganda against them, it is because of them that your nation did not score at par with sub-Saharan countries.
As for your comments against Dmitri, I would like to clarify that he has a better and more comfortable job compared to what you might have. I can say this for sure as I do not expect a person with the level of your prejudice to be able to do as well as he does.
If you’re between 13 and 25, you should know the answer to every one of theses questions; otherwise, you are a complete and utter idiot raised by derisory, useless parents who deserve a good beating for allowing you to be educated by worthless teachers uncaring of your future.
Who is the Vice president of the United States?
Who is the Secretary of Defense?
Who is the Secretary of the State?
Who is the Attorney General of the United States?
Who is Jeb Bush?
What does the D.C. in Washington D.C. stand for?
What are the Fundamental Orders of 1639?
Where is Iraq?
Where is Afghanistan?
What did the president of Iran do to America before he ever became Iran’s president?
Where is Iran?
Where is the United Nations, who runs it, and is it a good thing?
How would you the reader like to hear the answers to those questions posed to college students in my own college classes? Better yet, why don’t I give you the answer I give back to the 22 year old idiots awaiting Bachelor’s degrees in Law, Social Services—that’s the most popular because it’s a crime to be white and rich, therefore students must be taught to feel guilty for being born white, rich, and attending a private University in a wealthy town; and are brainwashed into believing they must change white society to one of communistic equality where no one has more than anyone and welfare is a wonderful thing for blacks to live on for eternity. And there are the Political Science majors such as myself. Some are conservative and have known the answers to the questions above since they were two and could put sentences together; but others, God help us, think Dick Cheney’s father was Hollywood’s Dracula.
[...] Are Americans Stupid? This is an excerpt from an article by New York Times which did a study and survey of Americans to determine their awareness. Coming from a nation which does not teach the science of evolution, discourages a scientific outlook of the world and a lot of emphasis is laid on religious faith and education, the results are hardly surprising. Now with all these statistics and research data it is up to you, the reader to decide if Americans really deserve the ’stupid’ tag. As with any nation, there are always exceptions which means not all Americans fit these statistics. But a majority of Americans do which creates the average data at a lower level than the other countries. [...]
3 children of russian immigrants to the u.s decided to have fun at school. They got 3 piglets from the farm painted the #1 on one, the #2 on another and #4 on the last one, and freed them at school. Apart from causing total hysteria and havoc, the police and fire fighters spent 1 week searching for piglet #3!! After futile efforts the piglet was announced “missing”!! Another case, on my question, “who were the victors during ww 2?” most americans answered germany. I honestly dont know how this is possible. And everyone was so offended and i was given the “terrible” title of “nerd”. Nerd= anyone who has an IQ above 100, who can read more than 2 pages a day, who is interested in other things than just drinking, parties and prostitutes. American teenage translation!!
“3 children of russian immigrants to the u.s decided to have fun at school. They got 3 piglets from the farm painted the #1 on one, the #2 on another and #4 on the last one, and freed them at school. Apart from causing total hysteria and havoc, the police and fire fighters spent 1 week searching for piglet #3!! After futile efforts the piglet was announced “missing”!! Another case, on my question, “who were the victors during ww 2?” most americans answered germany. I honestly dont know how this is possible. And everyone was so offended and i was given the “terrible” title of “nerd”. Nerd= anyone who has an IQ above 100, who can read more than 2 pages a day, who is interested in other things than just drinking, parties and prostitutes. American teenage translation!!”
How would you know most americans answered Germany? Did you ask them all on your own?
don’t try to be a smart ass if you don’t know what your talking about. And by the way, Germany starts with an uppercase G. I’m an American teenager and i can assure you we don’t tell people who have an IQ above 100 nerds. And I know for a fact that most people read more than two pages a day. And no, not all americans are interested in drinking partying and prostitutes. And that is not an american teenage translation.
“Coming from a nation which does not teach the science of evolution, discourages a scientific outlook of the world and a lot of emphasis is laid on religious faith and education, the results are hardly surprising.”
oh please, im a high school student and that’s a bunch of bull. Evolution is being tought in schools, and so what if their is faith in schools. Its not like their is such a thing a seperation of church and state (for those of you who dont know, its in a letter written by Thomos Jefferson and he used a “wall of seperation”).
After reading this article I feel sad that this once great nation that was once regarded as a beacon of freedom and opportunity, is now scoring so low in IQ testing. Shouldn’t the promise of opportunity include higher education in one of the richest countries in the world? I am greatly concerned that the “fat stupid American” stereotype has been increasingly a topic of conversation worldwide.
Some of the comments here lash out at this article but never truly address the possible reasons behind it. Our entertainment is garbage, our food supply is full of chemicals, and you can make more money as a waiter than as a teacher, what can one expect when you add up all of these factors. It’s no wonder these stereotypes have become more prevalent.
Americans have lost more than their IQ rankings, Americans have lost their moral compass. Some Americans would rather confront this debate with rage and hatred in their hearts than discuss this issue intellectually with respect for other opinions even if they disagree. I suspect it is the insecurity that deep down there is truth to the stereotype that creates such intense emotions.
If we Americans are to change these scores we must begin with a paradigm shift in our hearts. We must not view those who would point out our shortcomings as the enemy, that is the same logic as killing the messenger. These are not failures which cannot be corrected but instead must be scene as the challenge of our generation. We need to take back control our bodies and minds and demand positive change by voting, informing others and being involved in political action. We must elevate the spirit of our fellow man if we are to deserve the prosperity this country has given us.
Well said my friend Jay. If we are to build a better world we cannot do it with an attitude of ‘nukes and bombs’. Americans can’t hope for peace while they remain woefully ignorant how the world works and their government bombs any country they don’t see eye to eye. There is no ‘evil’ country, it is just difference of ideas and diplomacy is the art of seeing things from different points of view. Americans lack in this diplomacy which is why Switzerland mediated for US in Iran Hostage Crisis and came out successfully while Americans faced a lot of casualties with their ‘bombs and guns’ approach to recue operation. American people must stop being so xenophobic and ignorant of the world and open up more to see how it really is. It isn’t a world of ‘God blessed Americans’ and ‘damn evil commies’.
@ Lisa Richards. Good test questions there, except “Is the United Nations a good thing?” is a question of opinion. Asking if ANYTHING is a good thing is a question of opinion no matter how obvious the answer might be, even as simple a question as “is it a good thing to breathe?” But I guess you can gauge intelligence on how a person answers the “is it good” question, but the important answer would be to the question “why is it (or not) a good thing?”
America teaches and tests everybody. Special Education students attend classes with regular Education students. In the mix are the non and emerging English speaking students. The statistics may show that we are stupid, but we teach our own and everybody elses regardless of their ability. England is the only other country that educates everyone. IQ is a number. I’ve taught plenty of idiots with high IQ’s. The stupid are those that sit on their high horses compiling statics, and believing that’s the whole story. Go solve a calculus problem and get back to me later.
I always see the world as one country,no borders, with people speaking different languages also with all different cultures respecting each other, understanding that no one is better than anybody else and justifying people who doesn’t have manners because the lack of opportunity in their education.
Probably because I was born and raised in a 3rd country (Peru), I am still asking myself how education can be more meaningful for my students? here in US, Spain or in Peru still looking for a good answer …. sometimes I answer with this crazy idea that the goverment need ignorants to continue taking advange and make whatever they want to do with out any kind of oposition.
I don’t know anything, I am still learning … I for sure I’ll continue until I found the answers to my questions.
Yeah, I agree for the most part, however, there are a few things that are skewed. Yes, Americans are ignorant for the most part and cannot think of anything that does not consist of themselves, but here is my reasoning behind that: world affairs do not affect them directly. For example, gas. Gas prices continue to go up, it is the reason for the war, yet all we do is complain and blame a polital party, but we are completely oblivious to the fact the more we drive around in our cars (because we hardly have any form of public transportation), the more the US relies on oil, and the more gas prices go up. See, we cannot think of anything but ourselves - we cannot possibly think that our excessive use in natural resouces is affecting the rest of the world.
School. Students today, take advantage of education. They go because they have to, not because the want to, and whether or not they pay attention…..I think you already know the answer to that. Also, teachers have a strict criteria on what they can and cannot teach. They cannot teach who the Prime Minister of Canada is because they are too busy teaching the nutshell of the entire world history - that’s right, teachers somehow have to teach over a thousand years of history in just a few weeks; most colleges have an entire course on one event in history. Perhaps we have a reason why we do not know everything. Oh, just so you know creationism AND evolution is taught in most schools. Choosing one over the other is extremely controversial and makes the headlines…..or maybe you guys did not know that and maybe you guys need to brush up on your US knowledge.
IG test: WHO TAKES THOSE?! In my entire life - even though it hasn’t been that long - i have never taken or ever known someone who has taken a legitimate IQ test. So I don’t know where you got this research or where “IQ and Global Equality” got their test subjusts, but they sure did not get it from a large sample. Oh, and I went to the link that is listed in the article and it sent me to wikipedia.com. You should know that wikipedia is NOT a credible source because anyone can change/add/delete information from it. So i suggest changing that link because right now i do not believe a word of it - IQ and Global Equality is a book, did YOU read it? Another thing about IQ Tests: they are very controversial here in the US because one cannot possibly measure an IQ. The more you take it, the better you get at it and you can take it one day and be a complete genius and then the next day and you are dumb as a post.
The Media: Sadly, not everyone watches/reads the news, so they would not know what is going on in the world and those who do read/watch can only know what is printed. The media does not print everything that is going on in the world. Lately, all we here about is Iraq and how political figures cause scandals - after awhile, we can only take but so much.
I personally blame the media because there are issues going in the world that they will not write about. Like child soldiers, I had no idea that that was going on and I had to learn about it through 3 young guys and not through the media.
our public schools are not allowed to teach creationism by the way, only evolution. American schools are actually very politically correct about not offending someone’s specific religious beliefs, etc. They actually tend to go kind of overboard in fact. It’s definately clear that students learning and actually retaining that information is a problem everywhere in the world, it takes a real dedication for all people to keep up with those kinds of things.
I actually wouldn’t mind having a real, intelligent discussion about these kinds of issues, bt it always ends up the american viewpoints being insulted back or our country just being mocked, which is quite annoying, and very easy to do with our position in the world.
Anyway, no offence or anything, but this does seem like pretty much an elitist website where your countries are perfect and ours is the horrible one, so i think we should all just show some respect and not be so hostile.
Aby, you obviously misread everything i wrote: I AM AGREEING THAT AMERICANS ARE IGNORANT, myself included. Do I wish I could learn more? Yes. My oil explaination was an example of how ignorant we areMost of the stuff I said, I was calling it as a see it. I don’t know ANYONE who has taken an IQ test and I asked many of them if they knew anyone and they said no as well. Did I ask everyone? No. Does that mean that I think IQ are useless? No. As for you not trusting a US government website, well, that is your opinion. Students are told by their teachers and professor NOT to use them in a credible paper. Does that mean student don not use them for background information? No. If Americans do not use/remember the stuff they are taught when they were in school - which they don’t, I admitted to us not taking advantage of education - it means that their profession does not require it. We have a phase “if you don’t use it, you lose it” and that is what has happened to most of us.
I was not disagreeing, but trying to explain some pitiful reasoning behind our ignorance. Just because I believe Americans are ignorant does not mean that I will not defend. Oh. and by the way I did go back to the wikipedia webpage and your country, the Czech Republic, has the same IQ as the US so I suggest you spending your time mocking the US and worry about your own country since you believe the US has such a low IQ.
Or are you Swiss and in that case your country is 3 points higher. I clearly do not know anything about IQ tests, but what is that one question more.
American schools by and large do not operate on a policy of marketisation. This is quite a stereotypically British policy in which schools compete in order to acquire league table places and more funding from the government. although it has its massive flaws it does in fact drive up standards. All countries around the world have faith schools in which their is inevitably a bias against teaching children scientific methodology and it would be ridiculous to believe that America is the only place where this does occur.
The American education system is based on ascribed status more than achieved status. Never before have i witnessed such an overtly unfair system in which one can “buy” places into top colleges OR get in because they’re particularly good at sports. Even in Britain such elitism exists but in substantially lesser numbers and is ALSO less BLATANT. In fact i am utterly appalled at the fact that one can gain a sports scholarship (some jock who can barely count to 10 taking the place of a gifted and intelligent individual) however this is a real and disturbing reality in America.
American culture is also inherently flawed. its focus is FAR too much in favour of entertainment in the form of overindulgence in foods, sports etc. Go to the Central Business District of any American settlement and there will be buffets as far as the eye can see ( i know since i went to some of these). The average American child is encouraged to worship the Lord and hate Muslims and be good at sport then they are to be curious. This is of course no surprise as once you arm a child with intelligence they start to question the idiotic and racist society that they find themselves in.
NOW at this point you probably think I’m some left wing European who hates America… well you’re half right. Let me tell you a short story to illustrate my point. My family and i were in the Louvre in France when we met and greeted a young American couple. We all spoke in English accents and said we were from Manchester. They seem puzzled and went “what Manchester New Hampshire (in america). In my mind this was a blatant demonstration of the insular mindset of the average American. The poor couple!!! they couldn’t fathom that there was in fact a world outside America.
For a developed country i am constantly struck by the xenophobic and islamophobic attitude of the average American. I strongly believe although that these statistics do have their flaws they can be easily explained by some analysis.Take the American political system and compare it to the British political system. Yes there is a gigantic difference. On the whole British politicians are well spoken/mannered intelligent and can actually hold an intellectual conversation which doesn’t reflect a deep rooted and racist bias.You actually get the feeling that these politicians actually got into Oxbridge on their own merit. On the other hand the American politician is usually a devout Christian who is ignorant of evolution (and the finer details of it for that matter) cannot even begin to describe how climate change occurred and is very happy to manipulate the crowd with some Christian jargon or some display of feminine emotion (Hilary Clinton I’m looking at you) and probably bought their way into Yale or Harvard.
OF COURSE you cannot just generalize based on these statistics but they do an excellent job in reinforcing what I have seen and experienced in the USA. In short, the American education system does not encourage competition (unless in some form of sport) pays lip service to evolution ( but the same old anti scientific bias can be seen if you hold a conversation with a young American child), is completely unmeritocratic, and in fact is actually there to reinforce and maintain the idiotic American world view. In fact these statistics come as no surprise. JUST IMAGINE if an American was in fact intelligent enough to challenge the establishment on intellectual grounds. It would mean the end of American civilization as we know it. Just imagine if instead of eating yourselves to death you actually worked (YES I SAID WORKED) for a place in college ( instead of letting some rich bigot bail you out) and if you actually STOPPED CARING about when Paris Hilton gets out of jail, you might have a higher standing in the view of developed European countries who now easily outstrip the average American in virtues such as tolerance,dilligence, awareness of world affairs and scientific curiosity.
I hardly mentioned anything about my countries, far less to claim any country is perfect. I hope people would show some respect and not attempt to put words into others’ mouths.
It is not only a problem of Americans, anyone with an opinion would get mocked in a discussion by someone who disagrees with them. If we can have a reasonable discussion without being abusive and insulting, we need to be resilient enough to withstand criticisms in the interests of free speech.
I didn’t see this as something that warrants a reply and hence I chose to ignore this part. I am not here to prove Americans ignorant because I honestly do not believe that every American is an ignorant moron. I rather think the article author Dmitri put together a few statistical data to emphasise that these statistics point towards the implication that a majority of Americans do come off as stupid when compared to other First World nations. I would rather have you honestly disagree with me than using general ‘icebreakers’ like ‘I agree’ to loosen up a discussion (if that is what you are hinting at).
Considering that IQ tests aren’t a part of any of the compulsory academic assessments, it would not be out of place that none of the people in your circle took them. It would be logistically impossible to take the IQ test of every single individual of a country with 300 million people. We can get fairly accurate results if we take 2000 people from different regions and backgrounds of the United States and extrapolate it to account for all the variances that one would come across the population of US.
I would trust a US government site to be as unbiased about the world as an Al Qaeda site would be about its ideals on suicide bombing. It has less to do with my personal opinions and more to do with the inherent bias in favour of their ideals. What would make a CIA site any more credible than an Al Qaeda site? Both these organisations are extremist groups that subscribe to their own self-righteous ideals and would break the law to the extent of extreme violence to achieve their ideals.
This is nothing but an attempt at a logical fallacy “Ad Hominem” on you part. It isn’t very accurate either, as I am as much a Czech as you are a Tibetan monk. In any case since Dr. Richard Lynn’s tests were based on English questions. It is expected of non-English countries to score slightly lower on verbal assesments than English countries, despite the corrective measures taken. This however does not constitute any lower level of intelligence for those countries, any more than your inability to do well on a Greek IQ test would indicate a sub-human intelligence for you.
To “A Zionist”:
No, USA does not take in more immigrants from the third world than all the other industrialized countries. Don’t start with a lot of bullshit to try to make you look like the good guys who suffers because you want to help out the third world. It’s just bullshit. I live in Sweden and we took in SO many more Iraqi refugees last year that even ONE town, called Södertälje, took in more Iraqi immigrants than the WHOLE of USA. Despite this USA does take in more refugees total, from all countries, but in proportion of the population of the country Sweden admitted a lot more. I mention this because the proportion is what matters int his discussion since, the statistics which we are discussing are based on proportion (percentage) so even though USA, in total, admits more immigrants (I’m not sure USA take in more immigrants from the third world, though, but form all of the world they do…) it wouldn’t matter since Sweden admits a bigger percentage of the country’s total population hence, the immigration to Sweden would effect Sweden’s statistics a lot more than the immigration to USA would effect their statistics. Besides, the immigrants USA lets in to their country are mostly pretty well educated, something which has contributed a lot to the so called “brain drain” of the third world, and would effect USA IQ-statistics in a positive way and not in a negative way as you’re implying. Sweden, however, take sin mostly uneducated poor immigrants and refugees (look at the links and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Especially the refugees from Iraq) If you don’t believe me I can give you some links to verify what I’m saying, unlike you, who just comes up with a lot of bullshit to make your country look better than it is. here’s an intelligent discussion. Anyone wants to join it? Or maybe it was just empty words which served to diminish the critique of USA on this post? Anyway, if you’ve, unlike our friend “A Zionist”, got something intelligent and valid to say on this topic, either you’re from USA, Sweden or whatever, don’t hesitate. Here are some links:
http://www.unhcr.se/Pdf/statistics/2007_Asylum_Report.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/opinion/27cohen.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?theSitePK=1572893&contentMDK=20665646&menuPK=1719317&pagePK=64168182&piPK=64168060
besides Sweden is not a homogeneous nation, about 2 million (out of 9 million) people have a foreign background.
Didnt we kick the crap out of, and save the ass of, several European countries, even tho we tried to stay out of WWII but Japan made the mistake of F**king with us (and look what happened)?
