maleficent

I'm not so sure that the education system is to blame...

Not that I'm making excuses... but look at the size of the US compared to other countries... Many Americans will not get to the opposite coast they live on due to the distance... or expense... or time... If they don't go to another state.. they aren't going to pack up and go to antoher country...

Growing up, I lived 30 minutes from NYC - we had neighbors that had never been into the city... because the city (and in the 60s 70s it was probably true) was a scary place... and they had everything they needed in front of them... And the neighborhood I grew up in, was total United Nations.. the people across the street, the kids were bilingual.. Ukranian and American - the parents were off the boat Ukranians... the people in the other direction.. kids were bilingual Italian - Momma was off the boat from Roma... As a kid, i was exposed to a ton of different cultures without leaving my block... People didn't need to leave the area to find another culture...

I never got to Europe til I was in my 30s.. and it was on abusiness trip... I got sent to LOndon for a bunch of weeks - and hated London so much that I ended up everywhere but London on the weekends... The people I was working with (all native Londoners) used to be shocked that I would just pick up and head to Paris, or Brussells or Prague for a weekend... the attitude of -- you've got everything right here, why leave it - isn't just in the US - it's really everywhere...

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