Love / Polish girls and American boys (who don't even know where Poland is located ;) [36]

Hey Olka11,

I lived in several countries, & USA was one of them. I found that many Americans do not know how to locate many countries on a map. One American was surprised at the country Kazakhstan, he actually thought that was a "made up country" for the use of the movie "Borat", true story! I do have many educated friends who are American who are knowledgeable about the world geography/cultures, but in parts of the country, many people are NOT exposed to world wide knowledge.

It's VERY SAD. I'm Indian, my ancestors are from India, and people of other countries are aware of that. Yet, most Americans think only of the "Native Americans/Aboriginals" when I mention that I am Indian. The solution to this is better education each year, not just one world history class in middle school and that's it, and also a better exposure of WORLD NEWS in the regular tv news & programming. In Canada, the news, the tv shows, magazines, billboards, events are VERY multi-cultural.

There is definitely a culture difference btwn any two different cultures, I found even a difference btwn Canadian & it's neighbors from the USA, there's even a culture difference there.

I'm Indian & my boyfriend is from Poland, yes our parents have culture differences bc our parents grew up in other countries & also different religions. However my bf & I both grew up in North America from since we were small children, thus our cultures are North American.

My advice, is just educate him in where Poland is, and teach him about your culture. He doesn't have to accept it, but your heritage seems important to you, and if he cares & loves you, he would want to listen to what you have to say, which is about YOU! :-) All the best.

Love / Polish girls and American boys (who don't even know where Poland is located ;) [36]

As I mentioned in my post, I acknowledge that world geography is taught in grade school, however it should be taught every year or at least a requirement in elementary, middle AND high schools. My sister is a teacher, and she taught geography in her American middle school. I also learned geography in an American middle school, my only class in world geography in grade schools.

Like anyone and anywhere in the world, people tend to forget the things they learned from grade school, just look at "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader".

Obviously people forget things they learned many years ago as a child such as what they learned in grade school.

However, when it comes to adults, in comparison to many people i've met from around the world, it's very apparent meeting people who are more knowledgeable than others about world geography & about international cultures. One big difference i've seen is that other countries have more international media, so the international cultural exposure is greater in other countries to the general population, than countries which focus mainly on their own country (politics, sports, entertainment, celebrity gossip, etc). Result is, the general population can tell u about what's going on w Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, or Snooki, and yet can't locate countries on a map or whats going on in those countries?

If the media focused less on entertainment gossip and more on "NEWS" and "International News" like other countries do, then the American general population would be able to be more aware of world geography & cultures. Also c-span, national public radio, wall street journal, NY times are good USA media sources which do have international news, but its the educated American population who follow actual NEWS, if the general population followed these more worldly media, then they would be more knowledgeable about the world like the general population of other countries are.

Also mentioned in my post I have educated American friends who are well traveled and are aware of other cultures. I have American friends who never left the USA, but the world wide web is at their fingertips and they too are knowledgeable about the world map & world cultures, who also love such programs as National Geographic & the Travel & Food (intl) Channels. And i've met people from other countries who are not familiar with world geography & cultures, people who never traveled & also lived in a cultural bubble their entire lives.