Or is the whole “holocaust” a big lie and the USA never bothered to save Germany, England, etc???
Maybe that means Europe is a bunch of lying little girls who cant handle their own past or current problems & needs to rely on a better country to save them???
While a majority of “current” america seems stupid (almost retarded) keep in mind some of us aren’t as “dumb” as you think and will quickly stomp red white & blue into your forehead.
I for one think the USA needs a good kick in the arse to wake itself up from the slacker attitude its come into. Anyone care to Nuke us???
It’ s surprising that Indian IQ is only 81.
I would like to see the IQ charts to see the placement of the country’s. because I wont to know Canada’s score. seeing how close we are to America.
another thing I would have to agree with some of these acquisitions. IQ test are questionable at best, I just don’t think there an accredit, way to test intelligentsias. I remember this one girl in my class got perfect scores all the time, but soon as she opened her mouth, wow. the thing is this girl was a whiz at studying, but she was one of the stupidest people I have ever meet and racist too. The girl didn’t have an original thought in her head, trust me this was the hole classes opinion.
oh ps we here in Canada, have this show were we ask them bogus questions like, the white rhinos, are going wild in Canada, so we passed a law to kill them off by using timbits (timbits are small donuts in Canada). Another of my favorers its we ask there opinion, of how prime minister poutine (poutine is Canadian French fries) has just won the elections.
@ Semperfi - LoL, here we have a angry redneck. USA saved the ass of Europe? Yeah, of coz, you always liberated the whole europe, the whole Asia, Iraq, Philippines and everyone should suck your balls, lol, whatever makes you feel better. The author is right, there is nothing that beats American stupidity.
It is my experience is that Yanks,
just don’t care . . . ignorance is bliss . . .
robban- usa’s immigrants are not well educated. There are some that are but 39% of our immigrants do not have a high school diploma. I also just read an article showing how on average american natives do much better on iq tests than immigrants. I have no doubt that sweden admitted more iraqis than us obviously but most of our immigrants are from latin america and most of those are from mexico - many are poor and very uneducated. Canada and the UK have also seen a substantial brain drain, but like america, there are also many native born scientists and other innovative intellectual people. Also, the only countries to get a higher percentage of immigrants than us were australia, canada, and new zealand.
anyway, i’m really not trying to start a fight here, just giving the simple truth. i don’t know why it is so important for some non-americans to try to “prove” how stupid or bad we are. most of us are against bush and the war in iraq- did you know that? Also, the stats show that america’s iq is the same as australia and it is also higher than many european countries, such as ireland. so how are we the worst scoring or the stupidest?
and i also agree with bryan, iq tests are basically complete bullshit, so why are we all up in arms waving these meaningless numbers at each other?
@ Ben
Can you please furnish us with a link to this article? Also, I think you’re getting stupidity confused with a lack of education.
@ SemperFi
It’s interesting that the terminology you used does not go well with the current disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ignorance certainly is bliss. Are you actually a Marine or just blowing smoke? After all, it’s one thing to voice nationalistic sentiment, but a whole new ball game to make a reasonable point and you seem to be failing on both counts. The U.S. can barely govern weak nations like Iraq and Afghanistan, let alone “save” most of Europe. For the record, Russian actions turned the tide of World War II; we merely capitalized on these gains. I can provide a reference to anyone interested. As for the Japan comment, that one came to bite us in the @$$ in what became known as the Cold War. Clearly, the short-sighted attitude we displayed put (to date) seven explicit nuclear states—to hell with the formal definition in the NPT—and one threshold nuclear state, as opposed to one. Plus, the loss of civilian life was significant. Your comment that the U.S. is a better country is absurd. The standard of living in Europe is much higher. To put things in perspective, the cabs in some European countries are BMW—the UAE utilizes Mercedes for their cabs—as opposed to the Ford Crowns used in the U.S. I can offer more insight, but unfortunately, my time is rather limited today.
This is not the first time I have come across this topic. Unfortunately “facts are facts” and if it was an isolated incident where Americans score lower on their IQ’s or in mathematics, this would be a time to debate but it is not. So argue all you want…it wont change a damn thing and will not make the scores any higher. I think part of the problem is not just the education but the fact that a lot of Americans are lacking the will to learn. They do not feel the need to pick up an encyclopedia or read an educational book. This does NOT mean they are dumb, it has more to do with the society that they are living in. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that they are just interested in getting wasted and taking drugs (which someone has posted earlier) but I would say that ones they leave work or school all the want to do is entertain themselves. That’s normal except that to an average American that means watching a football game or reading a gossip magazines. To most people in other countries, a well written history book or even a math book is considered a form of entertainment as well. PART OF THE PROBLEM
Source: National Geographic
33% of respondents couldn’t pinpoint Louisiana on a map.
Fewer than three in 10 think it important to know the locations of countries in the news and just 14 percent believe speaking another language is a necessary skill.
Two-thirds didn’t know that the earthquake that killed 70,000 people in October 2005 occurred in Pakistan.
Six in 10 could not find Iraq on a map of the Middle East.
Forty-seven percent could not find the Indian subcontinent on a map of Asia.
Seventy-five percent were unable to locate Israel on a map of the Middle East.
Nearly three-quarters incorrectly named English as the most widely spoken native language.
Six in 10 did not know the border between North and South Korea is the most heavily fortified in the world.
Thirty percent thought the most heavily fortified border was between the United States and Mexico.
It is well-known fact that the youth of a nation is the nation’s future. American sociologists from the National Geographic Society decided to do a research to find what the future of the USA will be. And actually their findings were far from being promising.
More than 500 young American adults between the ages of 18 and 24 took part in the survey. They were asked geographical questions about the modern world. At the end of the test they demonstrate a limited understanding of the world beyond their country’s border. In this survey young Americans answered about half (54%) of all the questions correctly.
The results showed causes for concern. Here are the most evident examples of young Americans’ illiteracy.
Only 37% of young Americans can find Iraq on a map - though U.S. troops have been there since 2003.
6 in 10 young Americans don’t speak a foreign language fluently.
20% of young Americans think Sudan is in Asia. (It’s the largest country in Africa.)
48% of young Americans believe the majority population in India is Muslim. (It’s Hindu—by a landslide.)
Half of young Americans can’t find New York on a map.
Three-quarters cannot find Indonesia on a map – even after images of the tsunami and the damage it caused to this region of the world played prominently across television screens and in the pages of print media over many months in 2005.
The majority of the American young adults overestimate the total size of the US population and fail to understand how much larger the population of China is.
Three-quarters believe English is the most common spoken native language in the world, rather than Mandarin Chinese.
Only Two-thirds (67%) can find Louisiana on a US map and half (52%) can find Mississippi – leaving a third or more who cannot find these states, in spite of months of intensive media coverage of the 2005 hurricanes and their aftermath.
These results suggest that young people in the United States - the most recent graduates of our educational system - are unprepared for an increasingly global future. Far too many lack even the most basic skills for navigating the international economy or understanding the relationships among people and places that provide critical context for world events.
Source: National Geographic
http://www.vdare.com/rubenstein/051222_nd.htm
Bharat - there’s the website. this is only one of several sources supporting similar data also. read the whole article. enjoy.
Bharat- here’s another one. this source shows 31% of immigrant adults do not have a high school diploma. again, there are several sources on there. i also do think that the continental european schools are most likely better than the north american and british ones, especially with our current lacking governments, but this is a point to be made.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-11-28-immigrants_N.htm
I am an American working abroad. Reluctantly, I must agree with most points made in the article. I come in touch with many different cultures and I must say that ignorance among American kids is, unfortunately, rampant.
Thank you so much Semperfi….. you have flawlessly demonstrated the American condition which is “Americans bailed out the cowardly Europeans and we have lots of nukes therefore making us a great nation.. GOD BLESS AMERICA GOD BLESS AMERICA GOD BLESS AMERICA GOD BLESS AMERICA GOD BLESS AMERICA GOD BLESS AMERICA GOD BLESS AMERICA GOD BLESS AMERICA ( its quite saddening to realise that this is how Americans communicate)”. This therefore gives even the dullest American an unjustified superiority complex. Here’s a reality check: 1. your economy is in complete tatters- all China has to do to dig America’s grave is to ask for all its loans back ( although i can’t see this happening). 2. throughout history America has displayed itself as an extremely cowardly nation. Take WW1… America only joined when it was clear that it was no longer in their interests NOT TO retain its isolationist policy.. in short the USA only joined to conserve their own selfish interests. 3. The majority of all Americans are clinically obese… yes what a great a nation… a VERY GREAT nation (if you catch my drift). 4.America will not reign supreme in worldwide political affairs for much longer as the political might of China is set to rise exponentially in the following years 5. despite your military superiority.. you were stalemated by Vietnamese villagers (obviously much more intelligent than the average American… they used their brains and realised that the average dim USA soldier would be easily outsmarted by guerrilla warfare) 6. your president is by all standards an idiot and a disgrace… you know what they say.. a political leader is more often than not a good representative of the people. 7. the proficiency of the average American child in terms of mathematical and linguistic ability is now falling below Asian levels (it fell below western European levels A LOOOOONG time ago) according to a recent Gallup poll. 8. despite the idiotic fixation with patriotism that the average American possesses, your country has a very limited and superficial history ( LOL you only gained independance from the UK about 230 years ago) 9. most Europeans including myself ( to some extent) utterly deride and ridicule Americans now…. you are the PUNCHLINE of all the world’s jokes. 10. America really doesnt have a very good track record for human rights…… GUANTANAMO BAY… enough said.
Just as a sidebar, to set the record straight - ignorance is by far not limited to Americans. I was in a meeting with a gentleman from Scotland the other day and over lunch we chatted about travel. I mentioned I had spent most of last year in Bavaria. His astonishing comment was “Where is Bavaria”? It is like asking some hillbilly from the depths of Appalachia where California was. Even he would probably know.
@ neworleanian - For the average Scot, it is not a sign of ignorance if he is unable to tell where a quaint nondescript German state is. If I were to ask an average American over lunch, where Manaus or Maracaibo is, we would meet the same results.
You’re right neworleanian. No one (or i hope no one) is suggesting that Americans are uniquely stupid. HOWEVER they do display a complete disregard for political affairs or even general knowledge about other countries ( you’d think this type of knowledge would be necessary for the world’s foremost economic power… well apparently not.) and on average their aptitude in science and maths is disproportionately low with regards to the country’s wealth and ability to provide a better quality education.
Miloy04 - I agree with you. Generalizations are dangerous, but I will agree that average Americans display more ignorance about the rest of the world than average Europeans. I have worked and lived in a bunch of different countries around the world, therefore I can say that.
A well made point Aby. However even if you did not know that Bavaria was a German state, i would be surprised if one had absolutely no idea about even the general location of Bavaria
Generalisations are indeed extremely dangerous and potent tools for generating hatred. It is important to understand that not ALL Americans display these traits. However having said this there are observable patterns within American culture which i have witnessed first hand and have compared to European culture. I’ve noticed that Western Europeans usually have a much greater command of other languages (and a greater willingness to learn them) then Americans (and to some extent Britons). Quite amusingly i have also noticed how countries like France have such a low regard for American culture and their foreign policy in general.
The question “are Americans stupid” is very emotive and inflammatory. In its essence this question is MEANT to cause controversy… this is what sparks interesting and a varied debate. The answer to this question is not a simple yes or no. The question probes for a response which is well thought out and based on real experience and sound evidence. That’s why i find it highly annoying when the “American condition” is displayed so blatantly even in this blog. After hearing senseless lies about how America “bailed Europe out” and how America is therefore deserving of respect I am almost tempted to answer this question with a plain YES.
Hi Aby - sounds logical but your argument seems to undermine the whole point of this forum. If a Scotsman cannot be labeled ignorant for not knowing where Bavaria is, then - applying equal logic - the average American Joe cannot be labeled ignorant for not knowing what or where Manaus is. But that’s not what this forum is about, is it? I thought the whole point of this forum was to show that, on average, there are more ignorant people in America then there are in Europe. Maybe there needs to be a commond definition of “what is ignorance”?
I have to disagree here. On the contrary it will be virtually impossible and extremely dangerous to live a life without generalisation. When you visit a doctor, you generalise and trust that the doctor is going to treat you. You would not employ convicted paedophiles in schools because you generalise that a paedophile would sexually predate on children. One shouldn’t mistake generalisation with stereotypes.
I agree with that. Something that is already made clear in the article above, by Dmitri when he said, “there are always exceptions which means not all Americans fit these statistics”.
Something that can be found anywhere in Europe, not just Western Europe. Most Russians (I have met) for example, have a strong command over Russian plus French, German or their native ethnic languages.
The ‘culture’ and foreign policy of United States is in its early adolescence, with the same level of superficiality, angst and immaturity. This is the reason why American ‘pop’ culture finds so many takers among youngsters in the developing world, it represents what they want to live life as. For the average French who lives a better life than an American, there is no reason they would hold high regards for the US culture or foreign policy.
Agreed. Precise answers and political correctness rarely leave a room for a discussion.
I’m afraid you missed your own point and changed stance. You seemed to make the suggestion that a person’s intelligence can be judged just by their awareness of a non-descript state in a foreign country. Yet you bash me when I give you a taste of your own assumption.
Not really. If the point of this article is what you say it is, then it would have become an elitism of sorts. Rather I think, the aim of this article is to point out that Americans in general are far more intellectually deficient than they are supposed to be.
Generalisations in their broadest sense means forming patterns amongst groups of unique individuals. This in itself is very dangerous. We do generalise a lot in aspects of our lives. However these generalisations are ones of convenience. Humans couldn’t function if they couldn’t form some patterns about the world they occupy. On the other hand the context in which we are speaking prohibits the use of generalisations since this offer far too simplistic a view. For example it would be incorrect to state that in general Americans are stupid. In fact it would even be a pinch (although amongst Europeans and people who have been to the US would accept that this is mostly a fact) to say that Americans are less willing to learn other languages. This is why I stress that i have noticed this phenomenon and not that this phenomenon is in itself a fact.
The formation of stereotypes in itself is as a result of a generalisation that has been widely accepted. This generalisation then goes on to be amplified and overexaggarated leading to the formation of a stereotype. In this context the generalisation is made that on the whole Americans are either stupid or their culture is such that they do not lay heavy emphasis on educational enrichment and therefore appear ignorant. This generalisation is amplified into the form we see it today…. all Americans are stupid,ignorant neo conservative zealots who are totally unaware of world affairs. Most would agree that this is not true but in are liberal European anti American paradigm, it has been accepted as an accurate depiction of the average American.
However analysis of the statistics coupled with personal experience would inevitably lead most (even those using strict scientific methodology) to conclude that Americans are stupid. Instead i choose to believe and I also conclude that on average an American adult is far less academically orientated then any European equivalents. This comes as absolutely no surprise when American culture is studied in detail. Religious fanaticism ( which does bot by enlarge encourage scientific curiosity as being more important than the stalwart adherence to the dogmatic nature of the religion) coupled with the rise of an overabundance of cheap energy rich food, and with the heavy emphasis on sports and other forms of entertainment, academia is therefore given a lower priority and lower status. This is clearly shown by the negative connotations that arise from the “nerd” archetype in American culture who is socially awkward, perceived as overly interested in academics and gets the least attention from females.
Here’s a little something to make you all feel better…
Stupid people are EVERYWHERE, and they can be ANYBODY.
Last time I checked, there wasn’t a whole lot of common sense being used in the last few centuries, which is why we seem to keep wanting to blow each other up over whose God is bigger.
Just a thought…
i don’t know about the whole IQ thing, yes it is standard and such but there is much bias in IQ tests. Realistically IQs should be uniform and to suggest they are not would be saying certain races are “dumb” and others are superior, which is unture. I myself have taken two IQ tests when I was 13 I scored 154, at 16 I scored 146. That makes absolutely no sense.
as far as diversity, it is moot, but the U.S. is quite diverse, truly more so than most countries. Whites, which make up about 75% of the population are really just all Caucasians so you could be Ukrainian and be that same as an Italian.
btw, about china, Han makes up about 90% of the poulation so it may be big but no so diverse.
” @ ben - “Anyway, no offence or anything, but this does seem like pretty much an elitist website where your countries are perfect and ours is the horrible one, so i think we should all just show some respect and not be so hostile.”
I hardly mentioned anything about my countries, far less to claim any country is perfect. I hope people would show some respect and not attempt to put words into others’ mouths.”
True, i would like to point out though you only seem to criticize the U.S., I don’t really care but youd think you would spend more time talking of the problems of your home country as opposed the U.S.’s problems.
just putting out there, I don’t mind discussing Americas issues but there is a definite air of superiority. Lets discuss the fact that Europe’s Universities are lagging behind or the problems facing the European union right now.
I can not believe some of what people say!
First, the US does teach evolution in our schools. It has, at least in most schools, removed religion.
Second on IQ tests, I have taken many IQ tests and do believe there is validity there. I scored 132 on my last test, and have consistantly scored with in a few points of that on every IQ test I have ever taken.
The fact that we have so many immigrants does change the way you look at standardized testing in this country. You can not expect some one from another country to necessarily score well on American history.
We have 2 big problems with education in this country as I see it. Technology is being used by many incorrectly. It should be a tool to help us improve our lives, and in some cases make things easier. It is used as many to replace using their brain instead of as a tool, and is making us lazy. There is so much knowledge available but we tend to access the unimportant things while ignoring the significant. We also tend to take what we are told by the media and believe it instead of taking a little initiative and investigate it further.
Second is our school system. In some public schools academic achievement is very important and honored. In many though that is not the case. Many inner city schools that have students from mainly lower income families are under staffed, over crowded, and under funded. These are the students that we tend to have lower expectations for. Less is expected of them, and so many make it through with out the knowledge they should have. These students have the abilities to be more, but the effort is not there to promote more. People will say that standardized testing is racially or culturally biased, and is not fair. That is sadly true. If it is standard, then it should be what is being taught across the board to all schools, and all students. Because of the sorry state of our education that just isn’t happening.
@Sophocles this isn’t elitism at all. We accept that our countries have major problems. However since America is such a powerful country, the problems that it has are of more concern since they have more of an influence then let’s say problems that Britain has. (although they do have a minor influence). The fact that as you put it “European universities are lagging behind” is an unsubstantiated red herring. Even if they were lagging behind, what effect does this have on world affairs? On the other hand, the fact that the average American has a very limited awareness of countries outside the US is very influential and very dangerous as it means they are more susceptible to government propaganda (making the average citizen easier to pacify and more likely to endorse the actions of the government, which they otherwise wouldn’t if they perhaps knew for themselves what the issues were) as they are very unlikely to have experienced first hand the mannerisms of other people. this problem has manifested itself in a multitude of ways which I am sure you are all aware of.
I agree very much with the last comment by miloy04. Ignorance in the hands of people who do have the power to elect just about any yo-yo as Commander-in-Chief, who controls perhaps the most powerful military in the world, sounds very, very scary. Sort of like the Third Reich, doesn’t it?
