Ashamed to be American.

I've seen plenty of examples of Americans behaving badly while living in St. Kitts. But recent events at Ross have taken the cake.

We were warned from the moment orientation began that the police conduct random traffic stops to check for valid driver's license, car insurance and that your wheel tax is paid up to date. We were warned about this not only because failure to provide any of those three things could get us arrested, but also because the traffic stops could cause us to be late for class, and so we should leave with plenty of time to spare in the mornings. Despite this, when there were traffic stops being conducted this morning and several students were late to class, the Facebook wall for my semester as well as the more general "St. Kitts Students" wall exploded with complaints. Some people even suggested writing letters to the Ross Safety and Security director to try and pressure the police into no longer conducting traffic stops.

Really? The entire police department should rewrite their policies and stop enforcing the law as they deem fit because a few foreigners were inconvenienced?

There have been four arrests since the beginning of the semester just two and a half weeks ago for students driving without a license or car insurance. It's astounding to me that anyone could be so stupid. It's an annoyance to get your license, wheel tax and insurance renewed once a year, sure. I hate it, too. It's hot, you have to stand in line waiting for a long time, and sometimes the accent of the person you're talking to is so thick that you have trouble communicating. But if you complete the Ross program without repeating any semesters, you only have to do this three times for the entire duration of your stay.

So then, why? Why would anyone simply not renew their car insurance or driver's license? Well, as one member of my class pointed out on our Facebook page wall...

so you wanna know my trick...dont stop...i drove for 2 months last semester with out a license cause I lost it, but I didnt want to get a new one cause then I would have to get one right before i left the island...what I did was not stop...they look at you weird, but I keep my head straight and accelerate and act like I never saw them, has worked 4 times...

That's right, he deliberately broke the law because it inconvenienced him.

There have been some accusations of St. Kitts police targeting foreign students (and let me just pause for a second to titter at the irony of white kids getting indignant over being racially profiled). If there's any truth to these claims, come on, can you blame them? See above. You have a student who boastfully admits that he blatantly ignores the law when he feels like it.

Attitude matters. Acting like an entitled, privileged jackass makes all Americans look bad. Thanks for that.