Interesting Facts and Thoughts on the USA from a UK perspective

Yesterday, my "Freud, Fiction and the Uncanny" Classmates and I were supposed to have read Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" and discuss it. However, my Professor got sidetracked and we ended up talking about the differences between British and American schools. This was due to a student protest being held right around the corner from the building we were in.

Apparently they were protesting a rise in their tuition fee from something around 3,000 Pounds to something that may have been a little bigger (3,250?--Just a random guess). But either way, us American/Syracuse students were shocked at how much of a big deal these students were making when we (or our parents...) we're paying anywhere between $30,000 to $40,000 for a years worth of schoolin'. This led into our Professor talking about the change in education costs in the U.K. (University used be paid for by the government; in fact if one weren't so well off the Government would actually pay for that person to go to school. However, the classes were more polytechnic and were more of a "trade school" situation where students didn't take "impractical" courses like History or Literature studies but more of a job training thing for after they graduate and enter the selected industry. I kind of understand the British perspective Roger Waters was coming from when he wrote the song "Welcome to the Machine"). I think my Professor concluded that topic by saying something along the lines of "the most valuable things you'll learn will be outside of the classroom"--which I can sure relate to. See ma' and pa', sounds like we're getting our money-money's worth!

There was more to it, but I forgot it. The Professor tried to veer the conversation back to "Wuthering Heights" but to not much avail; as a bunch of girls in the class were asking more and more questions which led to a discussion of how a lot of London houses and flats didn't have indoor bathrooms until the mid-to-late 1980's. This was due to the fact that a lot of the standing housing in London was just so old that it was too expensive for households to install and redo the plumbing for a toilet and that it was just cheaper and easier to just have a toilet "outhouse" in the backyard.
So you baby-boomers out there certainly had it better than these Europeans for living accommodations in the latter half of the 20th Century.

It makes me think about people back home in the states who go on how the United States is the greatest country in the world; in terms of infrastructure, technology, etc.(or at least used to say that, especially under the delusional mindset that were a little present earlier in the decade). When I think about that, it certainly seems like that people who say that are still living in the late 50's and early 60's who say that.

Somehow this conversation led to the most striking bit where my teacher said how a class system is much more in the consciousness of Europeans and Brits than in America. As (they get the impression, at least) Americans like to think that there is no such thing as a class system in the United States. He further added that there was a study done that said that 90% of Americans identify themselves as "middle class." This was followed by the point that if everyone thinks they're middle-class then nobody would revolt--they'd only ask for a pay raise.

Ah! The evil, ingenuity of American Capitalism!

P.S. All this talk reminded me of a fact JW pointed out to me regarding the U.S.A and the UN; which was the fact that the U.S. doesn't even pay it's UN membership fee. Isn't that hillarious? We are such a$$holes!