Before I start I must state that this is a genuine question. It's not intended to wind anyone up or cause flaming so if it does upset you I apologise in advance.

I was at secondary (high) school in the UK in the '60s. One of the subjects that I took was history. Because the UK in its various forms has been around a long time and been around the world (the Empire) what we were taught ranged from 55BC to modern times and the North Pole to the South (figuratively speaking). All of this was obviously taught wih a UK bias.

I'm curious to know what history is/was taught in US public schools? Does the fact that the US is a 'young' country mean that the US syllabus is mainly concentrated around the time that the US has been in existence or is it wide ranging in both time and place?

During my schooling (I am almost 50), US history was emphasized and the scope of it began with exploration and discovery of America stories (Columbus and also Scandanavian theories of discovery). So it definitely went into before formation of the nation.

World history was touched on in Geography classes, and ancient history was touched on if you took Latin (which is rare though I did).

I am talking about a middle class "public" school which of course in US context means a school run by the government.

All in all, not so great. I do think there is a trend to include a more non-European perspective in today's US schools.

I'm curious to know what history is/was taught in US public schools? Does the fact that the US is a 'young' country mean that the US syllabus is mainly concentrated around the time that the US has been in existence or is it wide ranging in both time and place?

As an American born, raised and educated, it is my opinion that much of history in America is taught with an east coast WASP-ish slant, some true, some omitting part of the truth and some probably not that accurate at all.

For example, the American west was largely settled by liberated black slaves who weren't wants in the defeated south, and certainly weren't wanted in the liberating north. Yet their place in the history of the American west is overshadowed, if not overlooked entirely.

European history tends to focus on the major dates and people, regardless of how prominent or significant they actually are.

I had a history professor at university who wrote his doctoral dissertation on and specialized in seeking out fact and truth where he felt history was inaccurately written or publishes. The stories he could tell in class were interesting to say the least.

It's really not that hard to imagine. Think of all the bureacracy and politics involved with getting a history textbook published in the US. Then think of all the bureaucracy and politics involed with getting whole school districts and states to buy that textbook. The only thing that will get bought or published is one that toes the prevailing party line.

Frankly, it's a little scary, and as one who is typically very much pro-US, the weakness and dumbing down of the US education system is the most serious threat to the future.

Hmmm.....I'm British but am interested in history in general. The number of US citizens that I've chatted to about American history in general and the Civil war in particular, who are ignorant of the facts, is astounding.

Many, many Americans think that the Civil war was fought to free the slaves, which is incorrect. It was all about States rights. Most of them don't know that the South ran rings around the North for the first three years of the war (literally ie. JEB Stuart).

Many Americans are gob-smacked when they are told that 50 to 60 percent of all the cowboys in 'the golden age' before rail took over from cattle drives, were black.

Other common errors:-

Dates of WW I 1917-1918.

Dates of WW II 1941-1945.

Yes, I realise that these are the years of American involvement, but WW does stand for something.

Hmmm.....I'm British but am interested in history in general. The number of US citizens that I've chatted to about American history in general and the Civil war in particular, who are ignorant of the facts, is astounding.

Many, many Americans think that the Civil war was fought to free the slaves, which is incorrect. It was all about States rights. Most of them don't know that the South ran rings around the North for the first three years of the war (literally ie. JEB Stuart).

Many Americans are gob-smacked when they are told that 50 to 60 percent of all the cowboys in 'the golden age' before rail took over from cattle drives, were black.

Other common errors:-

Dates of WW I 1917-1918.

Dates of WW II 1941-1945.

Yes, I realise that these are the years of American involvement, but WW does stand for something.

My understanding is that American History tends to ignore (or downplay) events which weren't favourable. For example, the War of 1812.

As has been the case through-out history, the winner writes the history, and rarely notes it's own short-comings/failures. Too much dirty laundry can have a negative effect when you are trying to build a new empire.

Wow, interesting posts. Spee, I don't know where you were educated but I feel for ya. Never hread anything like what you mention.

US highschools are crap. We Yanks don't get a decent education until we get to college. So, I am not surprised Burr that you have met so many who believe wrong or don't know.

In highschool History is divided. There is World History and US History which are both required. World History isn't really that though, just western civilization. Yes, there is a lot of politics involved in what gets taught and what doesn't. Many things are skipped over and just run through. It's sad really.

