10 | the standard / nov. 2021 / opinion
a Foreigner’s Dual citizen shares his opinion on the US
Writer’s note: The following article is intended to be a humorous contrast between New Zealand and the U.S.
A
fter moving to the United States from New Zealand, I have collected quite a few observations on the country, both positive and negative. First, the airports. I would like to point out how confusing the airports are. The second we got off the plane and entered the Los Angeles airport we got turned around. That airport is 135 square kilometers in total, or 1,456,254,360 square feet if you are a patriot, which you are. The biggest airport in New Zealand is only 23 square kilometres, or 247,551,480 square feet, if you need perspective. Speaking of measurements: the metric system. One of the main reasons the U.S. is known to be resistant to widespread change is its continued refusal to use the metric system. Why this steadfast, unbreakable loyalty to the imperial
system? Even the bloody creators of the system don’t even use it anymore. After using both the metric and imperial systems, I find the metric system much easier to use. Honestly, would people really rather use fractions in every measurement instead of counting to 10? In the metric system, 10 millimeters is 1 centimetre, 100 centimetres is 1 metre, and 1000 metres is 1 kilometre. Some would argue it would cost a ton of money to switch from the imperial system, but that is incorrect. For example, when you order a sandwich in New Zealand, you don’t order a 0.3048 metre sandwich, you order a footlong. My point is, you don’t have to switch absolutely everything over, just the things that make sense. On a more serious note: summer break. Why hasn’t the U.S. gotten rid of this yet? Hear me out. I’m saying there are better daily schedule options that would help students not feel so overwhelmed
when school is in session. The only reason the U.S. implemented summer break in the first place is because people needed their children to help them farm. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but honestly, having three months off adds two bloody hours to your daily school schedule. Just shorten it to one month or less and call it a day at 1 p.m., or take a breather and sleep in until 8 a.m. For me, spending three months off instead of my usual two weeks was like taking sandpaper to my brain, effectively erasing all of the topnotch material I had learned that year. Controversial topic alert: don’t get upset. Public health care. The U.S. is known for the excellent quality of life to Americans, but public healthcare not being a thing is a very big downside for me. Don’t get me wrong, private healthcare has benefits as well. Such as increased quality of health care and no wait times, but I feel like
