I've always loved documentaries. Even in high school when my teacher would tell the class that we were watching a video, everyone else would roll their while mine lit up like a Christmas tree. The documentary we watched in class this week, Where To Invade Next, Michael Moore travels to different countries to find out about their different life styles that leads them to be the happiest people on earth so to speak. The documentary was enlightening in comparison to how America does things around our neck of the woods. Watching the documentary, my jaw dropped to several of the topics that were being covered.
He visits Italy to start off his "invasion" and right off the bat he visits a couple that has traveled more the average American. Why? Michael interviews business owners and workers only to find out that they get eight weeks paid vacation. They are firm believers in stress sickness so they believe going on vacation and coming back to work fully relaxed is the source to a strong immune system. The next stop on his journey was France. The local schools are given a 5 star restaurant meal. They consider learning good nutrition and having excellent table manners will help in the long run to a successful future. During one of the scenes, Michael whips out a Coca-Cola because a vending machine was not in sight in the cafeteria. He offered a taste to one of the students and I couldn’t help but notice a few children in the background were almost hesitant to even try the carbonated substance. A little girl did take one for the team and try it. He also showed the kids a picture of what American school lunches looked like. In Michael Moore's words: "You know it's bad when the French pity you." In Finland, the kids education is way ahead everybody else in America. The schools in Finland believe giving homework SHOULD'NT be given!!!!! They go to school less and don’t have standardized testing. The teachers want the children to live a life that a child should. Climbing trees, hanging out with family, and going to school less. The max amount of hours children in Finland go to school is 20 hours. If given any homework, it would take them 10 minutes. On average, they spend 3 to 4 hours in a classroom. What about college? Free. Michael travels to Solvenia and talks about debt in America for a college student but the students in Solvenia didn’t even understand what being in debt meant! He spoke to 2 American students going to college in Solvenia because they couldn’t afford the University or even community college anymore!! For a regular American to get by, you need either a very well paid job or work 2-3 jobs. Germany, you work 36 hour work weeks. You could be living the dream making pencils and you still get a scheduled break!! It's against the law in Germany to contact any employee after hours or on vacation. Wouldn't that be nice here? He later traveled to Norway to learn about the prison systems. They give the inmates a chance to turn over a new leaf almost and have them take classes such as culinary, where here in the U.S. you just serve your time and you're lucky if you get a job when you get out the dog house. After traveling to these beautiful destinations, Moore finds that all of these ideas originally came from the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. God Bless America.
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