So, most Yanks don't really know about their county unless they take a US History class in college, which isn't required, and most don't.

Two comments.

I too was in grammar school in the Uk in the first half of the sixties, and I think my 16 years of education gave me a reasonable appreciation of Uk, European and world history, albeit with an Englsih bias. When I was twenty one, I went to work for an American Oil company and spent the next 8 years almost exclusively living and working with Americans - of all manner of education. (I was an accountant, not a roustabout). I never ceased to be surprised at the general lack of knowledge (dare I say ignorance) of most Americans I met on worldy, general knowledge type subjects, and certainly history was way up there. They all used to think I was one "smart son of a bitch" - but I wasn't, I was just an average Joe Limey - a product of a long discarded, old fashioned English education system.

There was a great revolution in English educatiuon system that started in the late sixties, and I'd almost wager that kids coming out of schools from the seventies onwards, did not benefit any where near as much from a well rounded history education, as did their forbears. History lessons became a load of political crap, like writing essays imagining you were a freedom fighter in Northern Ireland. Most history syllabuses didn't even go back to the 1st world war, let alone the 19th century, or earlier. (I may be a bit over the top here, so younger Brits out there feel free to tell me I'm wrong).

I`ve got to agree with Mobi that the history lessons given at grammar school in the UK were very detailed. Infact to-day I wonder why we were subjected to so much detail and how much was knowlege which could be put to any future use. The problem was in those days the only reference tool besides films and the odd television documentary was the good old history book....and boy did the masters at the school make you pound the pages.

Yes it was good to have a knowledge of your country history......but more of us fell asleep during history lessons...even more so than geography.

Now Latin I took to my heart and gained 98% in my final exam....but I found it pretty useless when communicating with the rest of the world.

My theory on this in depth teaching was that it was a form of discipline which was imparted on us and kept our minds fairly sober.

To-day of course the kids would laugh at being asked to add up in your head multiple collumns of numbers with the only tools being pencils and paper and having to refer to one of the many piles of books for an answer which to-day is as simple as clicking on the net.

I too was a grammar school boy. With our particular history master falling asleep was NOT an option

My greatest regret is that I didn't take Latin - 40 years on I really wish I had.

I went to an american high school in france once. The history lessons start,

Once upon a time a great nation created the earth in the image that it wished,....

I dropped out the next day.

In all fairness every country will teach its history with its own bias. As an Irishman living in the UK, I am always amazed at how lacking the history lessons are in detailing the English involvement in Ireland. Most people know nothing (or very little) about the slaughter of innocents, the 'genocide', the suppression of Irish culture etc, etc. But hey, our history lessons were riddled with all of this, probably leaving out the all the 'bad bits' we were guilty of! That's life! We are what we are...

You gotta go to an American college to get the real scoop. That is why so many right wing nut jobs don't like American colleges, because a class there is more like, let's see the US fcked over everyone that got in it's way, and a few that didn't.

Now Latin I took to my heart and gained 98% in my final exam

That must come in handy in Pattaya

Well, I guess it depends on the student. I took AP American History and AP European History in High school and probably have a better grasp of history than alot of people, but it was what I was interested in, I had good teachers and took the difficult classes .

AP stands for advanced placement and is a college level course taught in high schools in the US. At the end of the school year there is an exam with points from 1-5, 5 being the highest. You receive college credits from this exam. Because I took AP French, AP American History and AP European History and did well on my exams I was able to skip nearly an entire year of college, this eliminated my need to take many of the basic courses required of undergraduates.

I don't know what schools are like now but suggest to those of you critisizing them to find out why they are having problems. My sister has a ten year old son and she is putting him into a private school next year because her local public (govt) school) is so underfunded and overcrowded there will be over 40 kids in one class.

The broad generalizations about American's not knowing history are just that. And bringing up the dates of the World wars is just petty frankly. Why is it so implausible that Americans are taught the dates of their own involvement?

I have met many many British and Europeans who don't know American history, but then, I don't expect them to, why should they know the history of a country not their own?

sbk,

I truly think you are in denial. I have heard of objective studies of how little Americans know about the world outside their borders. The majority of people in the US that I mention Thailand to, later refer to it as Taiwan.

Well, I guess it depends on the student. I took AP American History and AP European History in High school and probably have a better grasp of history than alot of people, but it was what I was interested in, I had good teachers and took the difficult classes .

