I’m going to post my response and then go back and see what other people’s opinions are.
**My background: ** I grew up in 2 different poor areas–one rural and one urban. My family would describe themselves as “lower middle class.” My parents went to college for 4 years, bachelor’s degrees. Mom was a teacher for a while until I came along and then stayed home with me and then my brother, Dad worked. When I was growing up, the family yearly income peaked at $40,000 American per year, right before I went to college. We always had a car—extremely necessary for transportation. We didn’t have a dishwasher. We did have a TV, but they were generally used, and we didn’t have cable until I was a junior in high school. Money was sometimes tight when my dad was between jobs, and he was once unemployed for over a year (right before we moved—so he could find a job) we subsisted on his unemployment checks and food stamps. I’ve never gone hungry, and we never wanted for necessities like food or heat in the winter or clothing, but new clothes came from cheap stores.
I am 24, I have a bachelor’s degree, and I’m self-employed. My husband has a bachelor’s degree as well. He is employed.
Number one – Is the standard of science (and other) education really that dismal?
Whoo, now this one is a hard one. It really depends on the school district, and the school district often depends on whether you’re in a rich neighborhood and what state you’re in. I’ll start out with a general description of the school system. Each state (and I assume districts and territories) is responsible for managing its own educational system. Some things are standard: “Public” (funded by taxes) school starts around 5 years old with Kindergarten, then grades 1-12. Grades 9-12 are high school, Grades 1-8 can be either “elementary school” by themselves, or split into “elementary” and “junior high” or “middle school” (jr. high and middle school are the same thing.) Colleges and universities are another kettle of fish that I won’t go into. Some are good, some are bad. Some are “state” schools funded partially by taxes. Some aren’t.
“Private” schools are also available, sometimes Catholic schools, sometimes not, and these are funded by, at least partially, student tuition. Obviously, quite a few people cannot afford this. Some parents choose to “home school” and that’s legal as long as they do…some sort of legal runaround with the school district. I’m not clear on home schooling, but I think there are still public standards they have to abide by.
As far as I know, children under 18 are all required by law to attend school of some sort.
In my personal experience, the public school I went to in Kentucky ran circles around the public school district I went to in Ohio. Kentucky went through an educational reform system involving new standards for testing and teaching back in the late 80s and 90s. My middle school work in Kentucky was, quite honestly, more rigorous and at a higher level than the work I did in high school in Ohio. My opinion on this has come as a shock to people who think that Kentucky is just a backwoods hole. (Ok, in some ways I think so too, but I’ll get to that in a minute.) Ohio schools were a joke when I went. They had formal testing at the 9th grade level and the 12th grade level. You didn’t have to pass the 12th grade level test to graduate, just your classes. You did have to pass the 9th grade level test to graduate high school. My disdain for Ohio schools would take up far more room than I have here. Some other states have “magnet” schools where students with special aptitude in the arts or science or engineering can take a test and be admitted to. Some states spread tax money around the districts and some keep the money in different districts.
Add government management and taxes to this mess and you have the reason Americans are so annoyed with our school systems. There’s no country-wide standard, and quite honestly, it’s a huge fuckin’ mess. We know that our stats are slipping compared to other countries, and we’re irritated by that. This is partially, if we’re honest, because “We’re Americans and we want to be the best damn it!” and partially because we want kids to have good educations that will allow them to function in the growing global society.
**Number two – how rife is racism? Would it be noticeable to an outsider, or is it kept underground? **
It would probably depend on what country you’re coming from and what race you are. Racism is there. It depends on the environment, and it depends on the races that are interacting. It depends on whether it’s a city with a huge mixed population or a backwoods town (coughWestLibertyKentuckycough) where there are still people who quite openly about how “those people” are fine, but “I don’t want one marrying my daughter, I’m just sayin’.”
We’re embarrassed by those people, at least. We have loud arguments with them at least. People aren’t directly barred from places of business or schools, at least. But it’s really not enough. We tend to mill around awkwardly with people of different races like school-kids who have just been told by the teacher to stop fighting and make friends. The divide between white people and black people seems largest to me. As a people, we’re more comfortable with “recent” immigrants instead of our old demons. I remember a big nasty fight on here a while back because Biggirl’s daughter was reduced to tears by a racist customer at her workplace. Shit like that still happens. As a white person, I’m certain I’m more insulated from this than others.
