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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCanada: One third of American 8th graders think Canadians live in a dictatorship
Its a looping belt of tyranny that swoops from the South Pacific to Europe and all the way across the Americas. It controls three of the worlds 12 largest economies and the entire global supply of some key resources. It is, in the eyes of the worlds most important, and perhaps only relevant, demographic, a new axis of autocracy and it isnt centred in Pyongyang, Tehran or Harare but in Canberra, Paris and, yes, Ottawa.
That demographic, of course, is the American teen. And if new U.S. test results are any sign, that all important group doesnt think highly of us, if it thinks of us at all.
In recent results from the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress billed as the Nations Report Card fully 33 per cent of American 8th graders said Canada, Australia and France are dictatorships of one kind or another.
Asked on a national standardized test what the current governments of the three countries have in common, 23 per cent of the 29,000 teens tested chose they have leaders with absolute power from the four options available. Another 10 per cent chose they are controlled by the military while 12 per cent picked they discourage participation by citizens in public affairs.
more
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/the-new-axis-of-evil-canada-one-third-of-american-8th-graders-think-we-live-in-a-dictatorship
Newsjock
(11,733 posts)... those kids might have a point there.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)When I was in the eighth grade, most Americans thought Canada was part of The USA.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)Cowards.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)(For those who need it... )
I actually had somebody tell me that Mexico is not, contrary to all the things I know from actual real life, a democracy. Granted, they have some serious issues with their democracy, and I will contend as serious as ours, but that is a whole different kettle of fish. Americans at times can be funny that way.