[Racer26]

The thing that I think alot of Americans don't realize is just how much their economy affects the rest of the world.

The economies of the rest of the world, and Canada in particular is heavily dependent on money coming in from exports to the USA. When the American economy tanks, it drags the rest of the world down with it, because the American public stops buying whatever widget my company exports to the USA.

Also, I don't think most Americans realize just how culturally similar Canada is (especially within 200km of the US Border, where 90% of Canada's population exists). I've travelled many parts of the world, and I can definitely say that Canada and USA are very similar, while the rest of the world is rather different.

My point here I guess is that the world does not revolve around the USA, BUT it is HEAVILY affected by what goes on there. The tanking economy, thats a world problem. The lack of future engineers this program is supposed to nurture, again, world problem. The lack of clean drinking water for the masses, once more, world problem.

If we're going to change the culture, get students the world over involved in STEM fields, and bring FIRST to every teen around the globe, we have to start by treating the problems not as an "American" problem, but instead treat them as what they are. World Problems.