**Number three – how religious is the average person? **
Protestant Christianity seems to me to be the biggest religion, and various sects argue amongst themselves and some are more tolerant than others. I’m an atheist, and there are still people who’d be shocked and horrified by that. One of them’s my grandma. I would not put a religion I did not adhere to down on a form. Religious discussions are generally kept out of the workplace—fine among friends, and I don’t know anyone who feels the need to hide their opinion from anyone they’re friends with—just easily troubled old ladies. My family prays before they eat and doesn’t go to church regularly, despite being generally religious. In Kentucky, we went to church for the yearly summer picnic, for Easter, and for the Christmas play with the kids.
Number four – how law abiding is the average citizen?
I think the average person obeys the law—occasional minor traffic violations like going through a yellow light or speeding a little are common. I, personally, trust the cops to be honorable and not bribable. Depends on the neighborhood—some places are more dangerous and different crimes are more common in different places. We have small towns where people don’t lock their doors, medium/large sized cities that are nice, and medium/large sized cities that are holes. I feel quite safe in my day to day life, and I would not be afraid of a stranger I met in the street. I would not leave my laptop unattended in a coffee shop.
**Number one - what does the average person eat day to day? **
This morning, I had coffee with cream, a glass of water, and a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. We have cereal or a bagel for breakfast, usually. On weekends, I like to make a big breakfast with scrambled eggs, biscuits, and potatoes. Sometimes bacon–we’re trying to eat healthier lately. For lunch, I generally have a sandwich with ham, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and mustard. Sometimes a sandwich with tuna with lettuce and tomato. Generally I’ll have a handful of potato chips or some carrot sticks with it. We have fast food for dinner around once a week—Wendy’s , Taco Bell, pizza, or Chinese takeout. For dinner, I make a lot of chicken dishes—baked, stir-fry, or pan fried. I’ll marinate and bake sirloin steak with bell peppers and potatoes. In the summer, we’ll have homemade burgers and fries and corn on the cob. (mmm…) Dinner usually involves meat of some sort, with vegetables either mixed in or as a side dish. Lettuce, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, and bell peppers are always in my fridge. Frozen beans and corn are always in the freezer. Potatoes and rice are always in my cabinet.
My mother in law’s taco recipe needs to make an appearance a few times a month, or my husband will go into withdrawal. I love cornbread and pinto bean soup, and my husband won’t eat it, so it’s a rare treat from my childhood when I take the time to make it. I’d say the typical American dinner involves a hunk of meat and cooked veggies or a salad as a side. We were all traumatized by public school lunches, which are generally soggy, microwaved, pre-packed, weirdly flavored monstrosities. Maybe that’s another reason we’re mad at our schools.
I generally I keep some apples or grapes on the table, some cookies and popcorn in the cabinet. These disappear over time as snacks here and there. My husband is a Coca-Cola addict who’s trying to quit, so I won’t keep it in the house any more. He’ll buy a half liter now and then, and we’ll have coke when we’re eating out. I like iced tea and lemonade.
**Number two – How “middle class” is middle class America? **
See, the thing is, everyone here pretty much wants to be “middle class” American. We like to pretend we don’t have classes, because all we really have are the divides between finances, education, and race. It makes it complicated. People who have all kinds of toys, new clothes, solid houses, a maid who comes in once a week, a new car every year, and money saved for retirement want to call themselves middle class. We’ve got tons of college debt and live in an apartment with bookshelves from Walmart, but a dishwasher, but we can afford car payments and decent computer equipment and brand name groceries and the occasional treat when we want it. We can afford to fly to visit family once a year. We call ourselves middle class. My parents lived paycheck to paycheck, bought groceries from the cheap store in bulk and stocked up on sales, kept a garden, had hand me down furniture and ratty cars, and bought clothes from places called Family Dollar. We never went hungry, though. Our vacations were a week visiting family a couple hour drive away. They call themselves middle class. Cars are painfully necessary here, and public transportation is rare and badly managed.
In general, we can agree on this:
“The poor” = people unable or really struggling to support themselves
“The rich” = people who wipe their asses with $100 bills
Everyone in between argues about labels.
**Number three – If I come for a visit, what would I be surprised about? **
I hear we’re happy and friendly. We have some scenery you would not believe. Not believe. I recommend: mountains in Colorado, hills in Kentucky, anywhere around Seattle, and the beaches on Florida’s gulf coast. Also, we eat well. Lots of immigrants and a good economy does that. The criticism I see most often is that the American food people in other countries see is just fatty plastic crap. Well, no, we don’t want to tell you about that awesome rib joint in Georgia or that hole in the wall Vietnamese place in Denver, or those tamales a friend in high school brought in for a party, or my aunt’s fried chicken, or we’d have a run on the place. 
Number four – why do you insist on leaving out the ‘h’ in herb? And why do you pronounce the word caramel as CAR-mel?
Because that’s the right way to say it, of course. 
