Americans feel as though their country is the greatest country in the world. They are proud of their country, as they should be. However, it is sometimes difficult to see ourselves as others see us.

Most of the viewpoints expressed are from the standpoint of an American viewing Russia and Russians from the outside looking in.

The following viewpoint is offered in an effort to try to turn the lens around and show Americans how they are viewed by outsiders.

Americans have about an eighty percent to ninety percent literacy rate, depending on how much you want to believe the statistics of the people who are responsible for educating them.

Do you realize that fast food restaurants in America have pictures of hamburgers and french fries on the cash register buttons instead of dollars and cents! It's because many of the people working there can't make change. They don't have to. They just push the hamburger button and the cash register thinks for them.

Do you realize that the people who are working as cashiers at the major amusement parks of America have training for months learning how to make change before they are allowed to actually work in the cashier booth?

The literacy rate of Russians is over ninety eight percent. If you buy anything from a vendor while you are in Russia, you will realize that they can convert rubles into dollars and back again and make change in either currency in their head in a fraction of the second.

They didn't go to cashier school for months on end to learn how to do that. They learned how to make change at the school of hard knocks.

Many Russians that immigrate to America are afraid to send their children to school here. Instead of learning about how to read, write, and do arithmetic, they learn about alternative lifestyles, gangs, condoms, and 'how to express their opinion.'

Instead of studying great literature, they learn about Barney the Purple Dinosaur and Jurassic Park. Instead of reading about history, they watch a movie by Oliver Stone or Spike Lee to learn about 'how it really was.'

It appears that the mission of modern American schools is to teach the students how to think along the lines of political correctness rather than acquire any skills, which might be of use to them in the future.

The style is not much different from the propaganda machine used during the Cultural Revolution in China, when students had to memorize the slogans in Mao's Little Red Book so they 'thought properly.'

Americans are dreadfully ignorant of geography and events that take place outside of their country. I spoke to one woman in church who was bragging to me about her advanced university degrees and all the books she has read.

Having introduced my wife to her, we started talking about Russia. She asked me in all seriousness, 'Where's Moscow?' I told her it was in Russia. She asked me in all sincerity, 'Where is that?' Some Americans not only are unashamed of their ignorance, they seem to be proud of it.