Shallowness...

I read an article in a newspaper publication the other day talking about how and why Filipinos are shallow...although some points in the article were valid points, a lot of the other points made me think.  Is it really not possible to criticize one's self without overestimating or praising others and underestimating one's self?  No nation is perfect, although it may seem like it, unless you live in that particular area, you can't really talk about how much better it is...It is possible to only see the best in a country when you don't live in it, I'm not saying I don't like living in New Jersey.  I enjoy all the personal liberties that the Constitution gives me, but having lived here for more than half of my life, it is inevitable for me not to see the bad things that come with living here.  I'm not trying to say that because I have lived in two different countries that my points are the only one that can be valid, obviously my observations can have flaws in it as well...When I lived in the Philippines, I didn't experience being in classes with people who were illiterate, I went to a private school and most of the people that went there were there because their parents wanted them to receive the highest kind of education that was offered in the part of the Philippines they lived in. I don't really remember anyone who was a scholar, but there may have been one or two who were scholars, they may have just mixed in really well, there was never really an obvious gap between the social classes in my school, and if there was, it wasn't that obvious to my nine year old self.