I must commend Tim Paluch on his opinion piece entitled “If Canada is #1, what’s that make us?” It was rather well written and, most importantly, it made me chuckle. Way to go, eh? Being a Canadian student, (but certainly not representative of all 26 million of us), I appreciate quality satire when I read it. Frankly, I am impressed to see an American writer that is as adept at poking fun at America as some Canadians are. Canada has learned many things by looking south and seeing how you Americans do things. Hopefully, Americans can look north and see that some of the things you are striving for are possible. This is not to say that things in Canada are perfect, far from it. There is a reason, though, that we are the best place in the world in which to live. In addition to being a Canadian, though, I am also a bit of a stickler. I feel that the best satire is that which stays as close to truth as possible in order to highlight the ludicrous nature of that truth. Bearing this in mind, I must point out a few errors in Mr. Paluch’s writing. Firstly, Canada does not offer free tuition to all students. While every province has a different education system, I am fairly certain that not one of them has gone so far as to offer free post-secondary education (as they have recently done in California). Hopefully, the provincial governments will do this soon. While changing the system, my students loan can be forgiven too. Also, I must point out that no matter which way the wind blows across Lake Michigan, it will never be blowing from Canada. Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake that is entirely within the United States. That vile stench you smelled was Michigan, a lovely state in its own right. Feel free to insert your own joke about the Geographical skills of American students. Joel Gibson

Graduate student

Entomology