esrosedotblog

FAINT PRAISE DEPARTMENT

I get pissed off when Americans make unfavorable comparisons between our northern neighbor and their own country.

Canadians (except for my best friends) tend to do such comparing with the usual restraint and non-confrontational approach.

Nevertheless, it rankles.

So this is a fun read from the WSJ on-line letter today.

Oh, Canaduh

Americans are often criticized for their perceived lack of knowledge about their nation's roots, but it seems that their neighbors to the north are no wizards when it comes to history, either. According to a recent Ipsos-Reid survey, some 60% of Canadians know so little about their homeland that they would flunk a basic test new immigrants must take before becoming citizens. "Canadians appear to be losing knowledge when it comes to the most basic questions about Canadian history, politics, culture and geography ... [they] performed abysmally on some questions,'' the polling outfit discovered. Only 4% knew the three requirements a citizen must meet to be able to vote. Only a third could correctly identify the number of provinces and territories. "It is frankly disheartening to see the lack of progress made by our group and the countless other organizations working to improve civic literary of Canadians over the last 10 years," sighed Rudyard Griffiths of the Dominion Institute, a body which aims to boost knowledge of Canadian history and values, to Reuters.

So, it seems that we are not dimmer and dumber than our neighbors.

As in many other categories, we share a unique and ungrateful ignorance of our own country and its traditions.

But we sure as hell want those immigrants to have it down!

Labels: culture