Immature American Students

Get bent. Also, here's some monkey shit...eat up.

Fuck off.

Your answers speak for themselves.

Why are you complaining? I wish more people did all of those things. Less competition.

Hey buddy, FYI, your education back home isn't free. It is paid for my others. Learn that concept and then make a statement.

You're experiencing "culture shock" its OK, you'll adapt. But seriously, it's a different culture. We don't understand why all the foreign Asian students study all day long and don't have a life(by our standards). We choose one life, they choose another. Neither is better its just what you're taught.

Yeah, we're a little immature. But that's nothing the world didn't already know.

I just don't understand the gripes. I mean I used to wear a suit every day and now it is business casual. When I did a masters I was in sweats.

As for the cheering about days off. Look at the news. Everyone does it.

Smoking pot. I don't know man. Plenty of people do it. If you think just scum bags do it you will be in for a shock once you hit NYC.

Junk food, I mean Americans eat pizza and shit. We are fat. People also eat a ton of different ethnic foods. Eat some pizza and shut up.

As for bitching about screaming, no student pubs and frats, I don't know what you are talking about. You need to chill. This isn't Europe man.

Get over it or go back home. God forbid kids want to enjoy their time in college. Sorry we can't adhere to your highly sophisticated European standards. omg videogames? happy that classes are canceled? smoking weed? WEARING SWEATPANTS WTFOMG

By the way you come off, I feel like I would rather gouge my eyes out with a spoon than hang out with you for an hour.

Nothing wrong with sweatpants to lectures if you're not in b-school, wtf do you mean Europeans don't do it? I think you're exaggerating, which is why you're seeing all the hate.

Not sure what the point of this post is. Different regions have different practices and norms. In China, it's considered extremely rude for a student to ask a question during a professor's lecture, as it comes of as "challenging" the teacher. In America, a "good" student is often times one who asks many questions. In fact, some classes have a portion of the grade dedicated to participation.

What I'm getting at, is there isn't anything intrinsically right or wrong with any of these practices, it's just a matter of what the majority does and if you are following it. If you wore a suit everyday to class in undergraduate, people at most schools would either assume you worked immediately before class or were an oddball.

This was good, but still not believable enough to be Blumie status. I guess it is easier to be a critic than a star.

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Americans tend to fuck around for four years at college before entering the work force. Once a part of the work force, Americans tend to work 40+ hours/week, 48 weeks/year, for the next 30+ years. It is my understanding that Europeans enter the work force where they're on the clock maybe 35 hours/week, 40 weeks/year. You tell me who's immature you socialist scum.

I went to uni in the UK, the kids were exactly the same....sitting inside playing Pro Evo football (soccer) everyday on play station, smoking pot, drinking cheap cider (white lightning) from Tesco and missing many classes when hung over from the night before. Many of the kids dressed in A&F thinking they were so Cali, haha, and as for eating junk food....the typical student meal was a donner kebab washed down with a coke.

Hahahahaha have you seen how much UK students drink? They get shitfaced on a regular basis.

Other than that, see that a s a funloving experience. This type of behavior is not mutually exclusive with academic excellence. Work hard, but at the same time, have a good time.

LOLs I think it really depends on how you view life in the US. I'm sure its dependent on the people you hang out with

If you're from France, Germany et al, the American college students WILL look bat shit crazy to you.

Here's my (well-tested) hypothesis: Americans aren't allowed to drink during high school. ONS or sex (in general) seem much more problematic while living with American parents. I moved to the US from Germany at age 16. That's legal drinking age in Germany. At that point, I had been drinking for 2 years, was used to go to bars and just get smashed. Bringing random girls from said bar home to my family's house? No problem there. (The whole jailbait thing isn't as problematic, so 16-19 yr olds mingle much easier. Abortion is a viable option for the worst case scenario.)

Eventually all of this came to a screeching halt as soon as I entered the US. Didn't take long for me to get arrested, I'd frequently have to run from cops every other weekend when they busted a party... WTF.

My point is: Europeans fade into the whole drinking/ fucking/ going out thing while in high school. Americans have it much harder during high school - and they try to make up for that as soon as they leave their parents house.... as a college freshman! And they really owe it to themselves as far as I'm concerned.

Does that make sense to anybody else?

wolverine19x89:

By the way you come off, I feel like I would rather gouge my eyes out with a spoon than hang out with you for an hour.

Agreed. Come on man. You need to actually learn to have fun. Try smoking pot for once. Maybe you'll chill the f*** out.

Not everyone wears sweat pants. Just wear jeans and a polo. Plenty of students do that also.

I like when I walk through Yale's campus and hear their Madden and Lil Wayne through half of the windows...

It's all about how you choose to spend your own time. OP, I know you are basically trolling, but I kind of agree- when I first went to school I was disappointed in the lack of maturity. Not sure what I thought it would be like, but I wasn't expecting high school Part II. I am sure you can find like-minded students on any campus, even those most notorious for parties.

Seek and you will find.

So Germany front loads the immaturity then. I mean the argument for more mature students is that people are wasted and whoring at 16, not 18, correct?

Listen, some real broad strokes being cast in this topic. Kids in the US drink plenty before 18 and 21. They also have plenty of sex. Every household is different also. Public Universities will be bigger and have more marginal students. So you will see a lot more people taking it easy. You also have to factor in the college sports atmosphere and fraternities.

