If they spend time with friends it's because they feel like they have to. In the US, there's this fear of slipping through the cracks that's enforced on every level. People need to realize that it's okay. You don't fall forever. You can take chances and risks.
People here feel that failing is a fate worse than death.
And even the curricula of high schools are determined by what employers want. There's no emphasis on learning just for the sake of learning. In Russia, Communism and liberalism failed so miserably that Russian kids, unlike Americans, are the least brainwashed human beings on earth. They're much more open to anything. And it's interesting to note that in Moscow all the major moves to boycott or censor our paper have come from Americans. . . .