"You americans are so lazy. You never do anything and you guys sit there all day eating fast food." When I was in London this summer many of my cousins repeatedly said things about Americans, how we are slackers and how we are at school for one less year then them so we are not smart. This came from people that had never been to America, had met maybe 6 or 7 people from America, and got most of their information from movies. I felt as if I was always defending myself. I do not sit around doing nothing and I rarely have any free time because I am always doing my homework or working.
In 2 million minute the Americans seemed very laid back, careless, and lazy while the Indian and Chinese students were motivated, smart, and spent all their time studying. I felt that they showed the 2 extreme sides of it. Many students may be lazy in America, but just as many are driven and motivated to do well and succeed. They took the very extreme approach in showing 2 students that both are lazy and do not try in school yet do well in the end. This does not happen everyday, it is not like this, many students try very hard and work more than others but it does not end well for them. For the Chinese and Indians I felt as if they showed only one end of the spectrum. Not all of the students there can be that motivated, some are slackers and are not very smart at all. In the end those most of the students did not end up going to the colleges that they had wished to.
In the essays, "A Modest Proposal" and "For Once Blame the Students" the students are mostly portrayed as slackers. Both these essays show how Americans do not really try very hard. Both these essays show how the failed worth ethic of the students lead America to being behind other countries. Both of these essays portray the America students as lazy and undisciplined. Why is the blame completely on the students though? I feel like there should be some blame on the parents and teachers. In one of my classes my teacher asked how many of the students felt they had to do well because of their parents. Only 2 students said they felt pressured by their parents. Also haven't we all had that one teacher that does not really teach you very much and even though you get an A in the class you walk out feeling as though you learned nothing? I have had a teacher like that and I feel as though the blame can not be put completely on the students for not learning anything. Most of the students in that class went to the office to try and fix the problem, we went to get some help from the school because we wanted to learn. Yet nothing was done about it.
American students to some extent are behind in Academics yet others are doing very well. I feel that saying all Americans are slackers is stereotypical and completely a lie. Many do try hard and attempt to do well but are not given the same opportunities and there for tend to do worse than they could be. Teachers and Parents are also to blame for this, if they motivated their students more maybe Americans would be doing better now. 2 million minutes, A modest Proposal, and For once blame the students only show one side. What about the other side of the story?
All Americans are not lazy. In fact we do many things to keep ourselves entertained. We all do not eat fast food everyday and sit on the couch watching t.v. Other countries make it seem like we just like to gobble down burgers, fries, and shakes while watching cartoons of some sort. Why do they make us seem that way? Even though most people want to come to America really bad? They just heard the bad things about America and not the good things about Americans.
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