This is a very well researched and thought provoking article.. You have rightly pointed out that Americans have a lower IQ than any other “Developed” country. Now the question is, why do Americans have a lower average IQ?
What I am about to say is extremely politically incorrect. It is likely to upset many readers. However that does not make it any less true.
Average IQ varies by race.
East Asians centers around 106
Whites, about 100
Blacks about 85 in the U.S. and 70 in sub-Saharan Africa.
Source- http://www.news-medical.net/?id=9530
America has the highest Black population of all the “Developed” countries mentioned.
wow, that was really racist.
i would also like to ask why my posts take forever to come up. I know you have to “moderate” them but it seems like i post and they dont show up till 2 or 3 weeks later and some of mine still dont show.
I would like to say to miley that U.S. universities are generally higher ranked internationally than European Universities, much for the same reason that European Public schools are better. Funding and organization. American schools often get more money from private funds and trusts and can ask for higher tuition with public universities still getting money from the state. and if you think this fact is an unsubstantiated red herring…? look at most lists of the worlds best 10 or 50 universities and you’ll see that U.S. universities make up a majority of the schools listed.
I would like to expand on Sophocles’ comment above. I did my university studies both in the U.S. as well as in Europe. From my experience, I see a greater spread in academic standards among American universities than among European ones. Among American universities there are some top-notch ones, but also some very piss-poor ones. From what I saw in German schools for instance, they were much closer to one another in terms of academic standards. You take schools like Stanford or Harvard and they will be hard to match. But take an average American university and compare it to an average European university….
I am an American, and I agree that many Americans seem stupid. I am not sure if it is really stupidity, though. The ones that stand out - the masses - the sheep in the mainstream are the ones that give the few of us who are intelligent a bad name. These people are just not ‘thinkers.’ Also, the issue of immigration may impact the test scores, as the tests are often ethnically, culturally and class biased. It is not that stupidity itself is the problem, it is the ignorance and accompanying arrogance that cause problems. Generally, though, we should admit that people are stupid. The people posting on this site are in the minority. You all need to see “Idiocracy” by Mike Judge - here the natural consequence of stupid people indiscriminately reproducing results in the dilution of the gene-pool.
As an American who periodically studies and lives abroad, yes, I’ve seen the Stupid American Tourist phenomenon, and been embarrassed by it. I’ve also been frustrated by the ignorance and insulated thinking of people back home. Much of what I want to do in my career centers around the benefits of international experience and connections for Americans–maybe we can wise up a bit.
“A lot of what Americans get from the people of the world is what they have earned for the past sixty years or so.”
This is where I have to disagree. Bigotry against a group is still bigotry, whether it’s “yee-haw, bomb the Muslims” American prejudice, or polite and rational-sounding European prejudice. It cannot be justified, and is actually much more disappointing to hear coming from the so-called “more intelligent”.
I should not ever have to pay for the actions of someone else, even if they are from my country. Sadly, I have, on many occasions. And yet I still pursue an international life and encourage other Americans to do the same, because in the long run, we need this more than we need to worry about bigots on either side of the Atlantic.
Believe me, if you treat guests to your country like crap, and then insinuate that they “deserve” it because of where they are from, you are making yourself appear ignorant and regressive, and embarrassing your country.
Yes it’s true that the majority of Americans are stupid (among other things). However, Americans also produce many extremely gifted minds. The sad thing is that America cares more about investing in destruction then education. The reign at the top is over. I’ve done quite a lot of traveling and I can assure anyone that the average European is a lot more knowledgeable then the average American. Unless, of course, you consider knowing all about “American Idol” to equate intelligence. We Americans are addicts for everything and we are allergic to moderation. This has been and continues to be our downfall. Personally, I’m trying to emigrate to Europe. Anyone have any ideas on obtaining a visa. P.S. We (America) elected the most ignorant leader in the history of the world… TWICE!!! If that doesn’t define ignorance I don’t know what does.
>Another case, on my question, “who were the victors during ww 2?” most
>americans answered germany. I honestly dont know how this is possible.
It helps to understand it if you understand the relationship between European industrialists, American industrialists, fascism (the corporate state) as a general form of government versus the specifics of German Nazi rule. And the history of the CIA and the Bush family.
But in a lot of ways it’s not unreasonable to say the fascists lost the battle (and a charismatic though insane leader) but ultimately won the war.
I mean, be honest - look at the changes the neocon dynasty (Bush/Reagan/Clinton/Bush) has made in American law. Are these changes towards fascism or away from fascism?
Returning to the race/IQ concept…
Are we to assume, therefore, that the Netherlands, with an average IQ of 107, has an exceptional percentage of Asians in their society? greater than the 12%, as the percentage of black Americans is? I think not. It appears that a number of people above are trying to use race as some kind of excuse for having a relatively low IQ.
Also, I’m sick of Americans claiming they ’saved Europe’ during WWII. The Russians, if anyone, take that title, and the majority of American military resource went toward the war in south east Asia, not Europe, and there are a number of factors that meant that Europes liberation was possible, not the overwhelming force of American arms as many American antionals would have everyone else believe. If the RAF fell would D-Day or anything wimilar have happened? No
what are you talking about?
really, your statement made absolutely no sense at all.
[...] The big reason this bothers me has to do with the nature of the illustration ( a racial caricature) and the response of all the white pundits I have seen on TV today (Gee guys, what’s the big deal? It’s funny, if you’re smart enough to get it!). Because, you know, Americans are smart. [...]
Hi all,
First of all I would like to point out that ignorance and stupidity is NOT the same thing, because the former is due to lack of knowledge and the latter due to lack of intelligence. Americans IMHO are therefore not stupid, but suffering from an educational system that has yet to experience the consequences of not investing enough effort and money in schools.
Another, far more personal opinion of mine based on what I read and hear in American media, is that politicians and people in power seem to be able to hide their real intentions or mistakes behind propaganda and patriotism, without the possibility for the average man to question it. Tags like ‘neo-con’ and ‘liberal media’ are often used to blatantly silence what the other side has to say. The result is normal voters who let themselves be guided by careless or strategic propaganda and discretion.
I would like to express my optimism in this case, because I believe that when enough pressure has gathered American intellectuals will take measures, ignorance simply can’t last forever.
I am an American teenager and I have gone to public schools and charter schools. I have to say that it is the fault of the public schools and the religious fanatics who run them. I know many would disagree but we all have to be very careful not to hurt peoples feelings so things have to be evened out, such as the whole evolution thing. Also in public schools they have special needs kids in the classes with us. Now isn’t that great motivation? You’re as smart as a special needs kid, and that’s not even the sped classes. On another point, people from the military, or family members of military people, should be discarded as Americans. Look at Semper Fi, all he has the ability to do is look at a past war, which has absolutely NOTHING to do with intelligence. We didn’t save anyone during WWII Germany would have fallen whether or not we helped, and you should thank Europe because we wouldn’t even be a country without Frances aid during our Revolutionary war. I would just like for foreigners to step back and see us Americans that try to understand other countries culture and try to keep up with as much news coming from the outside as we can, not just look at the fat American standing in front.
After living in the USA for 9 years, I found that Americans are not only stupid, but egotistical, bigots, ultra-religious (if you can name anything that’s negative, that’s probably a good fit for 70 to 89% of your average Americans) Here’s what I found out/experienced:
1)I was born in Hong Kong and was 15 when I came to USA. First day of school, some Americans asked where I was from, I said Hong Kong and some “smart”-ass just busted out teaching the others it is in Japan) I even heard from some dumb-ass saying China is part of Japan). Some even asked if I know Bruce Lee or not as if he’s the most powerful person from Hong Kong.
2)A girl from my driver’s education class even asked if I speak Hong Kong well … I was surprised at the level of stupidity of an American high school student..needless to say I ended up explaining my background and language to her.
3)American News media is full of political propaganda, always saying how great their government is and that they bring stability to other countries. They recently said that Russia must not invade Georgia, but wait here’s the fun part, as we recalled the USA did the same not once but twice in this century in two different places.
In my final conclusion, I would like to say America… Land full of controversies where ultra-conservative-religious-Non Catholic/Orthodox- Southern Christians-racists run free to breed and educate a generation of self-centered non-scientific/mathematically challenge fake-sport ( NASCAR, NFL etc.) watching steroid-doping couch-potatoes.
@ Everybody who feels that Americans are being derided in complete ignorance of the behaviour of other people in other countries. AND @ everybody who’s prepared to admit that despite this, American culture does have some crucial flaws.
Prejudice against just the Americans for displaying the traits that they do (or perceived as showing) is as ignorant as the average American is being portrayed in this post. However the purpose of this discussion ( despite its provocative name) is to bring out into the open the cultural traits that exist amongst Americans and tho subsequently evaluate the degree to which they are credible.
On a slight tangent… American universities are of a very high standard but if you look at the top ten in the world… the same British universities rear their ugly ( or depending on your viewpoint) most welcome heads at the forefront of education… i.e Oxford,Cambridge UCL, Imperial etc.
IT STILL STANDS that according to the most recent Gallup polls that 53% of Americans are creationist and believe that the world was created 6000 years ago. (on a side note, such a belief is equivalent to believing that from New York to San Fransisco is shorter than a cricket pitch; in terms of proportion of course.) How can you truly expect a culture that rears such beliefs to be progressive compared to other European countries? This is not to say that people are not entitled to their beliefs or that Christianity as a faith is defunct, its just that such beliefs have a nasty habit of causing self righteousness a lack of scientific curiosity, deep rooted suspicion and fear of those with different beliefs (to the point of causing violence), sectarianism,ignorance and therefore stagnation and intolerance. In such conditions one cannot suspect or even hope that such beliefs encourage a culture of intellectualism and skepticism (two things that are crucial in the appropriate scrutinisation of any government body)…. Most would describe what i have said as indicating the stupidity of the American people but this is obviously to crude and simplistic.
HOWEVER the beliefs I’ve described do lead to events that can be regarded as stupid or as lethally stupid. For example Christian governments in America, have resisted vaccination programs against HPV ( Human papillomavirus) which caused the deaths of 5000 women a year due to the fact it can cause cervical cancer simply because the presence of such a virus acts as a “good deterrent against premarital sex”. Bear in mind that this virus infects almost half the American population as well. EVEN WORSE Reginald Finger an evangelical member of the Centres Disease Control advisory committee on immunisation practises (at this point you may question why an evangelist is on such a committee and how this reflects American culture) is marked as saying that if a HIV vaccine was formulated he would consider opposing it ( even though it kills millions per year) since it is also such a good deterrent against premarital sex… If that isnt stupid then what is !!!!!!!!!
Europeans may therefore (and rightly so in most cases) may be mystified by American culture and American people in general and make rash statements like Americans are stupid. But buried within this statement is a reflection of the average European’s disbelief and abhorrence in and towards American culture ie, overeating, the overly large influence of the media, the large focus on celebrity, a distinct atmosphere of anti- intellectualism when there is a potential conflict with religious belief, a wholesale lack of awareness and lack of interest in world affairs, an education system that in some cases promotes sport of academia and so on. At this point it is important to stress that such traits are present in most countries but not to SUCH A DEGREE.
It is my personal belief that Americans are not stupid ( since “stupid” is an overly narrow term and is itself a stupid term when it is used in this context.
Actually I agree. “stupid” isn’t a very defined term, but let’s not be too fussy about the details, and get on with the crux of the argument, shall we?
If America has the best universities in the world, why does it produce the worst students? That is a question that must be answered. Also, someone mentioned an excuse about taking in Third-World citizenry. Excuse me, they could be more hardworking for all you know. Their culture is extremely different from the American popular culture of which “slacking” is a nation-wide social phenomenon for American students.
Perhaps more statistics could be used to prove the case - for example, American spending PER CAPITA for Education as compared to, say, Belgian spending. However, I am of the opinion that the average American is getting less aware by the generation, relatively speaking, to various other developed nations. The question that has to be asked is - why the regression? America used to be at the forefront of scientific development!
The answer is that the Americans have perhaps gotten too used to being able to ride out school without any effort put in, because they could always get loans and then start working life, because that’s what every other College student was doing. America was a land of possibilities with the strongest GDP. Perhaps when the PRC or Russian Federation takes greater shares of the global economic pie will the Americans finally look up in horror and think perhaps their way of education should be changed.
In essence, Americans are stupid, not only because of low national average IQs, but because they refuse to finally start working. That’s just my view, though, so please don’t overly criticize it (:
[...] actually convinced people that they were the right folksy folks for the job. Are you serious? How fucking stupid are these people being polled? Are the pollsters only reaching the inbred freaks who stay at home [...]
First and foremost I wholly disavow the concept of IQ testing, it is antiquated and not comprehensive and there is fluidity in scores, e.g. a score can either increase or decrease at different intervals in one’s lifetime. That being said, I essentially agree that the average American is an obese, reactionary, ignorant, xenophobic, “God-fearing” racist rube who couldn’t even tell you what the square root of 9 is, the names of the seven continents or name even one justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. They would be hard pressed to even recall the name of the British Prime Minister. This nation’s citizenry is invariably purposefully “dummed down” so that it can be dominated by the custodians of the military industrial complex to perpetuate their hegemony on American power. Mind you, there are extraordinarily intelligent and wise people in the US as there are everywhere, but as a collective, we are an absolute disgrace. Which reminds me of a joke a Bulgarian friend of mine once told me, “What do you call someone who can speak three languages: trilingual, two languages? bilingual, one language: American. Although the lack of foreign language aptitude is the failure of the school system itself, in most school districts, foreign languages aren’t taught until a student is roughly 13 years old. By that point, neurologically, you are beyond the critical mass for language attainment which is far more ripe around 3 to 6. Children soak up language effortlessly. I was fortunate enough to surround myself with native Spanish speakers (and take courses and read Spanish newspapers) so I have near fluent proficiency. Moreover, continuing my rant, the celebrity culture has to go, it is absurd, peurile and irrational. We have a nation full of 40 year old 14 year olds. It is humiliating. But the celebrity culture and fascination with sports (w/o sounding too much like a paranoid conspiracy theorist) are all part of the plan, to distract and maintain a docile, ignorant populace. The rulers of this country saw the dystopia in Brave New World as a template and implemented it with amazing precision.
A note on evolution: It is most certainly taught in public schools but it is under increasing attack. Unfortunately, the educational and political system has been hijacked by a cabal of religious crazies who think it is more plausible that the Earth/Universe is 6,000 years old. Truly frightening.
I hope American presidential candidates and the whole administration will someday search the web, res., have a look at TV, to see that a lot of (not all!!!) Americans are stupid indeed, but even worse, boast-about itheir stupidity, e.g., on impudent and stupid web sites. Most recent example is daffydonkey.com expressivly and in a unbelievably sassy way enabling Americans to admit being idiots by blowing as much money as possible senselessly, and the biggest idiots will become famous and superstars. And millions will join someday. This is what I hate, this collaboration of requested (!) stupidity and promise to become famous due to it. Americans are stupid, but millions of foreigners are as well. But especially the mass media in America have to take the blame, for they want Americans to show-off stupidity and to be proud of it. It doesn´t matter if Bush is current president, or if Obama or McCain wins the current race. Main issue is that America wins and stays world´s No. 1 country, and this is only possible with smart men and women. From my point of view, it was wise to make America´s system of education as well as the mass media´s power, program (Internet porn, sitcoms, talk shows, etc.), and propaganda to dumb down the American people, kids especially, the main topic of race for presidency. If the top dogs of US politics don´t, and if the coming president doesn´t change anything, all the world will laugh at America´s voluntarily proved stupidity.
This article in many respects brings out the worst traits in all of us. Firstly nationalistic pride is an awful emotive tool to regress to when defending an argument, so well done to Aby for managing to steer clear of temptation when the opportunity to denigrate must have been tempting. Some posts on this site are brilliant and revert back to the crux of the debate- why does America persist to have this negative image in the eyes of the world at large. Again I reiterate the fact that the article makes it explicitly clear that the generalisation does not blanketly cover every US citizen.
I willingly concede that where I live there is a fair amount to ‘stupidity’ abound, I attribute this more to my intolerance for stupidity than to actual low intelligence. However self deprecation is not just something I do to avoid an argument; I know that there are stupid people all over the world. I think the key thing to focus on is the fact that it’s a travesty that a country that believes itself to be the best (and it may be) should fail its own people. This web site may be elitist, Americans more than any other people should respect free speech. Arguing against elitism would be to denigrate yourselves, and I am sure you are not trying to imply you are inferior. Some of the American posts clearly show that a few of you are in the same elitist strata. Sadly it’s the travelled Americans, and that is an interesting phenomena, that show a measured response and welcome debate. These people are the ones that illustrate that you have intelligent people. Those that denigrate your country are as daft as those that rebut their arguments by reference to “saving our asses in WWII”. This last point is so insanely stupid that really if we go back enough Americans should thank the French for helping emancipate yourselves from the British. Such arguments not only digress from the point made in the article they miss the point. The irony is that there is a huge gulf between the loquacity of the arguments that come from foreign posters; their command of English not only is superior to most of the American bloggers, but mine as well. I am a native English speaker thus I find it amazing that people from All over the world speak English, and better than most whose mother tongue the language is.
@Sophocles_V “True, i would like to point out though you only seem to criticize the U.S., I don’t really care but youd think you would spend more time talking of the problems of your home country as opposed the U.S.’s problems.”
Punctuation used correctly may solve my confusion, however I think you miss the point of the debate. Firstly its not trying to denigrate the USA merely highlight the disparity between where the USA ranks in relationship to its means (i.e wealth and status). I am sure you will agree that the best country in the world should afford its people the best education, and the most powerful country in the world owes it to its people to educate them about the world in which they are primus inter pares. You cannot assume to want to better a world the majority of the population does not know, care to know or actually even care about. Yes our countries have many problems, some worse than the US, the difference being that a failed EU constitution for example has not diminished, literacy rates, universal health and intelligence.
@ Virgiomonkey: “My advice: If you’re going to take constant pot shots at Americans for being stupid (See, you cannot do this with blacks, right?), don’t pretend that you’re the tolerant person that you say you are.”
