Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Baffled.

Restful day again on Monday but I did have an interesting conversation with a 15 year old girl.

I asked if she already had a plan for university in mind and she replied that she would probably attend one in Poznań. I asked what about her friends and she surprised me with the answer. Most of them were planning on studying in the U.S. and staying there. For some reason they had the old idea that the U.S. was the land of milk and honey. That jobs were plentiful and they would become celebrities were reason they gave. The old idea is still present in the younger generation and it baffles me how they can think like that. In this day and age with all the information that is available through different medias, how they view America is rather strange.  This girl could speak English fairly well but she said her friends could only pass written examinations and grammar test in school, they could not speak hardly any English.

Ponownie w poniedziałek, ale miałem interesującą rozmowę z 15-letnią dziewczynką.

Zapytałem, czy ma już plan uniwersytecki, a ona odpowiedziała, że pewnie będzie chciała uczestniczyć w jednym w Poznaniu. Zapytałem, co z jej przyjaciółmi, a ona zaskoczyła mnie odpowiedzią. Większość z nich planowała studia w USA i pozostanie tam. Z jakiegoś powodu mieli stary pomysł, że USA to kraj mleka i miodu. Ta praca była obfita, a stali się celebrytami. Stara idea jest wciąż obecna w młodszym pokoleniu i zastanawia mnie, jak mogą tak myśleć. W dzisiejszych czasach ze wszystkimi informacjami, które są dostępne za pośrednictwem różnych mediów, sposób postrzegania Ameryki jest raczej dziwny. Ta dziewczyna potrafiła mówić po angielsku dość dobrze, ale powiedziała, że jej znajomi mogli tylko zdawać w szkole pisemne egzaminy i test gramatyczny, nie mogli prawie mówić po angielsku.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Baffled? I'm baffled by your comments. Trump will be gone sooner or later--hopefully sooner. That said, there's no way that young, ambitious and talented people could ever have more opportunities staying in Poland than they'd find in the US. Are young people flocking to Poland to start careers? Don't be blinded by your choice to retire there (and what happens to your wife if God forbid something happens to you). Don't misguide ambitious young people who may want to have a better life and get away from the right wing government, pollution, always looming Russian threat, etc. Be real, man. Millions came and still want to come to America (your family and my family too) seeking and finding a better life. Don't discourage others from doing the same.

Joan and David Piekarczyk said...

Anon, when was the last time you were in Poland? "Don't misguide ambitious young people who may want to have a better life and get away from the right wing government, pollution, always looming Russian threat". There is no right wing government or pollution in America? There is always a looming Russia threat! "Millions came and still want to come to America (your family and my family too) seeking and finding a better life". Yes, they came in the early 1900's, when Poland didn't exist.

Anonymous said...

Haven't been to the moon but can speak about conditions there.

US House of Reps. left leaning in 2019. At least there are checks and balances in US. No ham handed dictates re replacing judges here.

Check pollution stats please. See reports. Poland much more polluted.

"they came...when Poland didn't exist" This is non sequitur. Makes no difference whether Poland as a country existed then or not. People left and, if capable and willing to work hard, found a better life.


As I said, be real.