AP stands for advanced placement and is a college level course taught in high schools in the US. At the end of the school year there is an exam with points from 1-5, 5 being the highest. You receive college credits from this exam. Because I took AP French, AP American History and AP European History and did well on my exams I was able to skip nearly an entire year of college, this eliminated my need to take many of the basic courses required of undergraduates.

Most kids don't take AP classes though. Many schools don't even have AP classes. Mine did because it has a relationship with KU and K State. I got out of high school in 1996 and up until then history class was a joke. I have no idea what my teacher did or didn't know about the subject as hardly anything was every taught. What little they did touch on I knew more about (than what was covered) by my own reading.

I don't know what schools are like now but suggest to those of you critisizing them to find out why they are having problems. My sister has a ten year old son and she is putting him into a private school next year because her local public (govt) school) is so underfunded and overcrowded there will be over 40 kids in one class.

The American public school system is in bad shape and most everyone knows it. I am not comparing it to any other system as I fnd this pointless. It will be worse than others and better than some, so what? What I think is important is how much trouble kids have when they go from high school work to college work. Most are unprepared and end up destroying their GPA within the first year. I think high schools should be preparing kids for college. I think AP classes should be the norm. Of course there are other massive issues to address as well, like the lack of teachers.

The broad generalizations about American's not knowing history are just that. And bringing up the dates of the World wars is just petty frankly. Why is it so implausible that Americans are taught the dates of their own involvement?

I agree with you on these points, however I will add that I think it's opposite sides of the specturm we are dealing with. In other words I don't believe there is a middle ground. There are Americans who know and those that don't and the ones that really are really below average. I think this is what most people are picking up on.

I have met many many British and Europeans who don't know American history, but then, I don't expect them to, why should they know the history of a country not their own?

There should be more importance places on the history of other nations though. This is better for relations between countries and avoids isolationism.

All good points, but I guess my main point was that in all the years I have been in the tourist industry (dealing with mainly younger people ages 18-25) I have found the Europeans general knowledge of other countries histories to be just as abysmal as Americans. I get really tired of people living in glass houses throwing stones. I think alot of people find it much easier to point the finger at the US and its problems rather than taking a careful look at their own.

As far as AP programs, I don't know, I haven't been in school for quite sometime and haven't lived full time in the US for many many years, but I think it does depend on the student and the teacher. I was lucky, I had very good teachers but lets face reality here. Well qualified, intelligent people rarely go into teaching as the pay is extremely poor. It takes either a really dedicated person (which were my history teachers) or a really unmotivated person to go into teaching given the pay.

I agree, every student in a country should learn at least some history of not only their neighbors but far flung nations too. But, the reality is, they don't.

All good points, but I guess my main point was that in all the years I have been in the tourist industry (dealing with mainly younger people ages 18-25) I have found the Europeans general knowledge of other countries histories to be just as abysmal as Americans. I get really tired of people living in glass houses throwing stones. I think alot of people find it much easier to point the finger at the US and its problems rather than taking a careful look at their own.

As far as AP programs, I don't know, I haven't been in school for quite sometime and haven't lived full time in the US for many many years, but I think it does depend on the student and the teacher. I was lucky, I had very good teachers but lets face reality here. Well qualified, intelligent people rarely go into teaching as the pay is extremely poor. It takes either a really dedicated person (which were my history teachers) or a really unmotivated person to go into teaching given the pay.

I agree, every student in a country should learn at least some history of not only their neighbors but far flung nations too. But, the reality is, they don't.

I agree with everything you are saying. I am only picking on American schools systems because I knew them well and I can do something to change them. I really don't know how school is handled in other countries, so I don't feel I can comment on those. I have noticed that many people I have met who are not Americans really don't know much about us outside if the movies we export and whatever our government has done that they don't like. This is sad, we are a pretty fun place to be with a lot of fun people.

I agree with everything you are saying. I am only picking on American schools systems because I knew them well and I can do something to change them. I really don't know how school is handled in other countries, so I don't feel I can comment on those. I have noticed that many people I have met who are not Americans really don't know much about us outside if the movies we export and whatever our government has done that they don't like. This is sad, we are a pretty fun place to be with a lot of fun people.

So true, I met a British guy who actually said that the US was just like the tv show NYPD Blue! I could not believe my ears. Too many people take tv at face value and assume that is what the US is like.

