33% of American eighth-graders think Canada, Australia, and France are dictatorships - Polidicks

what the fuck? i learned us government in like the fucking 3rd or 4rd grade what bass ackwards schools do people go to now

[QUOTE=FFStudios;47784099]heads-up: you literally barely are learning US Government and civics by 8th grade. what the fuck did they expect?[/QUOTE] When I was 12, I didn't know [I]much[/I] about the US's federal government structure, and I only knew Canada's structure slightly better, but even then I knew the President didn't wield absolute power, the military wasn't in charge, and citizens weren't officially discouraged from participating in public affairs--i.e. voting. We share the longest undefended border in the world and it's a national joke here that Americans think the glaciers begin at the 49th parallel. [video=youtube;GHw0FqD3RFw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHw0FqD3RFw[/video]

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;47776665](Should note that state governments and local governments were not mentioned [I]at all[/I] despite the fact that those affect Americans more often than federal).[/QUOTE] Yeah, nobody pays attention to their local governments. That alone justifies more centralization.

[QUOTE=andrewmcwatters;47784213]what the fuck? i learned us government in like the fucking 3rd or 4rd grade what bass ackwards schools do people go to now[/QUOTE] in 3rd grade we were talking about pilgrims and the mayflower compact

[QUOTE=Tophat;47754018]They're oligarchies not dictatorships![/QUOTE] America is an oligarch.

Because in American Curriculum, learning about modern governments isn't in the core curriculum. And i don't think little kids can really be assed to learn about other governments.

But what about other countries?

[QUOTE=Griffster26;47756753]The majority of the US cessions were either French or Mexican though.[/QUOTE] Ehhh, not really. Pretty much everthing east of the Mississippi (IE aside from California the parts that matter) was under control of the British by the time we got hold of it. You could argue that it was technically taken from the French since the British took a large part of it from the French in The Seven Years War and then we took it in the War of 1812, but that's a little weak. Besides, the other half of Continental US was pretty much split between the French and the Mexicans. Hell though, you could easily argue that we took more territory from the Russians than the French or Mexicans or even them combined. Alaska is fucking huge.

[QUOTE=Kinversulath;47755247]Even then, do you guys really think so little of us that whether or not we're a democracy or not is something that requires serious thought?[/QUOTE] 8th graders are hardly the go-to group for discussion about world politics.

[QUOTE=64fanatic;47776557]SIEG HEIL HARPER. GLORIOUS LEADER OF THE NORTH STRONG AND F̶R̶E̶E̶! [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/wTy3zdq.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] Harper sucks but at least he's not Trudeau.

I don't trust surveys from kids, because I used to be one and I know that even if I knew the right answer, I'd try and put the most ridiculous answer possible because I found it amusing.

Congrats America, you just pissed off about 35 million Canadians.

[QUOTE=Hat-Wearing Man;47754003]That's because the only place that matters is the States obvs I heard they can't even build a Target up there![/QUOTE] Oh we can build them, we just can't seem to get people in them

[QUOTE=Sparkthunder;47804602]Congrats America, you just pissed off about 35 million Canadians.[/QUOTE] Sorry!

The American Government class I was required to take in high school was a huge joke. Basically, we learned about different forms of government for the first half of the semester, and then told that the "Presidential System" was the best for the other half.

[QUOTE=Sparkthunder;47804602]Congrats America, you just pissed off about 35 million Canadians.[/QUOTE] I mean, if they're triggered by school children, it's kind of deserved.

our dictator told us to say we are a democracy

Considering 8th graders around here go to school for the free breakfast and lunch this doesn't surprise me