British kids are more posh than American kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm... I spent a childhood in the UK. The proportion of low-vocab, unmannerly kids is just has high there than here.

But those kids didn't make it into your FB feed, OP.

I get it.

But it’s filmed at a free school, not some posh school.

And I live in an UMC/affluent part of the dc metro area and I’m stunned by what I see.

Regardless, the videos are fun to watch. The American kids in the videos are fairly emblematic of American students.

Believe me, when those boys are amongst themselves and not on camera, they act like regular teen boys, just with a nicer accent.

[Anonymous]

OP how much time have you spent in England? There are plenty of lower class brits, just as there are lower class americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on their accents these are clearly UMC kids. Their parents and teachers have spent *years* building these language skills and manners. Prioritizing this takes time, effort, money, and buy-in. US culture would need to change drastically if we wanted to recreate this over here.

Ok.

But aren’t most kids in the nice parts of the dc metro area also UMC?

See my part about time, effort, money, and buy-in. UMC DMV families have different priorities. We are more progressive, we value convenience and personal freedoms more, and duty to society less, we are more open-minded in some ways and tolerant of certain behaviors that stem from disabilities, and we are less tolerant of certain types of bullying behaviors that thrive in UK schools. We afford young people more time and flexibility to figure out their educational paths and lives, which means less early specialization and less focus on national assessments where every student is accustomed to being compared to their peers across the whole nation. Etc. I agree the videos were fun to watch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP how much time have you spent in England? There are plenty of lower class brits, just as there are lower class americans.

I’ve traveled to the UK multiple times for business and vacation. I am well aware that lower class people exist there (I’ve watched Benidorm).

I still think their language skills and manners are better than what I’ve observed in the dc metro area.

[Anonymous]

Americans aren't allowed to be "posh". It's considered pretentious here.

One of my kids is a bit of a stickler for manners and has a more formal way of speaking. Both kids have good manners with please and thank you and being polite, but she's just has a more refined way of speaking. She's definitely been called pretentious. And I guess she may be, a bit. She's my kid so I know her hearts in the right place and this is just who she is. But Americans definitely have a preference for a looser, more casual way of speaking and it is culturally enforced.

[Anonymous]

Pp here with brit dh. Many many years ago we were in the UK and visited some friends. Their es aged kids kept staring at me when I spoke. I thought it was because I was not posh. Turns out it was because they were enamored of my American accent which they had only seen on Disney TV shows. Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Americans aren't allowed to be "posh". It's considered pretentious here.

One of my kids is a bit of a stickler for manners and has a more formal way of speaking. Both kids have good manners with please and thank you and being polite, but she's just has a more refined way of speaking. She's definitely been called pretentious. And I guess she may be, a bit. She's my kid so I know her hearts in the right place and this is just who she is. But Americans definitely have a preference for a looser, more casual way of speaking and it is culturally enforced.

Good point.

[Anonymous]

Could be my boys if you dub the accents. Classical schools exist here and manners are still taught. Mine have to wear the school tie though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1MkwUyYhMd/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The most random things pop into my feed, but this one prompted me to post here.

The link is to a video of British boys trying American food for the first time (fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, and sweet tea).

What’s immediately apparent is how polite and refined the British kids are. Their language skills and word choice are very different from what you would hear from any American kid…regardless of income or education.

Why?

And what can be done to improve things over here?

PS - The video is a fun watch.

A FB link?

AYFKM? Are you like someone’s grandma here?

[Anonymous]

Southern kids have way better manners than kids around the DMV. It’s just part of the culture. Not all kids, and it’s more similar across the upper classes. The difference in the south is that even the middle class kids are taught manners and dressed up nicely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, the British kids are students at the Fulham Boys School which is a free school. These aren’t rich kids.

Josh and Ollie have taken groups of FBS students to Korea multiple times and they are really great kids. Headmaster Dave is also awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Southern kids have way better manners than kids around the DMV. It’s just part of the culture. Not all kids, and it’s more similar across the upper classes. The difference in the south is that even the middle class kids are taught manners and dressed up nicely.

+1

Very true.

My kid goes to school in the Deep South and says even people in less affluent areas or service jobs are dressed well and demonstrate better manners than their counterparts in the dc metro area. They are also friendlier and more courteous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think British children have a better vocabulary than American children of the same age. Parents are more involved and they would be mortified if their children spoke like Americans.
They don't dumb down conversations and they realize children can learn to converse in big words.

You have no clue. The video showed kids from a specific social class.

[Anonymous]

Why would American kids want to imitate British posh? They'd be mocked mercilessly. Ask British expat kids about their code switching abilities.

[Anonymous]

You can say the rudest things to Americans and get away with it if you say it with a British accent.