But, anyway, back to the topic at hand.

I agree with everything you are saying. I am only picking on American schools systems because I knew them well and I can do something to change them. I really don't know how school is handled in other countries, so I don't feel I can comment on those. I have noticed that many people I have met who are not Americans really don't know much about us outside if the movies we export and whatever our government has done that they don't like. This is sad, we are a pretty fun place to be with a lot of fun people.

I've holidayed in the US and spent a lot of time whizzing round the coastal bits when I was in the merchant marine and really only met one complete ###### (a cabbie in Charleston ) while I was there - well, apart from every INS employee

I really enjoyed all the time I was there and met many kind and generous people.

I agree with everything you are saying. I am only picking on American schools systems because I knew them well and I can do something to change them. I really don't know how school is handled in other countries, so I don't feel I can comment on those. I have noticed that many people I have met who are not Americans really don't know much about us outside if the movies we export and whatever our government has done that they don't like. This is sad, we are a pretty fun place to be with a lot of fun people.

So true, I met a British guy who actually said that the US was just like the tv show NYPD Blue! I could not believe my ears. Too many people take tv at face value and assume that is what the US is like.

But, anyway, back to the topic at hand.

SBK, I always thought the U.S was more like "Married with Children"

Al Bundy Quotes about life with a wife and kids in the great ol´ U.S.A, from Married with Children:::

* I'm Maharaja Bundy and women with 4

hooters feed me Ding Dongs all day.

* Hey, Marcy, what's holding the towel up?

* I never wanted to get married, I got married.

Never wanted kids, I have 2 of them. Why the

hel_l am I here?

* Standing here with my loving family,

I wonder why I'm running from the axe.

* Envy me. That's my wife.

Those are my kids and I sell womens' shoes.

* It must be your mother. Tell her I said 'oink'.

* Peg, did your mother get so fat she spread across the border?

* I'm not paying for mistakes.

I've been doing that since I got married.

* I'd invite you in but instead I think

I'll just beat the crap out of you.

* I'm married with children.

* If God had wanted women to play ball,

he would've made them men.

* Guys may come and guys may go, but daddy's always daddy...

well, at least until he jumps a freight train.

* Peg, is there any reason this cactus is

where my alarm clock should be?

* I had a dream last night. A big red haired mosquito

in tight pants was hovering over me sucking money

out of my wallet.

* I'm jealous of everyone not married to you.

* Only one woman, too much time.

* We're closed and, much like my life, the day is over.

* Peg, could you get that?

It's probably the 'Homeless? It could be worse!' Tour.

* This is my week off, so pack up,

get the kids and I'll see you in a week.

* There's only one dead guy in this mall and you're looking at him.

* Why is it that Elvis is dead but I'm in hel_l?

* We all have to live with our disappointments...

I have to sleep with mine.

* I'm gonna find a real man. One who likes girls and hates women.

* I saw a star in the East. Peg, did you do laundry?

* Something sinister's going on so I know a woman's behind it.

* There's two things that the Bundy's don't do.

We don't eat vegatables and we don't tap.

* Life didn't pass me by, it sat on my head.

* Marry a redhead!

* I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.

Since I'm not home, I won't have to.

* Love is not only blind but stupid.

* Computers and women are ruining the country.

* Dead men don't wake up yelling 'don't'.

* If you want to have sex, the kids have to leave,

and if you want it to be good, you'll have to leave.

* In order for a house to be a home, only one can make the rules.

* Threats don't work on me... I've already been to hel_l.

* How would I know, I never look at you!

* Look at your mother, you've got her so worried she's

looking every bit her 50 years.

* Go away, Peg!

* Peg, I suspect your mind, much like the lost continent of Atlantis,

no longer appears on any map.

* I'd rather dive of the Sears Tower head first into a thumbtack

or bait a crocodile with my manhood...

* Here comes our baby now. Let's call him Insano.

* Not quite as old as the hair on your legs...

* Great Ceasar's ghost!

* I'm so upset I can hardly eat this sandwich.

* Come on baby. We've got things to do;

eyes to blindfold and babies to make.

* I would like to plant a showel right between her barren eyes.

* You see kids, it was a dream and you were replaced by

two sixpacks in the refridgerator.

* I hate those tests. They are designed to bury men.

* If he slept with you, he's the stupidest man on earth.

