The Abysmal State of American Education

May 31, 2006 on 9:36 am | Friedrich Braun | Art & Design , Economics & Finance , General | | Email This Post | Print this Post

kirsten-dunst-ignorant-french.jpg

Don’t blame Kirsten Dunst for not knowing more about French history: it’s the U.S. school system’s fault. The actress stars as Marie Antoinette in Sophia Coppola’s film about the Vienna-born French monarch — which has been panned by critics. The flick was booed at Cannes, and a reviewer for the London Times noted that her voice was “more Valleyspeak than Viennese.”

Dunst was asked by reporters how much she knew about French history before she made the film. “If you grow up in France, you learn about French history, and if you grow up in America the French history is a smaller paragraph in your textbook,” she told reporters. “So I didn’t know an enormous amount about Marie Antoinette except for the fact that she didn’t say ‘Let them eat cake’ and was beheaded. That was pretty much what I’d learned in school.”[Frankly, I’m shocked that she even knows that much!]

Did she learn her history from comic books? But why should the above classic example of crass ignorance on the part of Americans of basic European history be of any surprise? We’re talking, after all, about a people who don’t know that there’s an entire world out there beyond the U.S. borders and who couldn’t place Europe on a map, never mind a European nation. The Americans’ utter ignorance of their own continent is something to behold as well. Typically, they think that Canadians reside in igloos and that Canada’s economy is still largely based on fur-trading.

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4 Comments »

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  1. ‘The flick was booed at Cannes, and a reviewer for the London Times noted that her voice was “more Valleyspeak than Viennese.”’

    The movie was booed because Marie Antoinette was portrayed in a more favorable light than the communist French attendees would have liked.

    I’m curious which accent Dunst should have affected in the interest of historically accuracy? A present-day Austrian or French accent? Wait, I know. She should have faked a British accent like certain retards on imdb and apparently the movie reviewer you cite believe.

    It’s a fucking movie. And 18th century aristocrats didn’t speak with 20/21st century accents in any language.

    Why even bring up accents when movie has genuine fuckups like casting Jason Schwartzman as Louis XVI?

    ‘Typically, they think that Canadians reside in igloos and that Canada’s economy is still largely based on fur-trading.’

    That’s interesting. Maybe you could post some surveys to back up this claim.

    Comment by Josh Barnett — May 31, 2006 #

  2. It was obviously a hyperbole. Americans tend to know very little about Canada, however.

    Comment by Friedrich Braun — May 31, 2006 #

  3. What does the average American need to know about Canada that he does not already know?

    It’s easy to find fault with an American public that is more interested American Idol than immigration policy. But, if anything, the Canadian public is worse. Canadians are noted for taking pride in their broken socialist health care system and their lack of “racism” as compared to their hated southern neighbors.

    Comment by Josh Barnett — May 31, 2006 #

  4. “What does the average American need to know about Canada that he does not already know?”

    How about Europe, Japan, China, India?

    Comment by Friedrich Braun — May 31, 2006 #

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