I think I owe it to you to highlight a simple fact that attacking a race or ethnicity is very different from categorising a nation state. A modern industrialised country often has the characteristic of being multicultural, therefore by definition if you were to call the British stupid, you would imply not just the Caucasian (Whether English, Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh; or naturalised people Russian, Polish, Albanian etc) but also Asian (both oriental and the sub-continent), African (Afro-Caribbean and African) and any other colour you can think of as stupid. Whether the poster is tolerant or not they show a nuance for understanding the differences you fail to grasp nor does intolerance diminish intelligence. Intellegence does not always counter balance sound judgement. The fact that you take the argument to the level of race in many ways is indicative of the point being highlighted. As Dr. Miller highlights in the New York Times article- lowered intelligence can affect a persons reasoning; clearly this statement is a classic case in point. Please be under no misconception, I think Africa (or the “blacks”you point out) are denigrated, If I was to say that Africa is has the highest proportion of despots, killing their own people- I would not be denigrating a Continent but stating a fact. For the record I am intolerant, I hate-nay abhor stupidity, rudeness, bigots, fundamentalists of all casts and the French. I also have a degree, a masters and working towards a PHD. Essentially my intolerance has nothing to do with my intelligence. Also while we are on the point Toleration as an ideal is rubbish it means to put up with, often it has a threshold which when passed people become intolerant. It’s a silly ideal and trying to show America is intelligent because people do not denigrate blacks is as effective as solving an Algebraic equation by chewing bubble gum. Also might I suggest you come to terms with your issues with people of greater melatonin. This example tells more about you than you imagine. White Black, Hispanic or Chinese, if they are American they are American. That’s how we perceive people here maybe you have other standards please let me know.
@ Vrgiomonkey : ”Next, it is only natural that Europeans can speak 2+ languages. Look at where you’re living! For example, you can hop on the chunnel in England and be in the next country in no time and even visit several countries in a day.”
I grew up in China, my mum is Zambian, and Father British. I learnt to speak Mandarin, and Later French, I also learnt Albanian on account of my girlfriend. Add that to that English and a bit of Cantonese. I assure you France and China have no proximity and the drive takes over twelve hours. Geographic location plays no part in ones desire to learn. Out of respect to the country I lived in I was educated in Mandarin, I learnt my mothers tongue through my mum and English from my father. Middle school was French and Albanian a personal choice. America’s geographic isolation can only be used to cure so many ills before it wears thin. Ironically some of the crass attitudes and comments posted here are a testament to the fact that even if the country was to improve their intelligence scores on average the rest of the world would still probably think you’re arrogant. It saddens me to think a country full of so much promise can be reviled for so much while doing so little.
@ Virgiomonkey: “Americans cannot afford to travel AS MUCH. We aren’t as rich as the stereotypes proclaim. Plane tickets to go abroad? Thousands of dollars. Plus, we have the least amount of vacation time compared to the rest of the world.”
Firstly let me reassure you that most of us do not think you are rich, we think you are exploitative. Contrary to what you may believe our travel costs are extremely high as well. Even if people do not travel the percentage of the American population that does not bother even getting a passport is alarming. People around here tend to get their passports in the optimism that they may get to travel. It’s not about incomes, travelling etc. Some of the countries the other bloggers have used as examples have large populations that do not travel, China being the best example of these. But it’s the fact that people aspire to travel and that they see education not just local knowledge but worldly knowledge as the source of opportunity. Americans give the impression that they need nothing and no one other than themselves. We live in an interconnected world that really has moved on, currencies, languages, and trade have no borders. Wanting to learn more about the world is intellectually rewarding, if more Americans travelled then we would be exposed to bright members of the nation cancelling out the stereotypical ‘dumb’ tourist. It would also allow Americans to better understand the anxieties and issues that affect the rest of the world which would go a long way to diminish the sense of arrogance people ascribe to your nation. It’s sad but hubris is the tragedy that keeps America stagnant. Intellectually, materially and socially you have not reached your epoch. It will not help to delude yourselves that you have. That’s is what this is about, you have the ability to abolish poverty and illiteracy, just give up on sending people to the moon and fighting ‘enemies’. Do a quick calculation work out what the war on Iraq has cost, then work out how much universal health care and abolishing poverty would cost. Think about what you would do with the change. A nation is not judged just by how it treats its friends but also by how its treats its own subjects. You owe it to yourselves to be the best individually, not just in nationalistic symbolism.
@ Ben: “I don’t know why it is so important for some non-americans to try to “prove” how stupid or bad we are. most of us are against bush and the war in iraq- did you know that?”
The point is not to prove Americans are stupid, these incessant claims are fallacious. As for knowing most Americans are against the war, the fact is that the majority of people think that the war was not worth it, this is a retrospective position. It does not mean that you were against it at the time. But what this has to do with the fact that America has one of the lowest intelligence levels in the industrialised world I do not know. I do not like my representative in government, nor did I support the war before it was launched or now. I also hate brussel sprouts. Why the latter comment? Well in essence my comment about brussel sprouts is as relevant to this discussion as you comment about supporting the war and hating Bush. Hell I have family that live in Georgia visiting them is painful, they are so insular and apathetic because the rest of the world holds no interest to them as they do not see the point. They limit themselves by limiting what they know. Its not just a broken education system, it’s individual determination, and the idea of the perfectibility of man that America seems to have lost. Hell I hate Bush he represents mediocrity in what I think is a great nation. Most of us critics do note hate America we are upset that it is not the country it aspired to be.
@ Britoc: “LoL, here we have a angry redneck. USA saved the ass of Europe? Yeah, of coz, you always liberated the whole europe, the whole Asia, Iraq, Philippines and everyone should suck your balls, lol, whatever makes you feel better. The author is right, there is nothing that beats American stupidity.”
The saving grace for Americans is that this blog shows that imbeciles are abound in the whole world. This comment is not representative of the article. American stupidity as Britoc claims is counter productive and sadly leads to knee jerk reactions that are vitriolic and bigoted. Don’t take heart to when people cannot spell ‘because’ or uses text speech such as lol. If anything this should make you feel better as it illustrates the fact that your popular culture, and influences permeate throughout the world.
America was a country that spawned revolutions, for a time prominent thinkers such as Descartes flocked there to analyse your constitutionalism and government processes. Things that were emulated globally. Truman’s 14 point address would lead to the ideal of self determination of nations and decolonisation; the optimism that was about after 1990 was infectious and Americas stewardship anticipated. There was optimism and a dynamism, this however has changed drastically and fast. It seems as though success has bought with it complacency that beggars belief. Never before has there been a Country as rich or powerful, which spends so little on its own people. I have news papers from everywhere in the world downstairs – the vendor stocks them because the market is such that we want to have information that is global, but also free of special interest bias in electronic media. Less than 50% of the American people have read a newspaper. Its not Americas failing that this debate is primarily about, its about the absurdity of such a basic failing. Intelligence I admit is a subjective term, and the title of this article hardly inspires good feelings if you are American, but it should be judged on its substantive content not the emotions the title evokes. Realistically what this article wants to convey is that unless America pulls its socks up, it will find that it will not be able to compete internationally; where people are becoming more worldly as the world shrinks around us thanks to globalisational processes (American lead) and also as the rest of the world gets richer and more ambitious. But in an environment where we are becoming increasingly co-dependant and equally competitive, America needs to pull up its entire nation not just offer those that can afford it the best education. Many of you are right we should take the log out of our eyes before we take the splinters out of yours; it is shocking none the less to see that America has such a low score in an important area of its social fabric. If any of you fear the mediocrity of the people that represent you now then imagine how upset you will be in the knowledge of the mediocrity to come. Its unacceptable, and its tragic in a country of its calibre. That is what this is about.
@ Eric. I find you analysis of the posts on this blog insightful and clearly. well thought out. However I would add that the culture of anti-intellectualism which occurs in some parts of America is truly alarming and contributes to the ignorance and intolerance which leads to the label of “stupid”. In my opinion, the shear notion of intelligent design being taught as a SCIENTIFIC THEORY exemplifies the problem. “Science” in this context isn’t seen as a robust and pragmatic system based around the framework of empiricism and the principle of falsification ( so wonderfully outlined by Popper) but it it seen as a system through which a religious discourse can gain credibility by having the label of “scientific” and herein lies the problem.
As a Briton following the events of the American elections and comparing and contrasting with the system in Britain has been fascinating and also extremely worrying. The American political elite believe that the american “masses” or “proles” are sufficiently easy to manipulate that installing a woman as a running mate who by enlarge does not have a great deal of political acumen and in some ways is morally bankrupt, ie the hypocrisy and inherent contradiction in her dominionist doctrine ( which states that America should be ruled by Christian law) and having a daughter who is unmarried and has had a baby at 17 (personally this doesn’t bother me in the slightest since i am not so inclined) which ironically, is worthy of the punishment of death by stoning in biblical times. It is a strongly held belief of mine that if a woman was installed in the same position in British politics, people would be puzzled by people’s fascination (if there was any in the first place) with a female running mate. They would be more likely to ask questions such as “what is her political experience” instead of “what is it like to be a hockey mom”. I do understand that there are a significant number of people in America who are politically minded but I cannot help but feel that the majority are too easily cajoled by superficial statements like McCain’s blindingly obvious analysis: It is more important to be an American than a Republican. I was stunned by the applause that such a simplistic statement received. One would hope or even require that any president puts the nation before contentions within their party and [dare i say it] one would hope that the average American could realise that all Republicans are by definition Americans and so any statement that suggests otherwise is ridiculous. In effect this statement is so moot and self evident that it has perversely won wide acclaim as showing great political foresight.
This may come across as emotive but i feel i must state this. The war on terror instigated by Bush and instilled in the malleable mind of the average American is highly reminiscent of the Orwellian concept of “Doublethink” in 1984 in which people mold their logical and rational common sense views in order to adhere to a political ideology which is in direct contradiction to their systems of rationality. Just think…. what is the difference between using terms like war on terror and using other terms like “Alliance with Happiness”. AND YET… the American people could not get enough of it. To them the war on terror was a rational and more worryingly a legitimate war. In such circumstances, one must question the cognitive faculties of such people but as i have reiterated in this blog, taking such a stance is too simplistic and does your own intelligence a disservice.
The American people can be described as being immunised against influences from outside of America and also against political activism. The vaccine is a heavy dose of religious dogma coupled with what i cynically believe to be a purposeful distraction ie. celebrity culture and of course a high concentration of biased media saturation. Combine this vaccine with the almost irrational patriotism that sometimes occurs in America and you have a vaccine that protects against even the most pervasive and provocative of world affairs. This analysis is far too simple. There is and must be an intellectual elite within America. What do they do?… How do they exercise power?. The answer is that the intellectual elite within America is marginalized and often met with intense hostility in the school environment and so the mature intellectual elite find themselves house in intellectual havens or universities. The rest of the intellectual elite seemed to have realised from early on that effecting change within America cannot be done on intellectual grounds. An intellectual must in short be insidious. They must tell the Average American what they want to hear. A delightful example of this is when Hilary Clinton ( perhaps not the best example of an intellectual but can be regarded so, relatively speaking) stated that she would obliterate Iran if they invaded israel. In actuality doing such a thing would be grossly barbaric and undiplomatic AND YET her supporters ( fueled with patriotic zeal) squealed and yelped with joy while i stared at the television screen blankly.. realising that the world’s foremost power is composed of people who are so blind to the reality and complexity of world politics that they feel that comments such as the one mae by Hilary Clinton are acceptable. “Obliteration” appeals to them as it would to a fan watching the Terminator series. This is wondefully expressed by the “America won WW2″ paradigm that still has not been put to sleep despite its horrible inaccuracies.
Perhaps this blog is elitist. Perhaps the elites within this blog are so maladjusted by self righteous liberalism and quasi-progressivism, that they have in effect become the stupid and intolerant Americans that they so despise. I of course disagree. It is my strongly held belief that American society is regressing culturally and is in effect causing a superficial and illusory “good vs evil” polarisation on the world stage. It is also important to add that the “stupidity” of the average American is not important. America comprises an elite which is perfectly capable of sustaining itself and has the sufficient intellectual capacity to govern itself and also to sustain and indulge the “ignorance” of the average American.. in effect America rises and falls on the backs of an extreme minority who with their connections and intelligence can dominate. What is worrying is that the average American is so successfully subjugated that when matters of political significance do arise… the “masses” do not have sufficient knowledge or coordination to counter them and in effect the basis of democracy is removed and we have a pseudo democracy in which the only role in which people can ever hope to adopt is to vote for a president who in later years will ensure that this is the only significant decision that they make.
Well, if these statistics are right then theres a reason behind why its true. Theres probably several reasons behind the decline in U.S IQ. My personal opinion is that I think we focus to much on other countries then ourselves. Like developing the Military more and more to either attack or defend a country or w/e we do when it comes to foreign policy. Our leaders need to focus more on developing the American people than spending money on useless programs and furthering ourselves into debt. Assuming the economy doesn’t crash before we can do this.
Help! I’m a 138 IQ in a 98 IQ Country!
This is something I’ve known for years. It is painful to deal with so many low functioning people every day; and lonely as well. There aren’t many people to carry on a conversation with.
What I find funny is that the large majority of people(Americans) who say America is the greatest country in the world, have usually never been anywhere else! Ofcourse, almost all of us beleive our own countries to be best. I also feel this way for the most part, however, I keep this to myself . This nationalism is one of the reasons countries are able to function properly. The United States has some of the greatest Universities in the world, but it also has the worst public school system out of that of all modern industrialized countries. I saw one American earlier mention how in most European countries, students who are not academically fit to attend higher education opt for trade schools instead. Although I beleive this is true to some extent, it does not explain why many Americans have such a degree of stupidity when it comes to their veiw of the world and the U.S. foreign policy.
I can honestly say I have met stupid people from China, Meixco, Argentina,Japan,Canada,France,Germany,Great Britain,The Netherlands,Sweden,Austriala,New Zealand, Russia, etc.,
but the difference between these people, and idiotic Americans I have had the pleasure of meeting, is that these people were not University. Although is may partially be becuase America has a schooling system in which any dumb chump can attend a lower-grade college(or a higher-grade one with enough money), I think it may more likely be due to the fact that our schools do such a shitty job at teaching us the history and politics of the world. I must admit, I was also neive about the world until I realized that I had to learn about the world on my own becuase school was giving me such a narrow-minded and obscure view of it all. I was ignorant until I traveled, dumbfounded of world events until I decided to enroll myself in political science, international relations and history classes. My point is that our schooling system does not do a good enough job at teaching us these things and if we have interest in them, we have to take them up as hobbies ourselves, where by what I have seen when traveling, most other countries do an extremely good job at teaching their students about world events. Case-in-point is when I was in Germany this summer and a German girl could name almost all 50 U.S. states and I could barely name 7 of their German counterparts.
One positive thing about the American schooling systems is that everyone has pretty much an equal chance at higher-education if they so choose. While I was a foreign exchange student in China, I learned that only a very few students are able to attend even highschool. Most highschools are private(unless in one of a few cities that offers otherwise) and the cost of attending one is outrageous. Although the students who attend Universities there could easily outsmart any American student, the ratio of college graduates to total population is extremely low compared to that of the U.S. and the majority of students who can’t attend highschool are stuck with some medial labor job.
Like many have said, I hope the American government cans stop spending money bullying and policing the world and spend more money domestically on things like better educational programs. In my opinion, the United States was the intellectual capital of the 20th century! Scholars, scientists, philosiphers and great-minds from all over the world ventured here, but as we move into the 21st century, I see can see why the world’s view of America is so bad. Don’t get me wrong, I love it here. It is one of the most diverse places in the world with a population made up of imigrants from all over the world. More languages are spoken here than anywhere else. The problem is that this acceptance of others and open-mindedness is spread out disproportionatly throughout our country and mainly focused in a few small areas.
I am sorry for the rant, I just wanted to give more of a pros/cons answer neither for, nor against any of your views. Although we may not all agree with each other, obviously none of us are “stupid” if we are engaged in a conversation such as this and are sharing and learning from eachothers viewpoints. Peace
I was thinking, and I realized that a probable reason why Americans are “stupid” is not becuase their IQ(which even when low, does not restrain you from knowing abou the world), but becuase are media and people in charge want us to be stupid. I was thinking about the book 1984, and in a way I feel like the politicians, meida and other elite give us garbage information that is hard to understand and really makes no sense. This is why most Americans don’t know the U.S. foreign policy on specific issues or why Americans don’t know the political views of their favorite presidential candidate! We are taught to think subcounciously about who we would rather be friends with or “hang-out” with rather than base our opinions of the ideology of the candidates. While I was watching the debates last nigh, I realized that both of the candidates really where not explaining their views much. It was mainly them telling stories about “how I went to such and such and did such and such, so I know better”. No opinions with a factual base to back them up, just non-sense and meaningless words that make it dificult to understand what their views are and who would really be a better candidate. Maybe this is irrelevant to this conversation, but I just thought that maybe Americans aren’t “stupid” in the sense of IQ, but stupid in the sense of general knowledge of the world becuase of our media and what they show on T.V. and news. (example, last time I watched the local news there was a story about a guy that only eats big-macs or some bull**** like that, what does any of that have to do with world news and how does any of that affect my life personally???) Just an afterthought. Thanks
@ Mike. A double coincidence. I was also thinking about 1984 and i too watched the debate. It mostly took the format Obama: generic comment about economic regulation McCain: generic comment establishing a causal link between political experience and suitability for president. Obama: generic comment linking McCain to Bush McCain:sarcastically disabusing Obama’s statements about him. Obama: makes a common sense point which doesn’t provide a massive amount of insight McCain: tries to convey himself as a renegade. Towards the end of the debate, the discussion degenerated into an emotive ploy. McCain: having served in Vietnam…… Obama: having a Kenyan father……. What was revealed however was how much the two candidates knew about each other’s policy.
I too also believe that the American people are stultified to quite a degree. A deadly cocktail of religious fervour, political ignorance and general intolerance. However I must disagree with you about the nature of the debate. I found the discussion between the two candidates far more civil,substantiated and intellectual than any other of the speeches made to the clueless “masses”. Although neither candidate seemed to have much of an in depth knowledge of economic issues or foreign policy ( or maybe they did and they were just being cautious) thus showing that politics at this level is less about expertise and more about vision, charisma and leadership….SIGH.
@Miloy04. I was laughing while reading your post. Finally, someone who understands me and where I am coming from!” I found the discussion between the two candidates far more civil,substantiated and intellectual than any other of the speeches made to the clueless “masses”. ” I guess I can agree with you. As I am writing this I just overheard a story on the news about how Governor schwarzenegger vetod a bill to “give people tickets for driving with dogs in their laps”. I’m dead serious. This is the kind of utter sh*t we have for news over here… Cheers man.
Hi,
I don’t know any facts nor statistics about the subject. Also, I don’t support discriminating people but most of the times stereotypes are true. I just want to share a personal experience. I have spent a month in the US meeting people. 95% of the people I met were completely stupid. For example, they did not know were Europe is! Some of them thought that Europe was a country!! Many people thought that Cyprus (the island I come from) is a state of America!! (No, they did not confuse it with Cypress-Texas)
The other 5% were geniuses. I was impressed with their knowledge on world history, geography, languages, they even knew Greek mythology!
The impression I have, from this month I spent there, is that there are many completely stupid people and very few smart people. There is no middle class!
I just wanted to share that:D
I knew things were looking bleak in America, but this is just ridiculous. Give them time; they’re still a fairly new country compared to some. I just hope they wake up before it is too late.
