I am not American, and I’ve only been there once. But I have family living there, I’ve personally met many Americans, and I like some aspects of the country a lot — for example the fact that it’s an old and proud democratic republic, probably the oldest continually ongoing democracy in the world. So please, dear Americans, take the following as friendly advice and not as an attack by an arrogant European know-it-all.
If ever a decent person becomes President of the United States again, their most important job will be to improve public education, especially in rural areas. And by improve I mean an initiative the size of the US Army budget, something the world has never seen. And it’s not just about money but about getting the best experts on education to build a better system. Make it attractive for experts from Finland and other countries with top-notch education systems to come to the States and to advise the next government on how to do it, and make public education free of tuition from kindergarten to University diploma. This, along with universal public health care, paid maternity leave, and a commitment to protecting the environment and switching to clean, renewable energy, and a few other things, is what would truly make America great (again).
The same goes for most other countries, by the way. The geographic distributions of votes in the Brexit and Erdogan referenda and in the first round of the French Presidential Election suggest that many countries have exactly the same problem. Feed the children (and all other people), both their minds and their bodies, if you really, truly love your country and the world.
