me_irl

Aye, but... we all know they are different.

Perhaps it's hard to see if you're American, but sometimes it's downright incredible — in the very sense of the word — how badly educated some Americans are.

I'm Finnish, and I genuinely have a hard time imagining someone not being able to name like 10 countries on a map. Even people I know who literally discovered an inner monologue at the age of 25 while in a stimulant psychosis, and who had been huffing gas and paint since they were 12, and never were too sharp to begin with, those people could name a couple of dozen countries and at least all the continents. (Edit, now that I consider it, I think it's also to do with Europeans "needing" to know Europe whereas Americans don't. Just need to know Canada, Mexico, but then all the different states. Although European countries have similar divisions as well, I'd argue the local entities are less crucial than in the States. Hell, I probably don't remember our one's 100% correctly)

No offense, America has a lot of smart people. And Noel Fielding isn't an example of a highly educated person. He was in the Croydon School for Art and then got a degree for graphic design. Meanwhile in the US, common core maths is a thing.

So like, let's not pretend there's not a pretty significant difference in the education systems. Not recognising that would mean accepting the one the US has, and I for one think education is rather important and that the US could improve even if they were the best in the world. Which they're not. Granted, now was the first time I checked the 2024 rankings, and the difference between UK and US is much smaller than I expected. UK being #14 and US #18.