* Run like Mexican water through a first-time tourist.

* It never quite the same when you're sober, is it?

* Telling Al Bundy is just like telling the wind.

* I blame it on TV myself.

* You give him a bottle of redeye and a Playboy

and he'll marry your mother to a cow.

* Now son, look here, these redwood-trees they're over

a thousand years old. I'm gonna cut me one of these down

and use for a base for my satellite dish.

* Well, it beats going to Hawaii with your mother.

* What's five million years in the scheme of the life of one man?

* This cheese means more to me than both your lives.

* Peg, when you married me,

was it pre-meditated or a drive-by marriage.

* Home, work, can a man have too much fun?

* Kelly, it's not that we don't believe you.

It's just that we don't believe in love.

* I will show him the same kind of respect that any father would

show a 41 year old man who dates his teenage daughter.

* Am I truly nothing? Could the neighbourhood children be right?

* We could always have another daughter, but as we both know,

this is the car I'm going to have the rest of my life.

* Oh. life is good! But not for me...

* White crosses, sunlight... nothing works on you anymore does it?

* Soon our mouths will be alive with dead animals

of every race and religion.

* You've desecrated the toilet I call home!

* I don't know what we're put on this planet to do

but we're here ###### it!

* You might be wondering what a 25 year old millionaire is doing

with a 18 year old daughter?

* My wheenies have been exposed!

* What's for dinner tonight in the slammer, guys?

* I was driving home... God knows why?

* Gee, none of my family was of any help to me, how unusual.

* Lousy, red-headed, life-sucking moskito!

* Except for the day before the day I met you, this is the

happiest day of my life.

* Lets go! Last one to your house gets to sit next to my wife!

* Oh mighty one in the heavens who created the mountains,

the seas and beer...

* Next to a dog, a beautiful woman is the thing to be.

* I don't HAVE to go to sleep after sex.

I WANT to go to sleep after sex. I welcome the darkness.

* I would rather sleep in a bunk-bed under Oprah!

* Begone jackals!

* Yo! I'm broke!

* I'm sorry Peg. I saw some underware I just had to have.

* How proud can a father be?

* Now wait a second. My pretty teenage daughter with the brain

of a fruit-fly earned a thousand dollars in three nights.

Should I be worried?

* Say goodnight, super-fly!

* Stand back pumpkin. He's just about to pop and

I don't want teeth and eyes all over you.

* I'll get that money even if I'll have to dance naked

in the streets!

* I'm a living example of how the brain

really doesn't need blood to work.

* Hey, everything looks like noodles in here!

* They call me Flipper... Flipper...

* Seems like I do what I was knowing then, boy.

* This table will self-desctruct in 5 seconds...

* I'll hold him down and you'll take his wallet.

* I love you, Peg... Just kidding!

* She's got you shaking like a frenchman in a thunderstorm.

* Are they gonna find US with our legs up in the air?

* Now kids, we're not here to attack each other.

We're here to attack the baby.

* I don't know...

The last thing I remember a fryingpan bounced of my head.

* I wouldn't rub your feet if a genee popped out of them.

* Kids take a good long look.

This is worth a thousand condom commercials.

* Kids, don't look back. We'll all be salt.

* Where's my remote control !?!

* I'm afraid I may not know what cool is anymore.

* Al Bundy is back!!!

* Oh, look at the starving children. Woah man, now we're having fun!

* You may as well bore me with your problems...

* I'm still giddy with the thought that possibly, just possibly,

I might have sat at the same toiletseat as Bob Hope.

* Of cause my present lack of fait is understandable since your

average parking meter makes more a day than I do.

* It's showbusiness. You don't need talent OR brain.

* I left high-school, lost the will to live and here I am...

* May the shoe-business take you all!

* I'm married to a woman named................something.

* Peg, you know I warned you before about touching me.

* Marcy, the part with the cups goes in front.

* I'm gonna give this to the only one I truly love... me!

* Laugh at this, hyenas!

* There is so much that I wanna say to you but there's a show

coming on that I wanna watch.

* Why doesn't the world die?

* I want my TVGuide!!!

* I've got two TVGuides.

One on the table and one in the bath-room. I'm rich!

* The only power I sensed was that of the mighty forces

unleashed by beans.

* Please, Peg, if you have any feelings for me, don't make me

make love to you.

