>They also seemed to have difficulty in accepting new knowledge about the world unless it was said with an American accent. The most innocuous and well-known features of British (and Commonwealth) schools (uniforms, houses, pastoral care, terms, public examinations) not only surprised but also baffled them.
it has been my experience observing people from other cultures trying to understand anything about American culture is that the same phenomenon seems to pertain in that case - so perhaps it is just a common feature of humanity.
Albert Speer in his autobiography said that Hitler's inner circle were extremely uninformed about anything non-German, and that if you had been to some country for a vacation for a week one time you were considered an expert, this is something I've noticed with many people regarding places and assignment of expertise. I bring it up just to back up my theory that this is a common human thing, and not just an aspect of American culture.
Learning about new cultures is exactly what makes moving to a different culture fun, but when you're a teacher, you have to know how your school functions, because you have to enforce order within that institution. I was surprised that my American colleagues hadn't considered that British schools might work differently from American ones. It's not an issue of understanding the differences, but knowing that there are differences.
I've never read Speer's autobiography, but I read somewhere that von Ribbentrop was the only one with any experience of working outside Germany. In any case, I'm not sure I'd want to use a group of leading ethno-nationalists as an example of how ordinary humans think about other cultures.
>In any case, I'm not sure I'd want to use a group of leading ethno-nationalists as an example of how ordinary humans think about other cultures.
sorry for having that spring to mind, I could certainly use any number of examples from my own experience but I guess that could be discounted because how do you really know what my experience is.
At any rate the great number of British, Danish, German, Swedish, and Italian peoples I know have no real understanding of American culture, and excepting the Danish, German and Swedish not much understanding of each others' cultures as far as I can tell.
Of course that is all as far as I can tell, and that is just based on my interpretation - for example I don't necessarily think you have much understanding of American culture or Americans based on your statements here - but that's because I disagree with them (as being particular to Americans), if I agreed I guess I would think you were especially insightful.
on edit: so I think you're basically just the way most people are about other cultures, making some assumptions based on little exposure and some examples of your acquaintance. Because it is very difficult to really get into anything relatively large, you don't have the time. Maybe your colleagues should have known more, but not sure that translates to knowing anything about Americans.
it has been my experience observing people from other cultures trying to understand anything about American culture is that the same phenomenon seems to pertain in that case - so perhaps it is just a common feature of humanity.
Albert Speer in his autobiography said that Hitler's inner circle were extremely uninformed about anything non-German, and that if you had been to some country for a vacation for a week one time you were considered an expert, this is something I've noticed with many people regarding places and assignment of expertise. I bring it up just to back up my theory that this is a common human thing, and not just an aspect of American culture.