why are American kids, on average, not as prepared for life as early as the Middle East kids?

Let's see...

Teachers tend to bend people's grades through extra credit, letting them cheat, extending due dates or deadlines, or just being mediocre teachers in general. Once we realize we can get away with something it turns into excuses like "the teachers always let the class turn things in a week later for 10% off, so I'll do the assignment when I feel like it." This transitions into why grown-ups end up half doing things and cutting corners in the "Work World" and why we have disasters like the oil spill.

A lot of parents aren't willing to tell their kid, "if you don't pull your weight around the house you are going to have to move out and provide for yourself", and if they do they end up saying it but not actually committing to those words.

Example: Mom says, "You aren't paying rent, I'm going to kick you out if you don't have it by the end of the week." A week passes she says, "Ok, I will help you find a job, until then you can pay me back later." In the Middle East when a parent says they don't have enough money to buy clothes, fast food, and so forth the kid can see that they honestly do not. Unless their lives are endanger (or anything close to it) a lot of kids in the U.S feel they can weasel their way into getting things, even if they do not earn it.

And it's not just Middle Eastern kids, why are there noticeable amounts of Indian doctors with P.H.D's appearing in the United States? In other countries kids often don't get the chance to have a quality education so when they come to the states they learn everything they possibly can. They strive to get good grades whereas a lot of kids I know see that as "odd" up until they realize that they need good grades to get into college.

Our education system isn't necessarily bad but American kids just don't have the desire (some do, but not on the same level) to acheive because it appears that we don't need to.

American parents are quite neglectful when it comes do discipline. They are more interested in being their childrens' friends rather than their parents. In the Middle East, they actually know how to be parents.

That's a good question. But I wouldn't limit it to Middle Eastern kids, because other countries feel the same way.

Because American culture is all about me me me and no one disciplines anyone. In the Middle East, they are raised with values and if they mess up, they get punished.

Yeah, all those 18 year old Middle Easterners allowing themselves to be used as suicide bombers by terrorists. That takes preparation.

Maybe because we believe in allowing people to choose their own path in life. If a woman doesn't want to spend her life "taking care of a house" then she shouldn't have to.

Also, Americans value childhood and believe that children should have the opportunity to be young. We let people grow up and find out who they are before they have to be adults.

because we value leisure waaay more than the Middle East?

because we value a child being a child, and beyond that there are more things a woman can do then to learn how to take care of a house, I am very fortuante that I was able to be a child for as long as I could be, and that my life is not dictated (to an extent) according to my gender.

They have a far better education system. We hate taxes too much to make ours better. In short, it's because we're a whole lot stupider than they are.

WHY? the Texas board of education....and 8 years of lessening to this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EvNJWM_NDg