The triumph of the stupid, under-educated, religious fanatics: this is the sad reality of living in many areas of the United States. I am not convinced that this degree of stupidity is a recent problem. Sure, the founding fathers may have been insightful and intelligent, but the average American probably was not. Many original European Americans were not well educated - they were mostly family farmers or hunters. As other developed nations progressed by offering competitive educational opportunities and disregarding the archaic and bigotrous ideas of organized religion, much of America held onto its original heritage.
It is often difficult for me to understand how stupid many of my fellow Americans are, but I am shocked time and time again when I visit my extended family. They reside in a rural farm town where educational and cultural activities are seriously lacking. To see a movie in a theater, one must drive 4 hours. To get to a real city (population 500,000+) they must drive 11-15 hours. The people in these towns, despite having internet access, are out of touch with the “elitist” educated world. Not only are they out of touch with open-minded, educated people, they also tend to think of them as “snooty” and “gay.” The most satisfying activity available to the people in these small towns involves attending a fundamentalist church, similar to those documented in “Jesus Camp.” These people have a very small world view, and very limited ability to relate to anything outside of their normal life. Their brain-washing begins at birth, and most in these towns are taught to take the words of the Bible literally (and they never, of course, question any of the contradictions), to accept Creationism over evolution, and to question (or hold contempt for) anything outside of their idea of holy and/or righteous. Most of them have never met a Muslim, but have been conditioned by the media to fear them and hate them. So many of the young boys in these small towns look forward to enlisting and heading off to Iraq to “defend America’s freedom.” To them, apparently, the Bible commandment “thou shall not kill” applies only to fellow Christians. These people are easily influenced by the media, by fundamentalist religion, and right-wing fear tactics. I don’t see this changing anytime soon. I would like to see how test scores differ between white rural residents and white city/suburban residents.
I know others here have touched on race and immigrant test scores. While not politically correct, it is true that black people test much lower than asians and whites in the USA. But the reason for this is not clear, and could be due to poor prenatal care and/or drug use during pregnancy, malnutrition during childhood, lack of educated involved parents, poverty, etc. It is well-documented that all of these problems exist in many black families in the US. And, of course, even intelligent immigrants could hypothetically test low on an English IQ test due to language limitations.
I am a Scientist, so most of my co-workers are intelligent, well-educated, cosmopolitan, and open-minded. Outside of work, my closest friends hold PhDs and are well-versed in world issues. I live in a big city where people are constantly in touch with educational opportunities, cultural events, and diversity. So, I realize that there are many intelligent Americans and I see there is some hope for our country. I think a major hurdle for the US is the enormous gap between the educated “elite” and those who take pride in being average, blindly patriotic, and unwilling to admit the US could be better off any other way.
Eloquently stated, Gia.
The book “Deer Hunting with Jesus” really gets town to the nitty gritty of what your post is about.
The fundamental problem is a lack of education among a large percentage of the American population - without the knowledge to critically think, a large number of Americans (often in rural areas of the Midwest and South) easily fall prey to religious extremism of the type the Christian Right preaches.
And what about the communities they live in? Not a few of these people are blue-collar workers living below the poverty line, yet fancy themselves “the middle class” because even if they live in a trailer, well they still got a big-screen flat panel TV and a Sony Playstation.
When a visit to the fundamentalist church and a game of darts at the local watering hole is your highlight of the week, (along with maybe taking a spin on your dirtbike) you know you don’t have much going for you.
Americans need more education, and not of the kind that is taught at home.
They also need to scale back on the narcissism (I need to vote for a candidate who’s just like me, read, “dumb as I am”) but again that’s tied to education. If you have a coherent grasp of international affairs and U.S. history, you can understand that it’s OK to elect somebody more intelligent than average to the office of the President - in fact, it just may do more good than harm.
America wastes a lot and gives too little. All that land! That abundance of resources! Wasted on Americans.
Even the smartest elites of America are dumb enough to screw themselves up and everyone else too. With all that technology it’s a big surprise Americans don’t know much about the rest of the world. They have proven time and again that they are extremely ignorant of other cultures. The Internet is not just for porn!
Gia, good analysis.
Bidy,
Your “analysis” of Americans is rather xenophobic on your part. While I am no fan of my government, certainly I realize that not all Americans are dumb and ignorant of other cultures. Many Americans are brilliant, and many are rather dumb.
As for being ignorant of other cultures…nearly 47 million people — about 1-in-5 U.S. residents — age 5 and older, reported regularly speaking a foreign language at home in 2000, according to the Census Bureau…28 million Spanish speakers, 2 million Chinese speakers, 1.6 million French speakers, 1.4 million German speakers, 1.2 million Tagalog speakers, etc. And not all of these people are immigrants.
In my household, we speak English, German, and Russian. I was born in the US, and German was passed down to me from my great great grandmother who moved to the States from Switzerland. My husband’s parents moved to the States from Russia, and he speaks Russian fluently as do our children. My children attend a Russian immersion school, and many of my friends’ children attend Spanish, Chinese, and French immersion schools. My family is not the only exception. Many many Americans know about other cultures. But many many also do not.
If you read my other post above, you might get more insight as to why many Americans are dumb. But the stereotype certainly does not apply to all Americans.
oh and Gia
the reason inner city blacks score lower is because the ‘culture’ (i would call it a mass produced character flaw package) that is drilled into them, one generation after another… the kids born into this environment never have a chance—- a brilliant mind is a brilliant mind whether the kid is educated or not, so instead of focusing on his education, he learns better more efficient ways around the authorities and how to best play the victim (race card) when he gets caught…. and his horrid scores he gets in school gets mixed in with the rest…. and he get labeled an idiot when thats the last thing he is….
read the Criticism section- kind of invalidates this whole assertion.. interviewing in a developmentally disabled school? LMAO!!!!…… besides look at some of the nations further down the list!!!… Russia?? they don’t come to mind when i think of stupid….something is dreadfully wrong that chart…
one thing.. I went to a small rural high school and out of a class of 315 kids in the class of 1987, i placed 68th GPA wise. now to put this in perspective i was IQ tested several times by Social Services (i was adopted out and sent years as a ward of state ( Washington) they came up with scores ranging form 123 to 127. Now i know there were MANY brighter kids in my class than me, several were far below me in academic scoring, but in raw intelligence, pure problem solving they would have stomped me bad.
If you’ve ever been to Alabama or Tennessee you would understand what is bringing the average down. People on the left coast are, in general, pretty smart. So, if you left out the confederate states our statistics would be up there with and above the rest of the industrialized (American spelling) nations.
Although I will admit, I am sometime embarrassed to be an American –caus there are some really stupid ones out there.
Talk to people in Memphis, Tennessee. That courier company has their headquarters there. You talk to them FedEx people –they are a bunch of bugger-pickin, knuckle dragin, inbreed, red-neck hillbillies. Those folks at Fedex really bring the score down.
Behave yourselves americans and notice that everyone here who possess different native language than english is writing especially for you,people who have so many difficulties with learning process,if you are stupid or not that have been proved on this topic and person what will go through this hell to make an conclusion about you deserves a golden medal.My personal opinion is that your society and country is responsible for this low iq rate,soon jews will try to eliminate you all to take control of your land and create new federation,if i were you i would be more careful in the future because maybe Hitler was right about Zionists
A very good read Gia, I couldn’t agree more. Bidy on the otherhand… You sound just as ignorant as those you are refering to. You’ve obviously been taught to hate or atleast dislike America and Americans since you were a child(or you are still a child), and cannot rationally think for yourself. It’s to bad. I met alot of kind and intelegent people from Singapore and you are tarnishing their good image.
I know that while there are some smart americans who really are ver very smart, the majority of americans are plainly put, unbelievably stupid. They are the ones that blindly follow thei political parties without analyzing their actual positions and hat they can do for them. They are the ones who are super-racist caling Obama a muslim because his middle name is Hussein, and wanting to wipe ou all muslims. They are the ones, who know absolutely nothing about the world their country runs. The smart ones howeve, are the ones that help move our world forward. One point I’d like to bring up is that many americans talk about bringing jobs back to america. For the next 100 years that will never happen, for they do not understand the stranglehold china has on America, and that CHina has some of the cheapest paid workers in the world, while american unions continue to demand for very high payments. Until Americans start being a bit more liberal, an actually trying to learn stuff, and analyzing carefully before coming to conclusions, they are doomed. Sadly, we here up in Canada are slowly falling prey to the dirty politics and policies of the south…
Well look whom they elected twice ! and the result of all the financial mess
A correction to Kat s’ comment .. …”The stupid are those that sit on their high horses compiling statics” … PS: it’s not compiling statics it’s compiling statistics
The only reason of the financial crysis is the over-liberal financial situation on wall street leading to the fall of stock prices thus bringing prices up and lowering the quality of life. Do you know who started the crises? No? Well it was the US economy alias George Bush and co. And now the same person that got us into deep, well brown supstance is orginazing a series of INTERNATIONAL summits on the crysis trying to bail him self out and making it look like this problem has been started elsewhere, and the us public belives him. Another proof of American blind/mindles/brain-washed following. And yes so what if there is a lot of national and racial minorities- shouldn’t they have the same education as the “other” americans?
Gia, you may be eloquent in your writings but not very accurate.. do you know that approximately 75% of the US population lives in metropolitan areas? Also there is nowhere in the US where one is 4 hours away from a movie theater or 11 hours away from a metro area of 500000 people. Besides if you live in a metro area of just 100000 people you would have access to just about any cultural venue available except big time orchestras or performing theatre. You sound good but you are mostly opinionated !
Frank,
I am well aware of the statistics you supply. Keep in mind that 25% of the population could easily bring down the average IQ of the US population along with the other factors I noted (non-native English speakers, minority groups, poverty). I never implied that the majority of the US population lived in rural areas. And, by European standards, most of our suburbs would not qualify as a metro areas, but rather villages.
Additionally, there are a few states with a population barely above 500,000 people, and people living in these very minimally populated states live very far from a real city. And, yes, some of them live without movie theatres nearby.
In any case, yes, I am often opinionated and judgemental against idiots. I just can’t help it.
Here are some more reasons the US population may be stupid:
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/main.htm
Yes, conspiracy theories galore, but maybe some truth to them?
I’m from Nashville and I’m black, and I am far from stupid. Anyway, one big problem here in America is that people are too comfortable with being ignorant. They don’t care to learn about other cultures or anything that doesn’t directly affect them. I’m not talking about every single American, but a large portion. I actually believe that the American elite prefer it this way. The less educated the people are, the least likely they are to question things. Give them religion and entertain them with nonsense, and the majority of them are happy. For the most part, this society has taken on a lazy mentality and I witness it everywhere. I get frustrated talking with so many people because they are stupid (not to insult them, but to be honest) and they don’t care. I have always been interested in people from around the world, so that alone gave me a need at a young age to educate myself about what’s going on. Many Americans just need to wake up.
@Sick
Couldn’t have said it better. I see alot of open minded and intellegent people on websites such as this one, the problem is I rarely meet people in my day to day life that are such. I know what you’re saying. I feel like it is simply looked down upon to question our government and society. An example of this is how the word “Socialist” has a very bad conotation here in America for absolutely no reason. “Communism” is also frowned upon. The point is, no one is educated enough to even know what these ideologies are and what these words imply. If someone questions our governments economic capitalism for instance, they are called “socialists” or “communist” like its a bad thing(which it can be in some cases, but is in no way entitled to be wrong). If you question our governments foreign policy you are labeled as “unpatriotic”. Americans are being outsmarted by word play in their own language! I truly believe Americans just need to travel more, wait, not travel in the American sense of the word. They need to LIVE in another country for an extended period of time so they can experience other points of view, ideology and cultures with which they can compare their own…
all I can say is; mate, this is exactly the information i needed to put some bigheaded arrogant americans i know to place.
no offence but there’s something wrong with some yanks actually believing America IS the best place ever.
seriously.. its, by far, nothing close to best.
americans can be terribly ignorant and narrow-minded even about other americans. for example, white americans seem to have absolutely no idea that the black and brown experience in america is vastly different from theirs. recently, a study found that white americans have absolutely no clue about the real burdens carried by black people in this country — burdens like having less earning power and worse health outcomes, all other factors held constant, than white americans. perhaps some have been made aware of these disparities through media coverage of the aftermath of hurricane katrina. however, i have found that many white americans, when presented with events, ideas or perspectives that cannot be related to their own personal experiences, will simply dismiss or otherwise invalidate those events, ideas or perspectives.
apparently there is a habit among americans to be self-referential. perhaps we all default to relating new information to our own experiences at first pass. but it seems to me that americans tend to get stuck there, and their lack of inquisitiveness and poor education (and yes, sometimes just plain stubbornness and laziness) prevent them from even considering the the possibility that there may be more than one way to experience life in the united states or any other place in the world.
and recall after 9/11 the question on (white) american lips: why do they hate us so? i always wanted to respond by saying, go ask a cherokee, a native hawaiian, a pilipino, a descendant of slaves — they will tell you that america isn’t always the hero riding on a white horse to save the day. sometimes, they come with dollar signs in their eyes and corruption in their hearts…but this history, the history of american empire and expansionism, is not taught in schools. instead, american parents lament the ban against prayer in schools and advocate for creationism…
certainly other countries have had to contend with the challenges of a heterogeneous population. but in the US, divisions along race/ethnicity are saddled with the additional baggage of past power struggles that subordinated black and brown people to white americans. for all the huffing and puffing about immigration, most americans have not made the connection between US foreign policy and who immigrates to this country, documented or not. the groups that come to this country in the greatest numbers are from countries that the US has interfered with in the past, with disasterous results: mexico, el salvador, honduras, the philippines, vietnam. it’s amazing that a people so wedded to their traditions is so terribly ignorant of their own history of interference in other countries’ affairs.
this is all to say that none of what was originally presented on this site is not surprising, given that americans are ignorant and poor-educated about their own history. and the consequences of american ignorance are evident in US foreign policy, which over the last eight years has alienated much of the rest of the world. how could it be expected that they would even be aware of the histories of the world beyond their borders?
btw, sick, i hear you. i’m a smart brown girl and i’ve had to work twice as hard to be taken half as seriously. and despite having immigrated from a former US colony and having lived in the US since childhood, i don’t think that i’ll ever be regarded as a “real” american.
Here are a few facts:
There is a difference between Knowledge and intelligence.
You can read as many books as you want if you do not posses the mental abilities to process informations and use them thereafter it is uselss.
Moreover what is important is not education itself but what you are taught.
There is a difference between what you need to learn,and what governments want you to learn.
You can be an incredible moron but nkow a lot of things. On the other hand you can be incredibly clever but ignorant.
Many Americans don’t ask themselves the good questions,and know very little about the rest of the world because they are tauhgt not to!
If you make more money by staying in the dark than seing the sun what will you do?
In a country in which money prevails most people will choose the 1st solution.
The American populace has a chance to vindicate itself (in light of voting Bush in twice) in the upcoming elections……
Yes, America. Finally.
@ neworleanian - you missed the point. The author is not saying that everyone in America is stupid and everyone else isn;t. He was saying that from various research sources, it appears the AVERAGE in the US is lower than the AVERAGE in other countries.
Anyone can always come up with an isolated experience. I was in Lowell, MA (That’s in America in case there are any Scot’s reading - only joking!!!!). I was asked by a local where I came from. I replied “UK”. Their response was “The Ukraine?”
As the author said “Now with all these statistics and research data it is up to you, the reader to decide if Americans really deserve the ’stupid’ tag. As with any nation, there are always exceptions which means not all Americans fit these statistics. But a majority of Americans do which creates the average data at a lower level than the other countries.”
Just as he said, that not all Americans fit the tag, you can look at it the other way. Not all the individuals in other nations are less ’stupid’. By comparing individuals you can ‘prove’ anything. For example, I can compare Stephen Hawking (British) to Sarah “Africa is a country” Palin (US) - what does that prove?
good website rlly enjoyed the confinmation that its not just most of the americans i have met (i have met smart ones but its about a 1:29 ratio of smart to dumb in the one’s i have met)
and as a reply to the earlier comment
‘After reading this article I feel sad that this once great nation that was once regarded as a beacon of freedom and opportunity, is now scoring so low in IQ testing. Shouldn’t the promise of opportunity include higher education in one of the richest countries in the world?’
on other developed contries america hasn’t been seen as beakon of hope in a long time, with the citizens of britan the most common thoughts about america are allong the lines of 2 year old with a shotgun
-Quando Omini Flunkus Moritari-
The americans are fed with the most absurd propaganda by their leaders (like bush), to all americans that believe the things that Bush or for example cnn tell you, I am very sorry for you. Dont believe the half of what they tell you about the war in iraq or the “evil counrys” (there is no such thing!!!)… and also dont believe what they tell you about the muslims!!!!! many americans think that all muslims are terrorists……NOT TRUE!!!!!!!
I would think there would be some bells ringing among the americans if the whole other world hates them!!
america is foolish,
we dont pay attention to warnings of other countries that are trying to hurt us and then we put people in office that say one thing but do another,
too many voters that are copying what other s doo and not think themselves,and wayyyy tooo much pride in this country that we think were the best, and we arnt,
No wonder other countries laugh at us and mock us its our own fault, and we have to change or it;ll be tooo late for change,
I am an American, and I feel the IQ statistical information is probably quite correct (with the exception of maybe China — due to the Chinese Authorities and their censorship policies). The underlying reason for the low US IQ stats is the American educational system. IQ tests are related directly to culture and actual education. The US educational system has to educate everyone equally (or attempt to) and this bogs down the system. In a single US classroom a teacher will have one student who is a visual learner, one who is a special needs student, one who suffers from hyperactivity disorder and their approved lesson plan must cater to all of them and ensure all are keeping pace. So the extremely smart kids who want to learn are held back by the ones who either don’t take education seriously or those who simply have learning problems.
Many of the previous comments under this article have concluded that Americans are stupid because they are a country full of intolerant people who are ignorant when it comes to the rest of the world. While I do believe that many Americans suffer from a lack of insight/knowledge when it comes to the rest of the world, I feel this has to do with Geography more than anything else. The average person in Europe will know much more about the rest of the world (about countries, current events, etc) but this is because you have your hands in it. Sure France knows all about what is happening in West African countries right now because they have been involved in Africa for hundreds of years. Not to mention the EU. All of the countries in Europe are linked together in one way or another either geographically or economically, so of course they know what is going on with each other and it has a direct impact on the lives of all those living in Europe. Tell me what the current issues in West Africa have to do with the the average day to day life of a factory worker in Gary, IN?
Please also keep in mind when talking about this that the US has a major issue with immigration right now. Millions of people are coming into this country illegally and the majority of them don’t speak English. The Children of those Immigrants will certainly be able to attend the US public school system and their IQ stats will be thrown in the mix. Even though they may not even speak English (the language the test will be given in).