* I've learned to live on plack.

* Greetings vultures! Your meal-ticket is here.

* ...and no-one understands why I scream on the way home...

* Peg we've been married for 17 years. Can't we just be friends?

* A man's home is his coffin.

* Don't let these slits on my wrists fool you.

* Health people are like dinosaurs. They're not fit to survive.

* Anything that's good enough for the cockroach

is good enough for my family.

* I'm hungry enough to block a colon.

* You can spend some quality-time at the news-stand

reading dirty magazines.

* Don't call me a TV in my own home!

* Honey... you're an idiot!

* A stallion like me only comes around once a year.

* Oh, if only a man could have two wives.

* What was I thinking when I said 'I do' ?

I'd already had sex with her so I didn't need that again.

* Milwaukee. That's the town they build around you mother

isn't it, Peg?

* Wait a minute, I think I've just had a vision!

* I see you're all looking at me a bit differently now.

* The opera isn't over until the last heterosexual falls asleep.

* None today! Tomorrow, twice as much!

* This is not a recorded message. I'm a human being, ###### it!

* I begged for the death-penalty but they insisted

that I'd learn a lesson.

* I work in a shoe-store and still I'm not happy to come home.

* You go home and tell your daddy you have the mail-man's eyes.

* Don't look at me, I'm blind from hunger.

* Put your feet up folks, it's getting pretty deep in here.

* The last thing a guy wants to look at at the end of the day

is a woman.

* How about if I get my gun and shoot you with a nice silver bullet.

* No-one can resist a shoe-salesman.

* I'm the only guy in the world who has to wake up

to have a nightmare.

* I deserv to be punished, I married your mother.

* What if I make you a nice licence-plate that says 'I'm a bore' ?

* Pretty good for a guy stupid enough to marry you, huh ?

* Another hallmark moment!

* If I could just help one kid not marry, my job is done.

* I hate to go to sleep with the smell of feet on my hands.

* Revenge... is great!

* Behind every successful man is a woman who didn't marry me.

* Let's bowl!

* Peg, this is your birthday, please don't make me kill you!

* We are blood-Bundys. We are truly doomed.

* I truly, truly want to die!

* Alright now, everybody... shoot me!

* This news is so big I even want the girl to hear it...

* Nothing's to good for me...

* I haven't showered in a week

so I think I better get right to bed...

* I miss my couch!

* Don't make me kill you on family-day.

* Let's boogie!

* ...who cares, it's free!

* Take me to your finest bathroom!

* Ah, home sweet hel_l.

* If I was the mailman, I'd be having your wife.

* Why go out for milk when you've got a cow at home.

* Every now and then a guy who drive a Dodge likes to

close his eyes and imagine it's a Ferrari.

* Christmas is not the time for regrets.

That's what anniversaries are for.

* I can't sleep with that ###### woman in my bed!

* Back then, mother meant cooking but then gay meant happy.

* I'm born and bred to be a shoeman.

* I'm a shoe man, born and bred, dammit.

* This is a fine mess.

She's an idiot and the smart one's mad at us.

* Congratulations Peg, you've just won a trip to Disney Fist.

* I hate my life ... can't eat, can't sleep,

can't bury my wife in the backyard.

* That's all I need.

Work all day with the Beaver and come home to you.

* I didn't steal your bra!

* Today is the first day of the end of your life.

* Don't look at me, I wasn't even awake.

* The brain doesn't need blood. It just needs to be kept wet.

* People who work putting shoes on fat women who wear dresses

should not have 20/20 vision.

* If you need me I'll be at the nudie bar.

* Ok, here's another idea.

Let's toss this in the oven and see if it bakes.

There's a shoe-salesman in the 23th century. It's called Shoe Trek.

* Peg, you can stab me with knives, you can beat me with clubs,

you can make me open my eyes when we're having sex but there's

no way on earth you can make me get a second job.

* Let me explain. It's just like an elevator.

There's a 2 ton weight limit on those shoes...

* This is a sex free house and by God it will be

for the rest of my life.

* I've lived and I've loved... later on I even married.

* You know I never danced unless it was gonna get some sex for me.

* That's a good one, God!

* It's not everyday an uncle dies and the coroner forgets

to lock his house.

* It gets better each time as long as it's never with the same woman.

* A man is a man all his life.

A woman is only sexy until she becomes your wife.

