Americans and Math

It is well-known that a great deal of people who were born and raised in the U.S. are not that proficient in Math. It's not that we are completely illiterate when it comes to this subject, it's just that complicated equations and word problems tend to make a lot of us nervous and frustrated, which leads to some of us just giving up on them sometimes.

I have an African friend who told me that when he first came to America and was working as a cashier in a convenience store, one day the cash register broke down so he had to quickly add a customer's items up in his head. The customer was impressed by his quick math skills, so he told my friend that the reason why he is so good in math must be because he'd been living in the U.S. for a while.

After the man told my friend that, my friend corrected him by saying that he didn't get his math skills by living in America, being that the U.S. is not the most proficient when it comes to math. He told him that the country that he grew up in was much more advanced in mathematical skills. As soon as he said that to the customer, the man got angry and told him to go back to his country, then he left without buying his items. I guess he couldn't handle the truth.