Also responding to a previous comment: The majority of immigrants coming into the US are coming from Mexico (not China and Japan as was asserted by a previous user comment). You can find this info from census.gov if you are interested. Mexico has a low IQ average due to their poor economic situation and the Children who begin their education in Mexico are the same ones ending up taking an IQ test in the US a few years later.
Also if you look at the actual numbers (see link in article) the US IQ is the same as Australia and the same as or on-par with the rest of Europe (you need to look at the info for yourself).
I agree with this partially, being an American that means something is wrong, but some of these statistics are fake, I’m only in high school and pretty much all people I know can Identify molecules and all fellow students (That I know of) can Identify the U.S. on the map.
I do know many people who just don’t get things no matter how many times you explain it to them, in fact when it comes to history and geography, I have to admit I do have trouble, but I can still point out America, and when given an unlabeled map name all of the states.
Maybe Americans are a bit dumber than other nations on average, but not nearly as extreme as the sterotypes would make you think (Although the fat reputation is, unfortunately, true with 1/4 of people being obese).
I do not think of myself as being the average American, and the fact that I am proud of this is something sad and needs to be fixed, on the other hand I do not believe staged statistics and exagurated (
the US is really uneducated, but that doesn’t mean everyone there is too. personally I dislike the usa because they think they’re so great, way too much of nationalism. they’re more nationalist than the nazis were. the other thing is, USA loves to interfere with other countries’s business.
Hey Mieszkol, you believing Nazi bullshit is much more ignorant than Americans believing everything FoxNews says. As for Americans being ignorant, it’s true, we are very ignorant. But we are also isolated on the other side of the world. Do you think Canadiens and Mexicans are any less ignorant than Americans. If the US was in Central Europe bordering 7 other countries with unique cultures and languages we’d be far less ignorant. The IQ argument is also ridiculous. IQ is genetic, criticize the country the stupid peoples ancestors came from not the country that they live in now. America attracts many stupid people from foreign country’s but there are many smart americans. As for our culture being flawed, Other countries criticize us that we only care about sports and movies and Mcdonalds. Guess what, American films are popular in every country i’ve ever been too, as is American Music, Clothes, and Food. And people say sports are everthing in US schools. Athletes in Europe and Latin America completely drop school for a chance of going pro, and European soccer fans are a bunch of lunatics. Every culture has stupid lowlives, and the US might even have the most, but not all americans are stupid. As a High School senior applying to the top university’s, I am positive that there are many bright people in this country.
I agree with most of it, it is well-known but Im a little surprised that you would not go further and wonder why are Americans underperforming in these tests?
My view is that it is obviously a general problem of disorganized and unequal public services that can’t make sure that american kids get a common solid education. Moreover I would like to add that all your examples are related to sciences which is very partial, to me (I have been living in the US for 3 years), the worse is a complete lack of knowledge about human sciences such as history, languages (very few americans I have met, even “educated”, spoke and wrote their language properly) or philosophy…..it seems that any abstract thinking is sort of banned and that what prevents theses guys from seeing the absurdity of thier isolationsit self-promoted position of “leader”. Leader is what I’d like to ask?
I don’t think Americans are stupid. It’s just that they are ignorant and that does not equate to stupidty. I found some of them to be bigots and have lack of respect for others’ cultures. The weird thing is sometimes a foreigner can tell more of what’s happening in the US than an American can. If you go to any engineering schools across the US or go the any technical conferences, the sights of a non-immigrant American is a rarity. The percentage of foreign professors or foreign students in comparison to their American counterparts in any American universities for engineering and sciences is really high. That shows that there is a lack of interest in the field of science and technology among American students.
To the Americans who argued about this article irrationally, this only shows your ignorance and immaturity to the world. Further strengthen the conclusion of the article.
yes, they are, my experience with penpals (urghhhh, worst you can get is americans) and this video proves it
http://sorisomail.com/email/446/americanos-nao-sao-estupidos.html
@Carla Carrinho
Yes, Americans can be stupid and ignorant, but that video(which I am so tired of hearing about) does not prove anything. I just looked on youtube and found the same kind of video using Europeans as the scapegoat instead, but I don’t post it here because:
1. I don’t want to offend anyone
2. I know that it is only a couple of people and not a good representation of Europeans
3. I’ve actually been to Europe and know that a good majority of Europeans are smart and friendly people
4. Any video can be edited to only show one side of things
5. A video doesn’t prove anything
O.k. where the hell did these people go to school? I can’t even comprehend not knowing some of these things that my fellow Americans don’t. I also feel rather special seeing as I am one of those few who know what D.N.A. and radiation are. Really, I just read that most Americans don’t know where Finland is and 37% can’t find the U.S. on a map even when it’s labeled. I am so ashamed yet also proud of myself…then I realize being the smartest moron is nothing to be proud of. This really clears things up for me though because I now know why Sarah Palin has been so successful throughout her life.
I think that Americans are not really “stupid” they just don’t really care…..through school I have had classes on geography and I can say that I know the conitinents and for the most part some of the islands. I just think that education and being smart in America is not really a priority. For our last president was a complete idiot…..Other countries have different values and calling someone “stupid” because they scored low on the IQ test is absurd. Point being that Americans are lazy. We see school as something that we have to do rather than needing it.
Although I’m enjoying this forum, I can’t help but notice that even though there are some obviously educated and intelligent submissions here there is a surprising number of you who believe that higher education=higher IQ. Also at some point, (I have yet to peruse all of the submissions) someone introduced the term ignorant and everyone jumped on that term, using it to mean uneducated, or low IQ. It does not. (Look up the definition) Anyone, including myself, should feel much better being called ignorant, rather than being labeled as uneducated, stupid or having a low IQ. It seems to me that if we used the proper term to describe the proper condition without all the mix-ups fewer persons would be getting so upset with others.
Has anyone considered the difference in the geographical size and location of the United States as compared with the smaller European countries that have two, three or more bordering countries that speak different languages and have different political agendas? The limited time I traveled in Europe, I became familiar with french, Italian, and Russian customs, just while I was in France! Several of you mentioned that many Europeans speak more than one language. Good for you. I only speak one fluently and sometimes not very well. But those of you who’s second language is Latin are the ones that I respect the most. If you’ve ever studied Latin you’ll know why I feel that way. I have never had the need to speak Chinese or Russian, and at this point in my life I’m somewhat sure I will never have a need too. But, Latin is a language that can be used everyday. In my experience, I’ve discovered that most young people should work on speaking one language properly before starting another.
If an American falls asleep on a train in America and does not wake up for 3 or 4 days, he’s probably still going to be in somewhere in America. If you were to do that in Europe, Africa, and most of Asia, you better have a valid passport. I live and travel all over the United States year-round on business and anyone who works for me will tell you that I don’t have much tolerance for incompetence, or ignorance. But I also didn’t expect the Oregonians, (People from the state of Oregon, northwest U.S.A.), who I recently worked with, to know, for example, the specific license requirements to become a contractor, or the legal age of consent in the state of Florida, 3000 miles away on the southeast corner of the country. America is made up of fifty different states, (very different, in some cases) and is the most, (or close to the most) ethnically diverse country in the world. If an American doesn’t know that Glasgow is north of London, that’s lack of education and ignorance, but you won’t find that question on an IQ exam. And that certainly doesn’t make him stupid.
Someone mentioned that they didn’t know anyone who took an IQ exam. American Mensa will accept more than 200 different tests for admission, including LSAT, and SAT/ACT. Most Americans who have attended school in this country in the past 50 years has taken a standardized test that included questions taken directly from the Standard IQ exam.
You can assess this next bit of information however you like. It seems evident that a lot of people submitting to this forum, get their information from the media. The American media is the most corrupt institution in this country. It is owned and controlled by the extremely rich. The American media will print any item or find proof of any outrageous claim imaginable if the price is right. Make sure you check the source of your statistics.
America is in the final stages of a civilization. This country bulldozed through the first 5 stages and we aren’t showing any sign of slowing down and correcting our mistakes to keep us from continuing to bulldoze through the final 2. We are a country in a terrible economic state, our education system has all but fallen apart. Our arrogance has made us blind to the the fact that our political leaders make decisions purely for their own benefit, and that of their political party. Not for the benefit of the American people or the people in the countries where we have influence or affect. The majority of these submissions are people stating the obvious. Arguing about it serves no purpose. Understanding and admitting we have problems is not admitting defeat. It’s the first step in making positive change.
People, people… far more distressing than the sobering statistics on America’s state of education is the desire on the part of so many Europeans and liberal Americans to stereotype and expound their subtle (and often not so subtle) hatred of the common American.
I have lived in America most of my life (both blue and red states), as well as London, Madrid, and Australia. I hope I can bring a somewhat balanced perspective.
Life in America, as with any other country, is different from life in Europe– no doubt about it. Europeans value certain aspects of life more (secular education, international awareness, high culture) than most other people in the world (Americans included). Americans value certain aspects of life more (hard work and the pursuit of financial success, pursuing happiness even at the expense of knowledge, and a more democratic culture) than much of the rest of the world. But we are not talking about absolute goods here. We are talking about a European system of values versus a North American system of values. It shouldn’t be surprising then to find that American liberals often value the European way of life (deriding their home country and longing to lounge in the cafes of Paris), whereas American conservatives value the North American life. Europe does have a very high quality of life– if you have a certain value system.
Being able to work only 35 hours a week, enjoy sipping lattes over discussions of the classic philosophers, and take free public transportation to get their is awesome, of course. But, for some quality of life is: the “sky-is-the-limit” hope and optimism that comes with a more capitalistic economy, Hollywood and rock/pop music at its best (Godfather and Zeppelin) and worst (Jerry Spring and Spears), and the ability to hit the open road and explore virtually empty roads meandering through majestic mountain scenery. To enjoy some goods, others must be sacrificed. Of course, I am over simplifying all of the cultural differences here. But, as both a firm believer in Christianity AND evolution/science, if I HAVE to choose, I prefer the Christian lifestyle to the secular-liberal one. Unfortunately, we can’t have it all.
Now, why then can’t we just all accept these differences, allow people to move freely to the land that most appropriately matches their values, and hug around a campfire? Why does anyone in Sweden care about whether creationism vs. evolution is being taught at high schools in West Virginia any more than I care if children in Bangalore are learning about reincarnation and eating too much curry?
The answer to this question is where America fundamentally needs to change. The reason we can’t all just live in peace is because we have forced the world to care about our actions. Somewhat like clumsy children, we fuddled our way in to World War II and then found our selves almost alone when the dust settled to carry the torch for Western Civilization. Given, the rest of Europe soon arose from the ashes, but the quiet little republic of dustbowl farmers and county fairs would have to take on the role as world leader. We were never meant to be here. Let’s become the republic we were meant to be, get out of the rest of the world (the savings alone would make it able for us to eliminate every form of non-business tax). And, best of all, we could live our lives without hearing everyone criticize our culture and way of life. Any country would look this bad if constantly put under the microscope.
Now, having put forth this argument, I am curious to hear from non-Americans. Would you prefer that America stay as it is domestically, but just pull out of the world militarily and just keep on trading like Japan or Germany do now? Or would you prefer us to remain the de facto leaders of the world and try to make it so that our domestic habits are as benign as possible for the rest of the world?
@ Dmitri
Science and technology jobs are not “looked down upon”. If you are a scientist or an engineer, you will be on a higher income and social plane than a pizza delivery boy or a call centre agent. However, scientists and engineers are considered mediocre professionals as compared to management or law. One of the reason Americans companies have become so unproductive these days is because more people are engaged in the management of a company rather than doing anything actually productive.
I think the major reason why born-and-bred Americans avoid science and technology is because of the ‘nerdiness’ associated with it (it is mostly people of foreign origin who populate the tech. or med. schools). According to the class heirarchy in American high schools, people of a higher intellect are branded “nerds” and “geeks” which puts them in the bottom rung of the social ladder. Hence, a lot of intelligent Americans avoid an avid interest in the hard sciences, leading to a general anti-intellectualism in the country. (Anti-Intellectualism in America is characterised by a mild distaste of high cultures and a belief that anyone with a cultured lifestyle is being an ‘pseudo-intellectual’.)
I would just like to remind all of the people that claim that iq tests are related to education and culture. IQ test compare the subjects mental age to his/her biological age and consist of tasks strictly tied with inteligence and inteligence training( yes, that is correct, knowlage is a diferent thing( you develop your knowlage via for example reading)). For example the tasks could be: to count moving objects, speed calculation, recognising an optical illusion etc. So please stop saying that americans score low entirely becouse of the education sistem, the government, or the president( i’m not saying that they didn’t play a minor role in it). Respect
Oh, yes. One more thing. I personaly don’t belive americans are stupid( however, i’ve never been to the US), but their youth might destroy the country. Their awearness should be raised a bit. Reaspect again
Well, in a big country like America, you only need a few smart people to run the country for the rest. That’s the self-perpetuating tragedy.
(@Aaron
Dioksiribonukleinic acetat is spelled DNA, not D.N.A. at least that what i was tought in sevent grade)
I was just wondering is there a reason for a european to come and live in the U.S.?
I have read much of this thread and just wanted to agree with much of what I have read, but first here is an example of the real/modern world that US needs to understand; I am Swedish, I am listening to a film in Afrikaans, writing this in English and listening to my Brazilian girlfriend shout at me in Portuguese (can’t understand a word she is saying but she shouts alot!!). The famous reticence of Americans to learn languages is just a symptom of the homogenous nature of American culture, ie Starbucks and McDonalds.
I think we cannot under estimate just how much the ignorance of Americans is a purposeful product of their culture, it is not an unintended side effect, for example, most of the world is socialist in political principals, yet the word socialist in US is a dirty word. If the masses of USA were taught logical principles and critical thinking this could not happen. Many surveys show that an overwhelming number of americans are in favour of a european style health service and yet this never enters the political debate as it is called socialised medicine and therefore a-priori a bad thing. Interestingly although surveys show Americans want a euro-style health service, the same surveys show that most americans feel they are in the minority in wanting this! This brings in the media.
Have you ever watched american television news? It is shocking (genuinely shocking), it like watching a ‘reality show’ where the ‘reality’ is actually reality!! So that the population is de-sensitised into seeing war as just big bright explosions where no real discussion follows, the Israeli 40 year terriorism of Palestine is a good example. Israeli attacks killing hundreds and destroying thousands are big and bright (ie good and mindless), Palestinian attacks killing tens are old fashioned (ie dirty and personal) This combined with no real discussion of the back ground of the troubles is obviously going to lead to an extremely ignorant viewpoint.
Will add more later…the shouting is getting louder!!!
Hey Ivan,
It depends what you are looking for out of life. I think every place on the planet has its advantages. Some countries have just had such bad luck that living a good life is nearly impossible (Iraq, Somalia, Congo). But in almost every part of the United States and Europe (as well as Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and even most Latin American countries), there is plenty of opportunity to make a happy life for yourself. So, whether you want to move to the United States is a matter of personal preference.
If you are, say, from Russia, and you long for tropical breezes and Latin culture, but want to stay in the developed world, you should move to Miami. If you are in Kansas and want nothing more than to go to art galleries and people-watch at cafes, you should move to Paris. America is a hugely diverse land that has a lot to offer, and you will be able to find a place that almost perfectly suits your lifestyle preferences (same with Europe).
Also, if you are young and ambitious, America does have better employment prospects for young people, and it is much easier to start your own business here, own a house, and have a lot for pretty cheap.
I think there are reasons to move almost anywhere, but I think, overall, America and Europe offer something for everyone.
Stereotypes are truly terrible.I’m a kid in the US. I’ve seen what the people are like here. It is pretty bad. Sometimes. Not all of the US citizens are stupid. We’ve had smart people here before. Though the country is in a bit of a crisis.
Now, why then can’t we just all accept these differences, allow people to move freely to the land that most appropriately matches their values, and hug around a campfire? Why does anyone in Sweden care about whether creationism vs. evolution—-Why can’t we all get along—
Get along; The answer to that question is actually straight forward, here in Sweden and Europe generally we care what US thinks because it sits on top of the Neo-liberal world pyramid. Here in Sweden we have the first ring wing (US style) powerful government for over twenty and they are horrible, an absolute disaster and their ideas come from US. Now of course theyu will be voted out next election (I hope) but you can do a lot of damage in four years. You can find powerful people with ring wing US capitalistic ideas all over the world introducing ideas that are antithetical to the left wing ideals most of us here hold so dearly and were paid for in the blood of earlier generations. We can see the destruction of working class standards of living, the increase in levels of debts, the by-passing of union standards, the end of free education etc or public services etc etc.
Now are the people of US to blame for swedes voting right wing? No of course not, but as these ideas come flooding out america, un-checked by badly educated and badly informed americans, we see our cultures having to pay the price.
If americans want to work 70 hours a week, spend their lives in debt, go broke so they can have an operation, fear getting the train because it runs no where near where they live and spend their time talking about Brittany Spears, well good for them; if they want to pretend that creationism has any basis whatsoever in science, they are mad, but its up to them; however We fear that these un-checked stupidities will influence our cultures if US citizens do these things.
And this is exactly why America wages war on every country they are afraid of; xenophobia.
David, there are many of us that want socialized health care, or what the pc over here like to call universal. As for working 70hrs a week or waiting for a bus that’s no where near where we need to be, etc…nothing is perfect. I’d love to have the opportunities and freedoms that Europeans have…and the culture, but we all have to remember that the US is relatively young and although, we should have done our history homework and learned from all the European countries mistakes, sometimes one just has to make them themselves for it’s the only way to learn some things. Keep that in mind.
We’re not all ignorant. Eventually I’ll know more than English but I didn’t have the privilege of having it taught to me while I was young. And, since you’re educated, you know that after a certain age it becomes much harder linguistically speaking. We do our best, those of us who care. I’m sure there are ignorant Europeans. They’re scattered about on this huge little world.
Like I said. Here’s data by state.
http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/89ade5ae117638d201118bce925904a6/comments/8b46405cdda211dd9b2c000255111976
Averages:
NY - 97
MA - 101
CA - 87 (22% of California population is comprised of immigrants with little or no schooling)
Let’s also not for get the fact that standardized IQ tests have a deviation of 15 points. With all of the innovation that comes out of the US, I find it hard to believe that we could have lower IQ’s than the countries in Europe… Wait.. What’s has the European nations given the world again? How has Europe changes the lives of the people around the world. Penicillin right? Linux (which is a reverse engineered version of Unix)? The wheel? It’s not the automobile. Or Electricity… What has Sweden ever done for the world other then make cheese? Yup, I can sound just as ignorant as this website. But you know why that is… I’m just a stupid fat lazy American. One who makes a shit load of money, has a giant heated pool. A 52in Samsung series 7 HDTV. and a really really nice BMW. Oh, and an IQ of 132.
Stephanie, don’t apologize for the US. The opinions voiced here are not the opinions of the world. Just a few people using American technology to voice their unhappiness that they themselves do not have what we have.
