Sir, that is just the point. It is the large majority of these literate Americans Who don't have the foggiest idea where rest of the World is. Most Americans have the attitude that we have everything we need domestically so why do we need to know anything about rest of the World. Unfortunately, if we have to assume the leadership of the World we do need to know little more about other Nations than we actually do. This is not conjecture on my part. I have spent last FORTY years of my life in the good old US.
Why should we ? Is that the best mark of an intelligent and educated person ? If I am hiring for an IT position, why should I hire a liberal arts graduate, someone who would have a better than average knowledge of outside US borders, over someone who can code in 20 different computing languages but never leave the state ?
You have the wrong idea on what made the US the so called 'world leader'. It absolutely does not mean demanding every American to be knowledgeable about everything.
If the issue is technology, then there are enough Americans in that field who are knowledgeable about aviation, computers, metallurgy, physics, chemistry, and so on...And that these Americans are leaders in their respective fields in comparison to their peers in other countries.
If the issue is the arts, then there are enough Americans in literature, interpretive dance, painting, graphics, theater, and so on...And that these Americans have the freedom to express themselves unmolested by the government, which is a lot more than we can say for most of the world.
If the issue is politics, then the American body politic is active at all levels, from municipal to federal, with anyone from an expert to an idiot can vie for political offices as long as they can convince enough people to vote for them, of which the system, no matter how flawed, have been copied by other countries to varying degrees. We certainly do not copy from the failed communists, do we ?
If the issue is justice, then the American system is certainly the leader in protections for the accused and restraints on the police. Judges are free from governmental pressure. And the respect for the law is widespread throughout the country.
Individuals inside these issues are not geography experts and we should not expect them to be. It is absolutely unfair and unrealistic when applied to individuals outside their fields of study. A foreign service officer should have a Political Science education and degree and we do expect him/her to know of other countries. But should we expect the same for a professional chemist working for Dow Corning ? Of course not. Should we expect the same for an Airframe-Powerplant mechanic for United Airlines ? Again, not. If chemist and mechanic are at the top of their fields, that is exactly what we want to make US world leader in those fields.
Do you get the point now ?
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