It occurs to me that Americans are a little bit too proud of themselves to the point where they think that America is already perfect and they don't want to change anything. Hence, no metric system, no gun control, no improved medical insurance system and no rehaul of the tax system in order to pay for the deficit. Americans are reluctant to learn from the experience of other countries. When I was in Japan I noticed that schools are like prisons. It's the same in Taiwan and Korea: schools are surrounded by gates and only teachers, students, staff and parents are allowed in. Students who come late for school have to ask the guard to let them in and parents have to wait until 4:00 when school ends to pick up their kids as they leave. There's been a lot of debate regarding gun control in the United States immediately following the shooting of twenty students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Nobody has talked about how easy it was for the gun man to get in the school. Japan doesn't have guns but if it did shooting the guard would have meant nobody could have unlocked the gate for a gun man to get inside.