@ Anom - “With all of the innovation that comes out of the US, I find it hard to believe that we could have lower IQ’s than the countries in Europe…”
If you call stealing or modifying ideas from other countries and patenting it as ‘innovation’…
@ Anom - “What’s has the European nations given the world again? How has Europe changes the lives of the people around the world. Penicillin right?”
About everything worth having today, including the very technology (WWW) that you use to make this comment with. The electricity that you use to run your computer with is a wonder of European ingenuity.
@ Anom - ” Penicillin right?”
Penicillin was invented by Sir Alexander Fleming, a British doctor.
@ Anom - “The wheel? It’s not the automobile.”
Europeans call it ‘car’, not automobile. I am sure Americans impress themselves by hiding behind a modified terminology and claiming an ‘invention’, but the first self-propelled vehicle (or automobile as you call it) was invented by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, a French inventor. Contrary to popular (read stupid) American beliefs, Henry Ford didn’t invent the car.
@ Anom - “Or Electricity…”
The first observations of electricity was done by Thales of Miletus, a Greek during the BC era. The first electric generator was built by Otto von Guericke, a German scientist. Michael Faraday, a British FRS is known as the “father of electricity” as it was his efforts that made electricity as a viable form of enegy.
@ Anom - “What has Sweden ever done for the world other then make cheese?”
Sweden has more per-capita inventions to its credit that Americans ever do and ever will. The average Swedish has a quality of life which few Americans can dream of. The products made by Swedish multi-nationals (which are numerous) are a lot better than those made by American companies, even at the same price level. Even the Nobel Prize which American academics desperately crave for and judge their worth on, is offered by a Swedish institute. Your statement about Sweden is not only a sign of your excessive ignorance, but reeks to typical American jingoism. What have Americans ever done for the world except fatten people with McDonalds and produce the largest number of child predators in the globe?
@ Anom - “One who makes a shit load of money, has a giant heated pool. A 52in Samsung series 7 HDTV. and a really really nice BMW. Oh, and an IQ of 132.”
Oh, the irony! You are boasting about your material possessions with products of Korean (Samsung) and German (BMW) manufacturers. What happened, can’t Americans with 132 IQ find something American to make jingoist rants about?
@ Anom - “Just a few people using American technology to voice their unhappiness that they themselves do not have what we have.”
I am using the World Wide Web, a technology developed by CERN, Switzerland. My laptop is made in China by Sony Vaio, a Japanese company. The browser is Opera (Netherlands) based on the OS Novell OpenSUSE (Germany). I am as unhappy about not having your material possessions as you are unhappy at not having a mini Uzi or a Sony Vaio.
Oh, and one more thing. It is ironic the way you decide that someone who doesn’t have a 52″ TV or a BMW is automatically unhappier than someone who does. What is it with Americans, that they equate happiness with material goods and violence with sex? Moreover, if Americans like you hate being branded stupid, you need to stop being so loud with your stupidity. The excesses of ignorance in your comment did no help here.
I think it is rather arrogant to assume you are better than another person because you know who the secretary of state is and they don’t. Am I defending Americans who don’t bother to find this stuff out? Not really. Some people’s lack of knowledge on world events or even common sense is worrying…even pitiful. That is why we should be helping them rather than poking fun, bashing American culture or feeling superior. (Especially for fellow Americans…instead of wallowing in self-loathing why don’t you try explaining a concept to someone who doesn’t understand something or correcting a person who said something incorrectly.) I am proud to be Mexican-American. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I had a good education and I try to help others instead of sitting around poking fun of them. You should try it sometime.
I like your attitude Michelle
I think the usa “elite” rather keeps his people ignorant, as the church did centuries ago. A bunch of ignorants are easier to manipulate than a well educated people-
Aside of that the USA seem to be run by the
jewish minority which since thw census of 1952 ( 6 mil) has not grown by one singe birth !?
yet they are the majority in the US government.Media business,Bank and financial
institutions, and I have never met an american who did not work for a jew, and I met many…
I think a lot of Amercans are racists that is a problem.
I have met quite a few Americans and one thing they don’t like is if you call them stupid or anything for that matter. In England we like to take the poke fun at ourselves and most of the time we don’t get upset.
Now the reason most Americans don’t travel much is due to its size, why would you need to travel when you have so much on your own door step?
@ Michelle - “I had a good education and I try to help others instead of sitting around poking fun of them. You should try it sometime.”
Michelle, it is very difficult to handle stupid Americans who are self-satisfied egomaniacs, let alone attempt to ‘help’ them. I have had experience dealing with this sort both offline and online, only to end up getting annoyed and exasperated. Since we have better things to do than being a cultural missionarity to an arrogant and savage breed of people, we just make others among us aware of what a typical American is like and move on. This helps others like us avoid the same pitfalls if they come across a similar American.
Just so that the not-so-bright Americans understand, being stupid is not a global calamity. Stay stupid and don’t bother others, no one will care. It is only when these stupid people start to believe that ways are better than everyone else and try to convert others to be like them using force or fraud, that their stupidity becomes an annoyance/concern.
@ Tallen Lu - “I think a lot of Amercans are racists that is a problem.”
You are right. A lot of Americans do not openly express their racist sentiments because of their fear of the law or public ridicule. All that anti-racism laws helped in US is to drive racism into the closet, like homosexuality in an Islamic country. Institutional racism and subtle public expression of racist sentiments have replaced the burning, lynching or extra-judicial prosection of non-WASP minorities. A little provocation or anonymity (like online blogs) does bring out this side of Americans, often followed with an inclusionary remark to ‘mask’ or ‘water down’ their vehemently racist remark.
so as far as the American is concerned, IQ is crap as I have stated above.
There is a worrying trend in the decline in science and tech education, unless corrected it will have a negative effect the US competitiveness in the future and it’s ability to innovative.
but lets not forget the US is the most innovative country in the world, science and tech has been dominated by it. Real intelligence has many qualities as I explained above it is not based on how when you regurgitate like a parrot, not based on academic intelligence
Innovation and creativity are the most critical factors of greatness. THEY SAID America was on its last legs in the late 80’s saying, how japan will become number one and own America. Quoting those crap IQ figures and higher educational levels etc.
But the USA did not decline, it was japan, because japan could not innovate were the USA could.
THIS IS THE REAL CRITICAL STAT
Study: US workers are world’s most productive
By Bradley S. Klapper, Associated Press | September 3, 2007
GENEVA - American workers stay longer in the office, at the factory, or on the farm than their counterparts in Europe and most other rich nations, and they produce more per person over the year.
They also get more done per hour than everyone but the Norwegians, according to a UN report that said the United States “leads the world in labor productivity.” The report was released in Geneva today, which is Labor Day in the United States.
The average US worker produces $63,885 of wealth per year, more than their counterparts in all other countries, the International Labor Organization said in its report. Ireland comes in second at $55,986, followed by Luxembourg at $55,641, Belgium at $55,235, and France at $54,609.
The productivity figure is found by dividing the country’s gross domestic product by the number of people employed. The UN report is based on 2006 figures for many countries, or the most recent available.
Only part of the US productivity growth, which has outpaced that of many other developed economies, can be explained by the longer hours Americans are putting in, the ILO said.
The United States, according to the report, also beats all 27 nations in the European Union, Japan, and Switzerland in the amount of wealth created per hour of work - a second key measure of productivity.
Norway, which is not an EU member, generates the most output per working hour, $37.99, a figure inflated by the country’s billions of dollars in oil exports and high prices for goods at home. The United States is second at $35.63, about a half dollar ahead of third-place France.
Seven years ago, French workers produced over a dollar more on average than their American counterparts. The country led the United States in hourly productivity from 1994 to 2003.
The US employee put in an average 1,804 hours of work in 2006, the report said. That compared with 1,407.1 hours for the Norwegian worker and 1,564.4 for the French.
It pales, however, in comparison with the annual hours worked per person in Asia, where seven economies - South Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, and Thailand - surpassed 2,200 average hours per worker. But those countries had lower productivity rates.
America’s increased productivity “has to do with the ICT (information and communication technologies) revolution, with the way the US organizes companies, with the high level of competition in the country, with the extension of trade and investment abroad,” said Jose Manuel Salazar, the ILO’s head of employment.
The ILO report warned that the widening of the gap between leaders such as the US and poorer nations has been even more dramatic.
Laborers from regions such as southeast Asia, Latin
America, and the Middle East have the potential to create more wealth but are being held back by a lack of investment in training, equipment and technology, the agency said.
In sub-Saharan Africa, workers are only about one-twelfth as productive as those in developed countries, the report said.
Nick - Two things come to mind. Firstly the Japanese economy collapsed in the late 90’s for many reason, just as the world economy is collapsing now. A debt bubble, forced re-valuation of asian currencies, ruthless privatisation. To imply that the Japanese economy collapsed, like the world economy now, because of a lack of innovation is utter nonsense. Here is a thought experiment, name three NEW technologies invented by the private sector since 1955, I don’t mean adaptations like ipods from computers but actually NEW technologies, if innovation is meaningful within capitalism you should be able to name 100’s, but try naming three.
Secondly, I don’t know if you mean it but there is an implication in what you write about the stats on productivity. It is this; the people of the world should aim to be as productive as possible. Why? Why should people here in Sweden work as hard as those in Asia? Do you not think that productivity is linked to exploitation? Would the people of Asia not prefer to work less hard, have more holidays, better welfare? Are we working for the capitalists now? New Zealand has a pretty good standard of living, more in line with western europe than USA. Is that not something to celebrate?
Let’s not forget the other stuff about Americans; generosity of spirit, resoluteness of purpose, clarity of vision, embrace of altruism. That’s what makes us, in the final analysis, so much better than the rest of the world. Really! Oh, and I forgot one of our best qualities — we’re so remarkably untainted with any of that relativist, confused, cowardly Europeanishness!
Fucking pussies.
If we are so stupid how is it then we’re responsible for more pharmaceutical, electronic, agricultural and medical advances today than the rest of the world put together? Yeah, you people are fucking geniuses. You couldn’t find your own assholes without a US-made roadmap.
What is your source for US being responsible for more pharmaceutical, electronic, agricultural and medical advances today than the rest of the world put together?
Is producing stuff the only thing that matters?
I put some interesting points on this discussion up an I have seen them removed by a liberal git.
I shall not waste any more time hear, like a true liberal he does not believe in freedom of speech.
SO MY ADVICE FOR ANYONE ELSE WHO BOTHERS TO PUT UP A DECENT AGRUMENT THAT IS NOT LIBERAL, DON’T BOTHER BECAUSE ABY IS A JOKE.
THIS POST WILL BE REMOVED IN 5 HOURS.
SOME AMERICANS ALWAYS MAKE FUN OF OTHER COUNTIES.
SOMETIMES THE GOVERMENT BLOCKS THE TRUTH FROM THE PEOPLE.
Nick - That’s unfortunate I would be interested in reading what you wrote.
I have also had the same problems as Nick, that my arguments have not been alowed.
Average Euro IQ is less the 1% higher then USA IQ according to his own references. Just simple mathmatics to figure it out. If that gives anyone the right to call the other stupid then we are all morally deprived.
@ Nick and Robert: It is probably the spam filter at work. Check if you have made double posts, swearwords or linked to a spam site. If its all clear, email Aby to ask what the problem might be. I have had to deal with this problem once, when my double posts wouldn’t appear.
So yeah I have to disagree. This refers to Americans as being unintellligiant, which is true. But stupidty is not measured by intelligiance, because intelligiance is learned where as being smart has a lot to do with common sense. I myself am an American and trust me I am not stupid nor unitelligent. I may be only 13 but I have already surpassed people my own age in my country and other countries. I have started my own self studies on diseases such as schizophrenia, OCD, and manic depressive disorder. Not two mention my three year study of WWII I have even brought up theories of my own to contradict others beliefs on Hitler. I have also all ready been asked to take my ACT test and SAT test. I don’t find myself unintelligent but as i said intelligence is learned. Since, America’s school system is not as efficient as other countries most kids are not like me and don’t take it upon themselves to learn all that they can, and believe it or not we do have competions here and it puts a lot of stress on kids. Many are brought up in a family that has a set criteria for their children and are often treated like failures when they don’t reach it. After a while they give up and feel no need to try in school because of the thought that they won’t make it anyway. My uncle is a very intelligent man but he is as stupid as they come I told him, as I’m saying now, that you can’t measure how smart you are by looking at your intelligence. I really hope that America ups their schooling because I would love to catch up to the countries that beleve that your intellgiance is what tells if your smart. Truthfully anyone who beleves this needs to look deeper, believing everything you read gets you nowhere. Also, many people don’t see this but maybe there are some people here that are stupid but everyone has their own stupid peolpe it can’t be stopped.
REPOSTING- (I wrote this before I actually looked up the difference between IQs, so part of this arguement is mute.)
The USA is enslaved to itself. I believe you give the leaders to much credit when you say they purposefully keep the nation in ignorance. They aren’t that able, nor evil (I hope). Most americans are taught from birth that material possession is the key way to express ones worth in society(case in example @anom) . That coupled with ultra-capitalism creates debt in the middle and lower economic tiers of society. Which is continually widening the gab of wealth and poverty. Since a lower percentage of the population is becoming wealthier and a larger population incurring an ever growing debt, americans are creating an ever enlarging pyramid cast system. This is also the reason for poor immigrates, needed to bulster the bottom ranks of the pyramid. Povierty is one of the key factors in a lower IQ, and unfortunately many americans live a lower standard of life then many europeans (@nick even though americans have the highest production per capita does not mean it is evenly distributed).
America does recieve many very educated immigrants from various countries, though they are far less in numbers then the poor. There is simply not as much room available higher up on the pyramid as below.
As to europeans calling americans stupid, think about it this way. If you were born an american you most likely would have a lower I.Q. (not you, the other readers!) then you do now. Would that make you stupid or undeveloped?
I studied and worked in europe for 7 years, and I often miss the intellectual abundance of the middle class there. Where one can speak openly and is respected for creativity and cognitive abilities. Having said that I also easily noticed the growing popular idiology especially amoung the 18-30 range of anti-american sentiment, even though when asked why they thought that way they were lacking in any indepth reasoning. Of course I was always an exception to these people since I could out reason them, but I will refuse to call them stupid. To create a false generalization is hurtful, spiteful, hateful, and just plain bigotry.
Besides a few I.Q. points is a relatively small intelligence difference, so stop mentally masturbating about how ingeneous you are.
Facts I aquired first hand while hosting a quiz for 4 years at an international student gathering at the University of Leipzig, Germany (where Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz wrote many of his theories):
This is by no account a very accurate study, but only 25-30% of the europeans were able to answer correctly where the EU parliament is held. Even less could answer where the EU court of justice was located.
I held this quiz once a week for 4 years, and asked these questions many times among others because I thought it was amusing that they were able to answer where the equivelent US institutions were with a much higher percentage, but not their own. The point though is that numbers can be thrown around to try and make oneself feel superior, but it is in this forum only for self propaganda. As I suppose everything I wrote for myself. (hmm hipocrite)
By in large things need to change in the world to sustain all of us, the US may be the larger key at the moment but it does not meam everyone else is guilt free.
I wonder where you got your statistical information regarding IQ. I am a third year college student and have never taken an Intelligence Quotient test, neither do I know anyone who has been asked to take one. I have considered taking one to be admitted to MENSA, but with all of the standardized testing required in this country I don’t believe it is necessary for the average American.
I find it very hard to believe so many Americans think the Sun revolves around the Earth or what DNA is. Even my eight year old knows what a molecule is, and an atom, and the basics of the periodic table.
Evolution is taught in schools. Faith is not. Religion is touched on in school, many religions are. Evolution is given a dominent place in all science courses I have taken in my lifetime.
I do admit, our youth are not applying theirselves or striving for high achievement like Americans have in the past and it is sad. I am dissapointed how low the dreams of the local teens where I live are and I’m sure their reluctance to apply themselves damages their intelligence but surely the statistics you have mentioned are not accurate.
well stated well done wot a blog, well said !
FACTS - facts lool facts for us to throw them at their faces xD
Americans may be less smart, but the “smart people” come to the U.S. to study and stay here to get great jobs. Why do you think most scientific and engineering professions are made up of foreigners?
I don’t know about relative IQ, but I tend to have much more interesting conversations with people when I’m outside America. Perhaps this is because Americans in general take so little interest in anything that doesn’t directly benefit them. In other words Americans are generally quite boring and predictable, and I think functional, habitual levels of intelligence (as opposed to intrinsic) must have a lot to do with it.
It is worth bearing in mind that the current test of artificial computer intelligence is to simply talk to the machine, does the conversation feel human or not. Well, outside of America conversation feels more ‘human’, at least to me.
@Johnny - cuz u guys are dumb
“..smart, but the “smart people” come to the U.S. to study and stay here to get great jobs. Why do you think most scientific and engineering professions are made up of foreigners?”
That could be because most Americans are too dim to even understand what ’science’ or ‘engineering’ really means, so foreigners see a big market of fools where their skills will be much highly rated. In my personal experience and the experiences of my friends, it is a lot easier to get into a top grade American university for science and engineering as compared to Europe or Asia where is is far more competitive.
Firstly note that “stupid” is an attention grabbing headline. Don’t get hung up on that word. The sentiment is clear enough.
Secondly there are all kinds of problems with IQ tests.
Thirdly there are good generalisations about Americans as well. For example they are friendly up-front people.
With those caveats out the way, I think the evidence is in. The majority of Americans are ignorant of the world - particularly in science, geography and other cultures. A great many of them appear to have poorly developed skills of critical thinking, rationalisation and intellectual curiosity.
The science and high technology innovations in American are more and more dominated by people not born in America.
It is possible that those things are linked to the educational system. However I think there is evidence that it is at least partly a product of their culture.
It seems incontrovertible that the majority of Americans are not even interested in world events or how other people perceive the world.
I am from New Zealand. The nearest country is over 2000km away. We have a culture of travelling to other countries at a young age. I do not accept that intellectual curiosity is an accident of geography if you live in a developed country.
If you didn’t believe it before, the experience of Iraq should have highlighted it to you that American people are very easily lead into war.
Now all of this would not matter except that the USA is the only superpower and it has forced it’s will on so many other countries since WWII.
I think the question is not “are American’s stupid?”. I think the question is can American interference with the world be contained so that their easily led population doesn’t create too much suffering to other people?
@ Captain V. “About everything worth having today, including the very technology (WWW) that you use to make this comment with. The electricity that you use to run your computer with is a wonder of European ingenuity I am using the World Wide Web, a technology developed by CERN, Switzerland. My laptop is made in China by Sony Vaio, a Japanese company”
Here is a quick list of American innovations as it relates to computer science:
-American George Stiblitz is credited with inventing the Digital computer in 1937.
-Fiberglass was invented at Owens Corning in 1938
-The transistor was invented at Bell Labs in 1947 and is considered the fundamental building block of all electronics.
