I’ve been at The American School Foundation of Monterrey (ASFM) for the past 14 years of my life, and I have loved it. An education at this school has given me an intellectual foundation that is reason for envy, with the institution being amongst the best in the country. Courses on everything from Journalism to Computer Science are offered to the student body, leaving us with full open doors towards diversifying our education. But amongst all of this opportunity and vast sea of knowledge there is an evident gap in knowledge: Mexican culture.

In my mind, and the same goes for the rest of ASFM, there is a shameful blank space when it comes to the riches of our nationality. ASFM students do not know much of the flag they hail and everything it stands for; they lack proper skills in handling the Spanish language, know little of their country's current sociopolitical events, and fail at naming important historical figures and instances. This school has succeeded in everything an American school should, but in doing so it's failed to meet the educational standards of most areas regarding the country they stand on. The sad truth is that the underfunded and understaffed public schools of Mexico far surpass this expensive, top-tier institution in our knowledge and understanding of our nation.

Anyone foreign to the school looks at it with disbelief. Students that have come from other schools have been shocked at how ahead they are of their classmates, and usually hold the highest grade in Spanish class. Teachers that have undergone the same process struggle to understand why they are teaching teenagers Mexican grammar and history they’ve been accustomed to teach to children. Competing schools in the Monterrey area look at ASFM with contempt and mock whenever anything relating the country comes up. The school is supposed to be forming the country's next leaders, but can we really expect us to lead a country we don’t know much of?

This isn’t a result of bad teachers; if anything our teachers excel at what they do. With only one course in Spanish per year, teachers are expected to fit all facets of Mexican culture into students’ minds. The fact that they fit a whole country's language, culture and history into one class and actually have the students retain some knowledge is impressive. We as students are pretty well and above average in universal standards of knowledge. We may know everything about everything in the world, but know nothing about of what happens across the Santa Catarina “river”.

I do not aim to be aggressive in this piece, or to seem resentful. I come from a place of confusion. I am 18 years old at this point, and I am troubled at my ignorance. I just now was struck by a feeling of social responsibility and patriotism, which urges me to learn more about Mexico. I am baffled because I feel as if I’ve lived in a bubble, that pops whenever I talk with anyone who isn’t part of the ASFM cult. I love my American school with everything in me, but ask of it only one thing: please do not deprive me of my nationality.