Americans Need To Get Out More
March 9, 2010 by Brian Jenkins
Filed under Be Risen, Featured
We Americans have to really get out and see the world. The number of college students studying foreign languages has gone down, and fewer Americans travel overseas than do citizens in other developed countries. News coverage of foreign affairs has also decreased. Since the early 1970s, Americans have paid less and less attention to foreign events. Gallup polls from presidential election years 1948 through 1972 show that Americans used to rank foreign affairs as the most important issue facing the nation. Since then, with the exception of the 2004 elections, the economy has been ranked first.
During that same time, according to a report from the US Department of Education, in 1965, more than 16 percent of all American college students studied a foreign language, and now less then 9 percent do. There is a bunch of statistics showing Americans as less traveled and pretty ignorant of the outside world.
Only 21 percent of Americans even have passports, and most of them are used for travel to Canada and Mexico. It is horrible that with two wars going on, our growing dependency on imported oil, and our export dependent economy, we pay very little attention to the world.
If you can not afford to travel, and in this economy it is understandable, then I would suggest you finding a pen pal. With the computer, you are tapped in to anywhere in the world that you want to go, and I guarantee you that when speaking to people in other countries you learn something new everyday. I know that I do.
It makes you wonder what effect our ignorance about the world has on the world. We elect politicians to represent us in Washington. But, those same politicians are shaping the policies that affect the globe because of America’s position in the world. Is our ignorance being reflected in the global policies that we voted in?
Then there is the fear factor, where people fear what they do not understand. These countries that we see on the news seem scary and foreign and dangerous at times. But, would they seem so scary if we knew some people there and understood the culture? Isn’t it a barrier breaker to know some very good people in Russia, or some fun loving Iranians?
It’s about time to get up, get out and see something. Or at least get up, get on your computer and learn something. Maybe then we can get past all of these fear based conspiracy theories, or media driven country character assassinations. We base all of our thoughts about a country often on the actions of one or two people that represent that country on television. Would you like to have been judged as a country or a person by what George Bush said and did for his eight years?
- Brian Jenkins
Twitter: @Brian_Jenkins
Now I understand what you were telling me yesterday.
Yes, USA depends of other countries, but USA people don’t know anything about these countries. That’s contradictory! I really thought americans were one of the peoples of the world that travel most, but all these information really scares me. On the other side, these informations ratify some myths, like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE
Aswering your question: “Would you like to have been judged as a country or a person by what George Bush said and did for his eight years?” Brian, unfortunately that’s what happens.
I agree with most of what you say here, but the French actually travel much less then Americans and they seem better informed. You are right, we should be using our technologies to connect with other citizens of the world…i was thinking the other day how cool it would be if people used things like twitter and gps phones to feed/clothe the needy, like: “hey I got a naked hungry person here, anyone send some clothes or food” and then someone, somewhere in the world, could respond: “yep, got some extra shit right here, sending it along.”
I tell my friends this all the time … I think people fear leaving the country because of the news and the news is very bias to negative thigs. that has always been my goal in life to see the world. But i also love your suggestion simply getting on the computer and communicating with people from other countries. Its very easy to do especially on twitter… ive had the pleasure of meeting people overseas via twitter & that to me has been the best way to get pure information about other countries… great post Bri !! i’m going to attempt to do better as well
Would love to travel, but currently do not have the finances to spare! I do agree that with technology, there are ways to stay informed about the world, and now more than ever it is important to do so!!! Also, our educational institutions need to lead the way in preparing our youth so that they understand the importance of global living and understanding world cultures and issues.