What are Americans taught about U.S and what do you really believe?

sleepy

Just wondering what exactly Americans (U.S.A) are taught about their country in school .Do you really salute a flag, do you swear allegiance to the country. Are you taught that you fought for freedom, and that America is THE land of the free, etc etc? Do you actually believe what you are taught?

blondie

Yes and no to all your questions.

History is a very subjective topic. It depends on the teller, their background, the timeframe, the information they had at the time.

Some salute the flag in school. It is usually something done only by younger children and later only at special school events.

I think of the US as a land of opportunity.

Do we believe what we are taught? Do you believe what you are taught?

By you if you mean that people in the US believe things in a monolithic way....I don't think so, not any more than they do in the UK, Canada, the Czech Republic, or Rwanda.

Yerusalyim

What Blondie said.

sleepy

There seams to be a very obvious worldview that is found in American media that it somehow is a land of freedom. But what exactly do Americans think the majority of the rest of the world is? I?ve heard the viewpoint expressed that Americans fought for their freedom, freedom from what exactly? The saluting of the flag and swearing allegiance has very religious and cult like overtones. That doesn?t sound very free to me.

Yerusalyim

It's free because no one is forced to do it, oh silly one.

We have freedom of press, worship, gunner ownership, we elected our leaders, etc.

blondie

Sleepy, there are over 260 million people in the US; hardly a one will be like the other in their viewpoints and knowledge, just as it is in the UK. I know you don't want to think that the British media speaks for you or that we here in the US should judge you based on their comments. The US is a strange but wonderful place. People from so many countries settled here from 1776 onward all bring their unique skills, ideas, beliefs. What may true in the NE may not be in the South or the West or the Midwest.

Never confuse government policy either with the worldview of individual people in the US. I'm sure the British government has said and done things you don't agree with. My goodness there may be people in Parliament with vastly different viewpoints.

So don't try to box us in. You miss what is unique in all of us.

Blondie

sleepy

This post is in good nature by the way.He.he. I?m not trying to categorize a nation but when such things as ?the land of the free?etc are so prominently promoted and flag saluting is commonplace you have to ask questions. For example proclaiming your country ?the land of the free? implies that most other countries are not, or that you enjoy freedoms that most do not or that other counties are some how inferior. Those beliefs can easily sink into people consciousness if constantly recited. This in the long run can cause people to form a false world view and to act apon it.

edge3

I was taught we kicked Great Britains arse shortly after 1776 but now we're buddies.

blondie

sleepy, I'm sorry if that is the impression the media seems to give. But that does not mean that you can pick an individual person and say that is what they personally believe.

Now I personally believe that the foundation of some of the freedoms that are here in the US came from the UK, the Magna Carta for example.

When people really visit the US and get a chance to go all over, they are amazed at the differences in beliefs and culture. The US is made up of 50 states, all very territorial in their rights and governing. There is even a word for it "states rights." The Civil War came out of a serious disagreement over the authority of the federal and state governments.

I can say for the areas I have lived in that people know that other countries have wonderful freedoms, my closest neighbor, Canada for one. It is not unusual though for people to think where they live is pretty wonderful. After all, they know it best.

The only way to really know people in the US, is to come for a visit and try and see all the areas. I have been in 47 out of 50 states (and several countries). I have studied European history from the US and European viewpoint.

I grant that some people in the US think the US is better than other countries, but then they think their state is better than the one I live in.... (I'm not talking about Texans either)

Blondie

blondie

Actually, I think that the colonists almost lost the war and the arrival of the French navy on 9/15/1781 saved their "butts."

Maybe I'm being subjective.

Blondie

What are Americans taught about U.S and what do you really believe?

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