When terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City five years ago, America was received with a surge of sympathy from its ally nations.  But when President Bush launched the War on Terror, the world's opinion began to change.  "A lot of people had sympathy for Americans around the time of 9/11, but that's changed," said Cathy Hearn, a flight attendant from South Africa, quoting views she's heard in many countries.  "They act like the big guy riding roughshod over everyone else."
To say that Bush's war in Iraq has held the majority of the weight in the transformation of foreigners opinions of America from good to bad is putting it mildly.  Interviews from Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia have received a common response: America's war in Iraq has swayed the previous sympathy felt for the 9/11 attacks to antipathy and disappointment over what is seen as "the sole superpower's inclination to act preemptively, without either persuasive reasons or United Nations approval" (New York Times, 2003).
While many anti-American attitudes have changed after the destruction of the Twin Towers, foreign people are finding it increasingly difficult to find good things to say about America in general.  American citizens have a habit of conveniently forgetting that there are other people occupying this planet the same as they are, and most countries believe it is because America views itself as the dominator of the world.  "It's a wonderful country, but it seized power" said Dmitri Ostalsky, a literary critic and writer based in Moscow, Russia.  "It's ruling the world.  America's attempts to rebuild all the world in the image of liberalism and capitalism are fraught with the same dangers as the Nazis taking over the world."
Jean-Charles Pogram, a French computer technician, said, "Everyone agrees on the principles of democracy and freedom, but the problem is that we don't agree with the means to achieve those ends.  The United States can't see beyond the axiom that force can solve everything, but Europe, because of two world wars, knows the price of blood."
It's a shame that entire countries' views of America are the effects of a few men who thought that, for whatever reasons, they were doing the right thing.  As practically impossible as it is to condone the atrocities of a war in the name of people who just want to take care of themselves, it's even more difficult to put an immediate stop to something so deeply ingrained into the world's politics as the war in Iraq.  Many Americans want what other nations want: for the violence to end, for our troops to return home safely, and for a general feeling of peace to resume over the world.  Unfortunately, what the American people want is apparently no longer what the American government seems to care for, at least until election time rolls around.

Quotes taken from: www.globalpolicy.org/empire nalysis/2003/0911darken.htm

Let's face it: America may be the world's current superpower, but it's certainly not because of our intelligence, or rather, lack thereof.  Although it's difficult to determine which of the world's multitude of countries is the most intelligent, studies have shown a reoccurrence in Japan, South Korea, Germany, and Finland as a few of the leaders.  America and Britain dominate the list of best universities, which raises the obvious question of why we don't produce the world's greatest geniuses.  The answer is simple: we're lazy.
Raised in a nation where, theoretically, everyone has an equal opportunity to excel, Americans have become accustomed to the promise of a higher education and a chance at better life, thinking that, since it's available to everyone, it will be handed to them on a silver platter.  Countries that top the chart in academic excellence got there by limiting education resources to those who have a true and passionate thirst for learning.  American children, however, moan and groan every morning as they wake up to attend their approximately 8 hours of mandatory learning.
And why shouldn't they?  With policies like No Child Left Behind in act, and the tsunami of standardized tests they have been drowned in, who would really want to drag himself out of the warm comfort of his bed every morning to face the grueling demands of school?  The lack of interest in American students is becoming increasingly apparent and, unfortunately, a threat to the entire American standard of living, one that cannot be ignored for much longer.
"America must rebuild its education system to avoid losing more jobs overseas and maintain the standard of living for its workers…America no longer has the world's mot-educated work force, and the nation will face increasingly tough times without extensive changes to its education system," was the recent verdict of The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce.  The report calls for drastic action: the abolition of obligatory school attendance after the completion of 10^th grade, universal pre-kindergarten programs, independent contractors as school operators, and changes to the standardized testing system.  "Hopefully that means less testing and more focused testing, because now these kids are being tested to death, which cuts into valuable educational time," says Dr. Nancy G. Allmon, the executive director of the Berks County Intermediate Unity (more commonly known as BCIU).
The commission suggests that 10^th graders prove their academic achievements by taking placement exams and, upon passing them, forego their remaining high school years and go straight into community colleges or technical schools.  For those who strive for a higher education, students would complete their junior and senior years of high school and then, as it is now, take exams to qualify for four-year colleges.  Dr. Richard A. Kratz, president of Reading Area Community College (RACC) pointed out that many high school juniors and seniors already participate in the college's dual-enrollment program, which allows them to wedge college courses into their regular high school schedules, while still earning credits in both areas.
The plan sounds good on the surface, but no one knows for sure what disadvantages it may have on the students who are forced to learn under these circumstances.  This is assuming it ever leaves the drawing board.  Chances are, many administrators won't agree with the idea of having contractors oversee everything that happens within the school.  "A contractor will always be looking at the profit margin, and that will come at the expense of education," says Dr. Roger S. Hertz, a retired executive director of the BCIU.  The threat of a contractor-run school district isn't new to those of us at Reading High, and it's a change administrators have been trying to avoid like the plague.  If this proposal takes flight and forces schools to surrender to the will of contractors, will America's level of education skyrocket, or continue to plummet at the expense of an agreeable profit?
Hertz believes the change to be too radical and thinks that changes should be made where needed instead of nationwide.  He compared the change to the 1960's consolidation of the school districts in Pennsylvania from 2500 to 501.  "There was a lot of trauma associated with that change," said Hertz.  "The overhaul this commission is suggesting would be mind-boggling.  They'll have a tough time selling it."
Dr. Robert L. Urzillo, Conrad Weiser School district superintendent, agrees, saying that the answers for a better educational system lie tweaking the current program that secondary education is based on, not in ending billions of students' educations prematurely.  Urzillo believes that the key to a better educational system is raising the standards for all students, creating a more rigorous curriculum in the fields of mathematics and science, and focusing more heavily on foreign languages, especially Chinese and Arabic.  "We need to speak the languages of those we're competing against," Urzillo says.
While it's obvious that the American education system is in dire need of a reformation of some sort, whether it will be decided that it is to happen nationally or regionally is a long time in coming, and the administration of such a plan would take even longer.  Until then, students of America, keep your noses to the grindstone if you want to maintain all the cushy standard of living you're accustomed to now, because if the winds of change don't begin to blow soon, we're in big trouble.