I thought at first it was funny how Swift compared American settlers to savages who eat children, and also kind of ironic because of how the settlers were doing the same thing to the Native Americans, but it has kind of stuck in my mind and made me think how true it actually could be. Not the whole baby eating business, but how uncultured, self-centered, and undistinguished we can be seen by the rest of the world.
I'm going to be spending some time in New Zealand nannying for a family there, and the three kids (all under the age of 10) already know English, French, and some Spanish. I'm looking at my little brothers thinking that at age 5 my parents were proud if they could actually make it to the toilet on time. Also, the fact that all three of my younger siblings are so under-educated in things like geography, current world issues, cultural differences, and other super relevant topics. I'm an education major, so whenever topics like these get brought up the discussion immediately goes to Common Core, State Testing, NCLB and other education related acronyms. However, while I do think that these tests and other things do have influence, I also think that some of the responsibility needs to be put on families and parents to teach their children how to be globally aware.
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