* Six bucks is too much money to spend on any woman.

* Well, I chalked up some more frequent loser miles today.

* I've got a woman so lame that she actually thinks that when I

groan during sex it has anything to do with her.

* Just say no to marriage.

* Insurance is like marriage.

You pay and pay but you never get anything back.

* It's bad enough that I know we're married,

do we have to let the whole world know?

* We haven't had any kids in over 10 years.

I must be doing something right.

* Marriage stinks, have a kid. Kid stinks, have another kid.

* Sorry, Peg, I didn't hear you. I was thinking of killing myself.

* To know me is to love me.

* That's what being a man is like: making mistakes and not caring.

SBK.... :D

You gotta go to an American college to get the real scoop. That is why so many right wing nut jobs don't like American colleges, because a class there is more like, let's see the US fcked over everyone that got in it's way, and a few that didn't.

It started with the American Indians and continued on with the negroes. One of the great hypocrisies of the U.S. Life, liberty and freedom for all? Not a chance.

You gotta go to an American college to get the real scoop. That is why so many right wing nut jobs don't like American colleges, because a class there is more like, let's see the US fcked over everyone that got in it's way, and a few that didn't.

It started with the American Indians and continued on with the negroes. One of the great hypocrisies of the U.S. Life, liberty and freedom for all? Not a chance.

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Liberty and freesom are kinds' the same thing.

You gotta go to an American college to get the real scoop. That is why so many right wing nut jobs don't like American colleges, because a class there is more like, let's see the US fcked over everyone that got in it's way, and a few that didn't.

It started with the American Indians and continued on with the negroes. One of the great hypocrisies of the U.S. Life, liberty and freedom for all? Not a chance.

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Liberty and freesom are kinds' the same thing.

O.K., so I flunked history.

You gotta go to an American college to get the real scoop. That is why so many right wing nut jobs don't like American colleges, because a class there is more like, let's see the US fcked over everyone that got in it's way, and a few that didn't.

It started with the American Indians and continued on with the negroes. One of the great hypocrisies of the U.S. Life, liberty and freedom for all? Not a chance.

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Liberty and freesom are kinds' the same thing.

O.K., so I flunked history.

That's okay, I flunked typing.

You gotta go to an American college to get the real scoop. That is why so many right wing nut jobs don't like American colleges, because a class there is more like, let's see the US fcked over everyone that got in it's way, and a few that didn't.

It started with the American Indians and continued on with the negroes. One of the great hypocrisies of the U.S. Life, liberty and freedom for all? Not a chance.

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Liberty and freesom are kinds' the same thing.

O.K., so I flunked history.

That's okay, I flunked typing.

And spelling . . . and grammar . . .

You gotta go to an American college to get the real scoop. That is why so many right wing nut jobs don't like American colleges, because a class there is more like, let's see the US fcked over everyone that got in it's way, and a few that didn't.

It started with the American Indians and continued on with the negroes. One of the great hypocrisies of the U.S. Life, liberty and freedom for all? Not a chance.

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Liberty and freesom are kinds' the same thing.

O.K., so I flunked history.

That's okay, I flunked typing.

And spelling . . . and grammar . . .

That's all you, buddy. The liberty/freedom issue is a grammer issue.

yeah, but nought wrong with a good freesome...Especially with two swedish 20 year olds.

d

yeah, but nought wrong with a good freesome...Especially with two swedish 20 year olds.

d

Yaw, dat vould be very nicea.

As sbk pointed out, generalisations are an issue. As a Brit who has spent a good deal of time in the US (my dad was a septic) I have seen ignoramuses, fools and bright people on both sides of the pond.

I went to grammar school in London in the 70's and was taught almost nothing about English/British/European history. Instead, I learned about Rome, Egypt and Greece. I think it might have been a good move to throw in a bit of local history, too.

I am sometimes taken aback by the insularity of some Americans, though. I was at a dinner some years ago in a very small part of Michigan, sitting next to a 60-something year old man who was educated, articulate and absolutely charming. The first course arrived, and he said "this is spaghetti bolognese. It's Itlaian. You probably don't get that in England". I thought he was joking, but he wasn't. I'm not knocking him - he was simply trying to make me feel at ease, and I took his comments in the spirit in which they were given.

I had a giggle with my other American friends about it, but I'd bet that many septics have a similar story about Brits.