-American Reynold Johnson invented the Hard disk drive in 1955.
-American Jack Kilby invented the integrated circut in 1958.
-The computer mouse was invented by American Doug Englebart in 1963
-Plasma Display was invented at the University of Illinois in 1964.
-American Ted Nelson created hypertext in 1965
-The Compact Disc was invented by American James Russell in 1965.
-The Laser Printer was invented at Xerox in 1969
-Researchers at Corning Glass invented the optical fiber in 1970.
-The first PC was invented by American John Blankenbaker in 1970.
-American Ray Tomlinson invented email in 1971.
-American David Noble invented the floppy disc in 1971.
-American Ted Hoff invented the microprocessor in 1971.
-American James Ferguson invented Liquid Crystal Display in 1971.
-C programming language was invented by American Dennis Ritchie in 1972.
-American Gary Kildal invented the operating system in 1974.
-IBM created the first commercially available laptop in 1975.
-Graphic user interface was invented at Xerox in 1981.
-The modern internet was invented at the United States National Science Foundation in 1983, opened to commerical interests in 1985, and subsequently developed into the world wide web in 1992 by CERN who used the concept of hypertext(which was invented by American Ted Nelson in 1965). The early forms of the internet date back to other American inventors in the 1950’s and 1960’s
Even Blogging was invented by American Dr. Glenn Bary in 1993.
@ Sean -
Take electricity out of the equation and all the above ‘inventions’ fall into nothing (like multiplying 9334532412373 by zero). American inventions mean nothing without the backbone created by the timeless European contributions to humanity like the inventions of electricity, genetics, antibiotics, modern medicine, space exploration, etc.
You’ll also notice that EVERY SINGLE American ‘invention’ you specified above are comercially viable consumer products, the concepts and theories of which already existed long before they have been brought into material existence by venture capitalists. Theis breaks Anom’s argument to shards, since on a ‘giving to the world’ basis, Europeans gave far more to the world with their inventions that Americans ever did (or ever bothered themselves with).
I wouldn’t even bother pointing out the levels of fallacy and chest thumping in the argument you defended, since you obviously overlooked them or didn’t recognise any (perhaps because boasting of wealth and material goods as a hallmark of their intelligence is a ‘normal’ thing in America).
As a grade 9 teacher in Michigan, I can tell you that most most my students that immigrated to the United States with their families, are definetly “sharper” than most the kids that were born around these parts. I don’t want to limit myself to a subject as Math, or Science (trust me we are really behind when compared to 3rd world countries), it’s an “overall sharper”, they just get it, without having to draw pizzas to get them to understand fractions (one silly example). It’s just a really sad when you have a board full of pizza drawings and the kids still don’t get it, while I have to suspend some immigrant kid for laughing his ass off at the pizzas, because he thinks it’s raw stupidity. (even though I agree with him/her I cannot/will allow anyone to laugh at another students learning difficulties).
To make things worst when I invite the parents to the “parent-teacher” meetings, I always have the parents of the immigrant kids comming (both mother and father), the american parents don’t really want to show up unless I specifically request them to show up (because their kid is having difficulties).
The types of questions the immigrant parents are asking are actually academic related, (will they cover derivatives, limits, this semester or next, will they have a review class before the exam, can I allocate some 1on1 time with their students if they need to review a certain chapter) while the American parents tend to ask about the cafeteria menu, and the sport activities offered after school, or organize what snacks to bring for next parent-teacher meeting, and that is unfair to send their daughters home if they are wearing short skirts (believe me it is really awfull when you ask a youg lady to go home and change because her underwear are showing when she sits down, and the whole class turns into a circus).
Last but not least, the immigrant kids are much more respectful towards the teacher of the class, while most American kids tend to be impolite towards the teacher (i know it’s the cool thing to do, but it really does push a teacher away from the kids that tend to be problamatic, and sadly there are the kids that tend to need the most 1 on 1 time.).
I am really sad to see this. Blaming the schools is really a small fraction of what is happening, please believe me, alot of it starts with the discipline a kid picks up during his younger years at home.
The Problem with america is all the new technology for kids. I’m 15 years old and live in the United States. Most Teenagers in my school get less then 7 hours of sleep each night. When there in school they are usually text messaging one another and not paying attention. Presdient Obama wants to increase school time and the amount of time we attend school. Really all he has to do is crack down on schools and stop kids from having ther phones out in class! There is’nt much of a punishment to have your phone taken away by a teacher or another faculty member. Teacher, shcools and parents need to make sure that teenagers get the right amount of sleep and actually pay attention in school. Also authority has been undermined in recent generations. Getting in trouble with the law seems to be allowed by todays teens. More and more teens are drinking alcohol and taking drugs. Many parents don’t know the signs of it and should become aware of it. The prevention of drug abuse needs to be stepped up as well as laws about buying and allowing teens to drink alcohol and use tobacco to need to be more punishable. The turn around will not be quick but the future depends on the present.
Just some comments on Europeans and their supposed knowledge of the rest of the world:
1) Most Euros I have met can’t tell the difference between a Canadian and an American. They lump us all together and call us Americans. The Mexicans are totally forgotten or lumped in with South America (I have actually had Euros tell me this is because the culture of Mexico is more like South America than North America????????)
2) Of the multilingual Euros I have met, not one spoke a non-European language. I think the “willingness to learn other languages” that the Europeans speak of translates into “Euros will learn the languages of their own continent so they can talk to one another, but don’t ask them to learn Chinese or some African language because they really aren’t interested and have no need to.”
3) Europeans need to learn that Europe is NOT more diverse than anywhere else. Countries like the US, Canada and Australia have been melting pot countries for a long time; whereas, mass immigration to Europe is really only fairly new and started after WWII. That means we have been taking in people from all over the world far longer than our Euro cousins. Maybe waking up and realizing this will help our Euro cousins understand why a lot of immigrants to European countries don’t assimilate? After all, how can you expect others to follow your ways if you don’t have a history of following theirs?
As I said, just a few comments. No doubt, I’ll get crucified by the Euros for them. And on Easter too. How fitting!
By the way, I wonder how many Europeans are aware that China had a truly advanced, sophisticated society looongg before the Euros did (in other words, while the Euros were still living in caves and grunting as a language).
Now that China is fast becoming a superpower, it will be interesting to see how many “European” inventions/innovations were actually stolen from the Far East.
@Captain V.
“@ Anom - “With all of the innovation that comes out of the US, I find it hard to believe that we could have lower IQ’s than the countries in Europe…”
If you call stealing or modifying ideas from other countries and patenting it as ‘innovation’…”
Transmission Control Protocols were initially developed in 1973 by American computer scientist Vinton Cerf as part of a project sponsored by the United States Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and directed by American engineer Robert Kahn. AKA Internet
The Internet began as a computer network of ARPA (ARPAnet) that linked computer networks at several universities and research laboratories in the United States. The World Wide Web was developed in 1989 by English computer scientist Timothy Berners-Lee for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).
Americans have many inventions ranging from PONG- first video game Nolan Bushnell
to The Artificial Heart- Dr. Robert Jarvik in 1982
This was one of the most annoying conversations I was forced to have in Europe about who invented what. It always reminds me of jocks trying to measure their manhood to see who is more a man. I always disliked those conversations because I have not invented anything myself.
Also @Captain V. you cannot say something is an invention to one person then when proven it was not an European invention just discredit it as only being a product of electricity and mathematical theories developed of course by the Europeans. With that line of argument the first human to count and use critical thinking invented everything. Whom was probably a species predating homosapiens.
An invention is the creation of a new configuration, composition of matter, device, or process. Some inventions are based on pre-existing models or ideas. Other inventions are radical breakthroughs which may extend the boundaries of human knowledge or experience.
Throughout history the epicenter of creative ingenuity has shifted to different regions. I do see a definite change in where that focus point is at the moment, one of the reasons I studied physics in the EU. To deny that America was not a focus point for many years in history and still has at least a lingering effect from that is only achievable through self denial of the facts which is one of the roots of racism.
The original premise by Captain V that American inventions were built on the back of fundamental European theories/discoveries is a correct one. The only problem is he attempts to use this premise to detract from the magnitude of the American inventions which is misguided.
America operates due to the actions of a highly intelligent elite academic/politicalmilitary class of people. The argument that America has some of the foremost universities in the world or that it put man on the moon and therefore cannot contain a mass of people who are politically ignorant is absurd. Like Britain, America is suffering from a crisis concerning the decreasing popularity of science courses (they were unpopular by default). Therefore a very large proportion of undergraduates in science/mathematics courses at top American universities are actually foreign thus negating the original premise that having top universities means having a well educated populace (generally speaking).
Nobody is denying that a great deal of enterprise and innovation has come for America but equally one cannot deny the morally bankrupt self interested acts America has committed as well (Vietnam-particularly the My lai massacre and of course- The Iraq War) and the hypocrisy of such conflicts (especially since in the past America supported Saddam Hussein despite being fully aware of the fact that he was a dictator)
Although there has been undertones of European arrogance in this forum it cannot be denied that most if not all european states and members have an unrivalled political and cultural tolerance and a broad and measured political understanding and awareness. To put it crudely vice presidential candidates such as Palin and politicians such as George Bush Jr would have been laughed of the proverbial political stage if their equivalents had ever seriously ran for office in any European country. However, America has been vindicated in some respects as a result of voting in Obama who may not be the saviour that everybody is painting him as, but is a well read intellectual with a seemingly measured foreign policy that does not seem to have overwhelming hints of self interest (like the Bush administration did). He seems like just the person to change the international political view of America and also to alleviate America’s domestic problems as well.
WOW!! A very old blog but interesting. I would like to comment on a few things that are clear from the comments and articles. I must first say that I am from America but at the same time earning my PhD in Psychology.
1st. The facts are clear that citizens from the USA are weak in the physical sciences. I have read about it in cognitive psychology and through other classes. This is because the USA is a conservative country that teaches citizens to value politics, power, ideals, and money. The downside to it is the physical science industry gets dominated by immigrants from Japan, Europe, India, and a few middle eastern countries. Physics, calculus, and trigonometry are taught early in these countries while in the USA those classes are reserved mostly for college. Although there are some available in high school levels.
2nd. The comments from most of these Americans already reveals what has been discovered in psychology. Americans have a pride in their country and even if science proves it wrong they don’t accept the facts. It correlates to being an isolated country. A majority of Americans have never been outside of their country so a sense of xenophobia and one sided perspective exists. The Americans that do get to travel abroad learn a new sense of what the world is like. I being one of them have traveled and lived in many countries.
3rd. Not all people are dumb. Every country has their good share of poorly educated and highly educated. People should not feel ashamed that their country ranks low in some way or another. That is a sign for change to occur and to fix a broken system that has failed its citizens.
4th. Many Americans are still recovering from a cold war mentality. The cold war mentality has taught Americans to hate communism, pride in nationalism, and hate towards people that oppose them. In is simple terms ignorant prideful nationalism. This makes people very political and idealists.
5th. Conservatism reigns strong in the US culture. Media censors things such as females breasts, buttocks, and beeps out words considered foul. European countries have moved beyond taboos that have shown to have no effect on mentality. Homosexuals in America still have a hard time being accepted by others in the USA. This is due to the religiousness of Christianity still prevalent in conservative parts of America.
The USA is not a bad place and the people are not bad either. The problem is the system that still exists and how US citizens are still disconnected from the rest of the world. Reform is a hard process to accomplish in the American system because idealists and conservatism does not allow it. One major problem that exists in the younger generation in America is narcissism. Narcissistic mindset doe not contribute to change so it will still be a challenging task for America to rise up in the physical sciences arena. Good day and to the people that disagree, “Let us agree to disagree” but you can be more mature rather than just name calling.
@ Man From USA
You know what - well done - I am glad to see you approached the topic from a political view - I never though of it this way and the fact that you defended your points very well i have to admit so far you have one of the strongest arguments here…
The more I think about the Cold-War-Propaganda mentality that you mentioned, the more it all makes sence.
give it 2 or 3 more generations.. maybe we’ll be in a better spot
What has saved America in the last couple of decades are the “brain drain” immigrants from countries like China and India. However, that’s all changing. There is now a “reverse brain drain.” That’s bad news for the U.S. These immigrants would have stayed after doing their grad work in the U.S. but are getting a better deal abroad. I also believe that once Americans have been here for several generations the work ethic suffers. The first generation works hard and becomes successful, the second generation takes advantage of the first generation’s hard work, and the third generation is lazy and feels entitled to everything.
i just have a question… Why “americans”???? there are many other countries in that continent and they are called, mexicans, canadians etc etc etc so why americans???? people in france never say “im european” right?? anybody gets my point??
I don’t have to distract anyone, facts do it good enough without the need for distractions. A magnitude of ‘American’ inventions are actually done by European nurtured brains who migrated to United States for monetary/political/social reasons. Be it Einstein, Tesla, Coanda or even Bell for that matter. These people are as much a testimonial of American brilliance as a US-numbered Toyota Prius is of American innovation.
Wow. I never actually believed in the ’stupid American’ stereotype, until now. Do you think I would score higher on tests if I had been raised in a European country? Would I be smarter?
@rene
People that live in the United States Of America are refered to Americans (it’s sad that you don’t see the connection, because it’s the only country that contains America in its full name)
Please correct me if I am wrong. I dont know specific continent named America. I do know 2 continents; North America and South America.
I am glad to see one of our European cousins ask this type of question (ironic, considering the topic of the blog).
In the states these types of questions are followed by ‘I don’t get it guys’ and maybe the sound of a bubble pop, comming from a pink buble gum, that you chew with your mouth open.
hope you got the looks :o) or rich daddy
Title could use a some euphenism =P. As an Asian myself, i am capable of speaking 3 different languages fluently (Cantonese, Mandarin and English). I disagree with Alex upon Asians uncapable of speaking 3 languages. Living in Hong kong, it is crucial to recognize the English language and is essential to learn, write and speak. These keys are great factors in finding high employment. In Hong kong, a great number of people have already achieved basic English communication skills. Visiting Hong kong would be easy for American travellers if they were to come.
Wow, I had a long post there. Anyway
back to the media thing. In the U.S. we love our movies and t.v. shows…So do other countries I’m sure, but I feel that we are more into than anybody. I come home, after being dulled to death at school to watch my favorite show or to get on my computer and look up other things I’m interested in.
Television has educational shows, that are for the most part not political….and in my opinion, my favorite kind hahah. I watch the Discovery Channel, so does my family. My sister said that one day she mentioned a show, and her friends were like “You WATCH the Discovery Channel?”
They thought it was nerdy. I was surprised by that, because I figured lots of people would enjoy it. I watch t.v. too much, and probably spend too much time on the computer, but there are lots of things to learn…but if some people aren’t even watching those, or were not even familiar with anorexia or autism…I think “Wow, what are they watching or learning then?”. It could be they read books, and although that’s a good activity, I don’t think many read anything other than fiction.
To that person, Lisa Richards who said they knew facts like the “Secretary of Defense”, I quote again, since they were 2…Well, I knew about psychological diseases and facts about nature about ten years ahead of when my classmates learned without even realizing until my teacher brought it up and they never heard of it! That shows again, that it’s not that people are dumb, if no one emphasizes enough in school, they will rarely learn it outside of the class, it depends on what you’re already interested in or what you happen to watch on t.v.. My mom watched Lifetime alot…THAT’S how I somehow learned psychological diseases, over-dramatic, fictitious t.v. movies and shows haha–but of course, the Discovery Channel. Lisa was right on some things….but I think they were being a little pompous. I will voluntarily admit that even thought there are times where I can look more knowledgeable on something or brag, I’m for the most part a dumbass
I love talking…so I will add again. There are many students who exceptionally well despite the fact I can’t understand squat. But again, I’m not trying to speak on behalf of everyone here. But I have an attitude toward political and historical facts that I suggest others may have too, because of the way we are taught.
I am a Russian immigrant. I have lived in the US for 14 years.
First I looked at Americans up considering it was such a developed and wealthy country which is true. Apparently this wealth has been created by this people. They must’ve been smart, educated, hard working and honest to be able creating this wealth, I thought. The reality was shocking. It was very difficult to find such ignorant and stupid person in Russia which American nation consists of. However stupidity itself is not a sin, but in combination with their arrogance makes Americans ugliest nation in the world in my view. Not terrorists, but American lazyness and arrogance will destroy this country pretty soon. NO DOUBT.
In response to Alex, we have educated, intelligent people in this country but unfortunately, we don’t have enough of them. Too many fall between the cracks of our educational system and learn little about the world. Russia knows a lot about the U.S., but how many Americans know about Russia? They don’t know and they don’t care. All they know is about the U.S. and that’s all.
I wonder if there is data regarding the percentage of foreign intellectuals in the US.
One could say that the results where cherry picked from a handful of people, or another person could say that American’s being stupid is precisely the desired result. You see the United States government and large corporations don’t want people who can think for themselves, they want good obedient slaves who can be easily distracted, mislead, and conned into doing just about anything. The big companies who own the United States definitely do not want informed, intelligent, free thinking individuals. So we are bombarded with pointless media on the television, irrelevant news stories, and a biased view on the rest of the world. Then you look at our food supply which seems to get worse and worse everyday, the grocery stores are packed with garbage with absolutely no nutritional value and the healthy food is priced outside of the range of many. So when you have all these factors working against us, is it no wonder we are so dumb?
This article is dead on. I am an American and down here in the thick of it…real thick. Higher evolved species prioritize intelligence, whereas Americans value muscle and attitude. Muscle determines rank amongst the males of the tribe and attitude amongst the females. Americans also have selective memory regarding their history, opting to frame their past wars more favorably and completely justified. I usually refer to the U.S. as stag-nation because of its penchant for remaining stuck in a Waltons episode. Progressive countries (western Europe) have moved on to legalized marijuana, government health coverage, banning firearms and embracing medical advancements. Dr. Sanjay Gupta (CNN) recently commented on cannabis and cited no adverse effects and touted its benefits for alleviating nausia. On health care, I lived in Japan for 4 years and saw firsthand that private/public partnerships do in fact work….for the patients and the doctors, but not for the health insurance and drug company tycoons. And the argument that law-abiding citizens should be allowed to own guns assumes that the number of law-breaking citizens has suddenly peaked and been capped, and so everyone has been accounted for and there is no need to worry that one of these ‘carrying’ law-abiding ones will ever cross the picket line. And finally, all these heresy, witchcraft, and dogma followers (the religious) should not be given access to any advancements that come from stem cell research, chemotherapy or any other scientific advancements. As I said, America does not value intelligence (Ford F150) and in fact, casts it as being elitist (Al Gore) and arrogant. I just wish some of these progressive European countries would come in with the U.N. and save us critically thinking Americans from the element that subscribes to Harley Davidson, NASCAR, christianity, terrorism and socialism paranoia…a k a…r e d n e c k w h i t e t ra s h !