At the risk of sounding like an ugly American, I’m getting sick of English people’s sense of superiority. Here’s where I’m coming from.

I was talking to my younger brother on Skype yesterday, and he lives in West Malvern, England. Though we both hail from Huntington, West Virginia, he and his wife and children moved there two years ago and now he’s a full-bore British Islander. His wife is a native of that area.

As is the case with all our conversations, the subject of education came up - his daughters are nearly the same age as my son. He and his wife prattle on incessantly, “Oh, it’s so much tougher over here, the kids have so much more to do, so many essays to write - it’s not just filling out papers.” The slight is obvious.

Why then isn’t every kid from their school matriculating then becoming a leading researcher in some awesome scientific field? For instance, while I was just watching the British Open, I wondered the same thing I do every year: Why do they not have cameras and satellite uplinks over there that can track a golf ball in the air? You watch a shot and it’s jumpy, like it’s moving too fast for the lens to catch it in action. Hell, at a PGA Tour event, blimps flying high above the action can track a golf ball from clubface to final resting position, sometimes even when it finishes deep in the rough.

Maybe some kid from my brother’s kids’ school will figure it out.

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