Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of polite and well spoken kids in the US. You just don't know any.

I do.

But the point is that we should see this across the board in middle class America yet we do not…particularly in the dc metro area.

Fwiw, British kids wear uniforms to school; it doesn’t mean they are affluent.

If that school is Fulham boys school, which i think it is because Jolly or Korean English Gentleman youtube channel has done a lot of filming in that school ( see the episodes of them bringing korean food to the school - my fave episodes on their channel) then it has a mix of ses. But imo the difference is that private schools (free public in uk) can admit who they want so if you don't fit their mold they can deny you. Same for privates here.

DH is from the UK, and believe me, there are not so classy kids there, too. A large part is your ses much like here.

I also think you are influenced by the accent. I don't blame you as that is one of the first things that I noticed about my DH, and I told him that if he lost his accent I'd leave him lol. But it does make them sound more posh. Even the curse words sound more posh with that type of accent.

I’m British, and it’s very clear to me that these kids are not UMC. Nor are they especially well-spoken. I find that kids here - and I am unfairly comparing my kids’ private school to this school which is public - are much more articulate and polite than most British kids. (Table manners are a different story, however!)

Personal freedom and the idea that you can do what you want and not conform to anything in society has its results. Most on behavior and dress.

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.

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.

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

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?

I guess you aren't aware of chavs.

I mean, one kid is chewing with his mouth open and spitting crumbs, another says the food looks "like vomit," several are making fart noises, and they love the fried chicken.

This is basically just any high school boy, but wearing a coat and tie.

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.

Britain has always had a huge and very ignorant lower class - no different today Bruv

This very much depends on the kids in the UK.

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.

You still use facebook??

Any one or thing is more posh than Americans.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wow, no. Where did you live in the UK?

The percentages of well-spoken kids and involved parents in the UK are the same as in the US. It’s just that people in the US are so charmed by the British accent and associate it with posh tv shows and period dramas, they think the speaker must be smarter and more sophisticated than that kid with the Texas twang.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS.

The majority of Americans also can't tell the difference between an upper class British accent and middle/lower middle class one. Possibly not even a lower class one.
https://www.studiocambridge.co.uk/a-brief-guide-to-british-accents-and-dialects/

Breaks it down with examples.