And Germany might not comparison. The German education system is big on trades and different paths. Kids that are more suited for trade work go that route and those who are college material are prepped earlier. So the kids you see at university are more serious, with the rabble weeded out. The US is different, with a weaker trade school system and more along the idea that college is the golden ticket. That mindset is something we need to change, but it will explain some of the stupidity you see around campus.

As far as the European economy goes, I wouldn't try touting Euro practices too much. The continent as a whole is a mess and going through some corrective measures.

I dont know why everybody is acting so hostile toward the OP. He asked a question in a respectful manner and was not being condescending or arrogant.

Here are my takes to some of this comments.

• Dressing up like you're 15 years old is the norm. Going to university wearing flip-flops, sweatpants, a basketball jerseys and a baseball cap is normal. I haven't once seen that back home by anyone attending a university.

This is a culture thing. Americans are much more casual in their dress codes than Europeans in general. Universities in particular are the epitome of laid-back lifestyle. I actually prefer the laid back, informal American way. That one is wearing flip-flops and sweatpants does not make one immature. I have met some ver successful businessmen who dress very casual. What matters is what you can do, not what cloth you are wearing.

• Despite paying $18 000 per semester (it's free to go to university in my home country), people are cheering when a hurricane cancels all classes.

I see your point. Still sometimes people just appreciate having a few more days off to write papers, prepare for mid-terms, get some sleep etc.

• Playing videogames all day, and even WoW sometimes, is not considered strange (again, despite the fact that you've payed $18 000) Well some people do that but others strike a good balance between work/study and play. It is a free country so if some folks figure that their time is better spend on WOW all day then so be it.

• Smoking pot, which back home is a real low-life/white trash thing to do, is ubiquitous. Again this is really a matter of to each his own. I have never been into pots myself but if others want to do it I have no problem with that, so long as they don't do it in my bedroom.

• Eating junk food everyday, which, at least by European measures, is the only thing that they serve in the dining hall, seems like a great idea. Point taken. The U.S is definitely much more into high calorie processed food than Europe. It is just not healthy eating that stuff all day. Still I have a hard time believing that the only things served in a college dining hall are junk foods. Are you sure you are not confusing dining hall with the food court?

• Screaming and making a lot of noice while playing with your friends like a bunch of 15 years old in the dorm is not strange. As a matter of fact, you do it everyday. Again this is a culture/lifestyle choice thing. Just because one likes to party and is vocal about it doesn't necessarily mean that one is immature.

• There's no student pub at the University. Instead they have "gaming rooms". Yippie! It is like being back in the cafeteria in the last year of elementary school. This really depends on the University. School policies differ considerably on this matter.

• Every frat party without a little bit of wrestling is a frat party not worth attending. De gustibus non est disputandum.

Dude, at least it's not the UK. You'll find most cultures differ from yours and mine and I guess that sucks, but you could've figured that one out before going on your exchange. Just enjoy your term abroad and think of all the stuff that sucks back home - ignorant socialist public opinion, liquor store closing at goddamn 7pm, freezing your ass off in winter, I dunno.

I do understand the diet thing, though - it's the same in the UK (except the junk food is disgusting compared to US equivalents). I ended up making my own tuna salads and hitting the gym as much as possible to avoid turning into a slob.

Well when the first thing you say is that our students are immature then you start basing that assumption off of clothes worn/video games/weed, you come off as a snob. You probably should have expected the response.

The weed part gets me too because you're whining about there not being student pubs, yet smoking weed is so bad? The only thing about weed that's worse than alcohol is that it'll get you thrown in jail.... for a couple hours. Then you'll be on probation.

Also, acting mature when you don't have to is so damn overrated. I still enjoy running through my apartment from my couch to my bed to anything I can jump on while listening to some hard techno or death metal.... immature, but I could care less.

sweatpants are comfortable

OP put this a bit badly but he somewhere has a point. In terms of maturity (for lack of better word) the difference betw. slightly older americans and europeans is a lot less than it is for straight of college americans / europeans.

i think your characterization is highly exaggerated and is more applicable to mediocre schools than top-tier schools. presumably you attend a mediocre school and should factor that into your analysis and expectations.

but that aside, i don't see anything wrong with flip flops/being loud/junk food/etc. these are just not universally condemnable the way you assume. you come across as a stiff judgmental dullard that nobody would want to hang out with. i've observed plenty of europeans thoroughly enjoy their experience and classmates in US universities - experiences and relationships that are generally not available in the non-collegial environments of most european universities. not everyone's agenda is to be a 40 year old at age 20. we don't place a premium on early maturity the way you seem to.

I always find it humorous how stuck up Europeans they are the ones that tend to live at home with their mothers the longest and tend to have more young people not working or working in service type jobs.

We are the immature ones because we like to blow off steam yet you are having your mother do your laundry, cook you food, pick out your women, and find you a job until you hit 35.

As if dressing down, taking time off, and eating shitty food is immature. Yet being unable to care for yourself without your mothers doing everything for you through the age of 40 is a bastion of maturity. All because you wore your Gucci shoes to class while I came from the gym with my nikes on.