The parent comment is extreme and ends in a baseless insult, so I definitely don't want to defend it wholly, but the gist is true. If you think Americans are co

The parent comment is extreme and ends in a baseless insult, so I definitely don't want to defend it wholly, but the gist is true. If you think Americans are competitive about academics, you're probably basing that on a very specific bubble. The "from a young age" mention is especially true; in most American public schools you basically cannot be both cool and get good grades, unless you hide the grades very well and show an appropriate amount of public disrespect for authority.