The prompt is:
Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
Anti-Americanism
It's probably the biggest hypocrisies I've witnessed in my life. Brought up in Finland, ever since I was little, I was told not to be a racist, not to have any prejudices, and not to believe in any stereotypes. As I grew older, I came to know that the people who taught me these morals didn't act upon them themselves. For these people, making fun of people was totally okay, as long as they were Americans.
During the two and a half years I've spent there, my high school has served as a playground for those who foster the Anti-American sentiment. I believe I have not sat through one history, social studies or philosophy lesson where some student has not found a smart place to cast his or her anti-American slander.
"Yeah, it's good that American microwave manuals include the article that tells not to put a cat into the microwave, Americans are too dumb to figure out it themselves," one bloke pointed out, but I guess the saddest part is that other students actually praised his witty take on the subject. If, however, this student were to call Arabs or Chinese people stupid, he would quickly find himself in the principal's office, talking about how important tolerance is.
The teachers are the worst, they just keep pouring fuel to the fire. My social studies teacher always makes sure she relates everything about our society to the United States, which according to her stories, is like the one depicted in old westerns, except that the Indians have been partially replaced with immigrants from the Middle East and Mexico.
No matter what class I'm in, the Second Amendment, the refusal to enter the Kyoto Protocol, the presidential election process etc. are, without any kind of discussion, denounced and used as examples of the country's collective stupidity. Then, universally positive ideas like freedom and liberty are taught to be "not part of the United States of today". Needless to say, this is a very unhealthy environment for constructive debate.
When I listen to the teachers, it seems that every sentence that starts with "In America" ends up to be something negative and exaggerated.
"In America, the unemployed are starving because they have no social security."
"In America, poor people can't seek higher education."
"In America, employees can be fired without asking anybody anything."
My absolute favorite comment, however, is the one my Finnish teacher stated when she scolded some of my classmates for writing Finland with lower case F: "Please write America with lower case A if you have to disgrace some country."
And It doesn't stop even when I go to home; every time someone American does something foolish on a reality TV show, my sister is waiting with the classic "Americans are so stupid."
Am I supposed to teach these people some open-mindedness? Is it my responsibility to teach my ethics teacher the principles of tolerance? I really don't know. All I know is that I have to defend that what I think is right, I have to have the courage to disagree, and I have to be open yet skeptical for new ideas. This approach is the exact opposite to the one taught in my high school.
While I love my country for the security, welfare and the people, I truly think that the Finnish school system has failed me when it comes to objective teaching.
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I'm not totally happy with my essay, I think it lacks a certain something.
Along with the grammatical corrections, I would love to hear your general comments about the essay. I would actually love some constructive criticism rather than praises. Should I keep it this way? Should I attack the subject from a different angle? Should I try something totally different?
Hi,
I love your objectivity, you are a star. i would not agree that you should change your thesis to a completely different subject but you may clarify some few things....
I think it may be necessary to mention that you are Finnish in the intro, I only picked it up when I became so curious at the last paragraph.
Basically, animosity has a root, may your mention where this crude intolerance towards America by you countrymen sterm from.
As for grammar, I believe you have had a good course on that but just check this....
didn't... did not is more accepted in formal writing
During the two and a half years I've spent there, my high school has served as a playground for those who foster the Anti-American sentiment... where exactly? America or Finland. Just clarify
Thanks for your call on unity and respect to all mankind of all nations. I really enjoyed your essay.
Regards
Josh
I crammed the info about where I'm from to the start, it was one of those things that are so clear to me in the back of my head that I assume that the reader knows it as well.
The roots of this phenomena are many and really really old, way older than me. If I were to explore things like Vietnam War and the United States foreign policy, it wouldn't be an essay about me, it would be a paper for history class. Also, by leaving the reason out, I hoped to catch the reader by the insanity of the situation. It seems that I didn't succeed in that, so perhaps I should think a way of giving it a little backround...
Thank you for your insight.
This is probably the biggest hypocrisy I have witnessed in my life: Brought up in Finland, ever since I was little, I was told not to be a racist, not to have any prejudices, and not to believe in any stereotypes. As I grew older, I came to know that the people who taught me these morals didn't act upon them themselves. For these people, speaking badly of people was totally okay, as long as they were Americans.
The teachers are the worst; they just keep pouring fuel to the fire. My social studies teacher always makes sure she relates everything about our society to the United States, which, according to her stories, is like the one depicted in old westerns, except that the Indians have been partially replaced with immigrants from the Middle East and Mexico.
Wow, how thoughtful!!! You know, many of us here in America also have a lot of negative feelings about our country. Many of us were so happy with Obama's election, because it might make the world give us another chance to not be so greedy, materialistic, and evil! So, many Americans feel ashamed about the disingenuous things our country has done...
However, you are absolutely right to renounce harmful generalizations! You really impressed me with some of your insights.
