It has to do with the news we get over here. When I was overseas and watched Skynews (and other news programs), it was quite an eye opener that not everything revolved around the United States.

America is the only super-power willing to flex it's muscles on the world stage. Because of this they tend to look down on the rest of he world and not care much about them. Predictable really. Britain was the same a century ago. +pts

have you ever attending an american school? i have studyied in a third-world county at war...and recieved better education. the american standards are so LOW and the most irrelevent subject are WAY over-emphasised, where things like science, geoography, and world polictics and affarirs are not put into any kind of spot-light. english is the main language and learning a second one is requird but the expectations are so low that even after the 2 manditory years all that the average student leaves with is the basics and those are soon forgotten. we have 1 semester of economy, and it is very watered down and then it never even leaves the county, we only learn about how our economy works.

No offense, but could the average Australian pick out where Cedar Rapids would be on a generic, unmarked world map and have any idea of the current affairs in the city? Could you, Mr. keithold, pick out Cedar Rapids on a generic map and say anything about the place and its happenings without doing a Google search?

Canadians are always saying such things. Without being a dual citizen of America and another country,I'm not sure any of us are qualified to know if they are or are not.

Assuming you mean the inhabitants of the USA - as long as their missiles know where the other countries are, they don't all need to know as well. Whenever I've been in USA I've been amused that their idea of foreign news sems to be limited to what their fellow citizens are doing in other countries.

Because we all grew up beliving that the entire universe revolved around us. Thats what we were taught. And as adults, when we took our little ethnocentric show on the road, no wonder people hated us!

Because we've pussified ourselves and made our children retarded by cutting military and education funds so we can spend the money trying to appease a world that hates us no matter what.

ask the superintended of schools that same question,i think a lot of us would like to hear the answer.

A lot of us don't care.

Sadly I have to half agree with this presumption, since I have met many of these individuals throughout my life. I think there are too many distractions in most of their lives to begin to even educate themselves about what's going on in our own country let alone the rest of the world.

because our youth is more interested in video games, television shows instead of really learning that educational stuff in school. In Texas, the schools are more interested in getting high TAKS scores than making sure the kids LEARN

We have a great knowledge of geography, Canada is up north and Mexico is down south. . We have our continent down pat, how are all you other people doing on yours?

Not all of them are like this, let's be fair. There ARE some intelligent US citizens out there... they are just hidden behind the hordes of ignorant folks. I would have to blame the US media for this. All the stories are about America, or what Americans are doing overseas.

I'd venture to guess that the average American is no more "ignorant" than the average European. Europeans perpetuate this myth of American ignorance, it's a load of crap if you ask me.

I went to school in the dark ages when black boards really were black and one was made to toe the line in the important subjects or be held back. God forbid that a student is held back now. It would be a blow to their poor ego. I believe that is the problem, the ego. We have at least 2 generations of people who were taught that they were wonderful and beautiful and could do anything. Sorry, but no they can't. They are not wonderful and beautiful and qualified to do everything. Their parents and teachers lied to them and the rest of us have to put up with those egotistical kids. Just try and tell one that they are wrong. They have no discipline, humility or respect for anyone or anything. As for their education, the discipline in the American school system vanished along time ago and special interest decided that learning about having 2 dads or moms was more important than learning about the history of their country and the world. Economics? Is it even taught anymore? Instead of having tough standards and requiring students to meet them, the class is held back until the lazy ones catch up. It's about poor parenting and very liberal standards in schools. It's about holding kids back until they know the lesson instead of moving them along. Yes, I'm angry and frustrated. Parents buy their kids every game on the market to keep them busy when they should be shutting down all that stuff and demanding better homework and study habits from their kids. But, that would mean that they would actually have to parent them, wouldn't it. We can't have that going on. They've been told that the government knows better how to raise your kids than you do. God help us all and the future of this country if these kids can't even find the next war zone or place in need. Put the games away and get out an atlas.

Because they don't really care about politics.

Because our media generally only reports on things happening internationally. I personally find this very annoying and have taken to getting my news through better sources.

Too many of us think the world ends at the border. Our culture is very US-centric. For the 50ish years, we have been the big boy on the block (Except for the USSR, and then we were the good guys and they were the bad guys), so we have evolved a "don't care about anyone else" attitude.

inbreeding?

Well, keithold, I live here and I can tell you to save a few words and cut this question off at knowledge and put the period there.

Schools, parents, and politicians are to blame for this. Parents could make a difference and demand schools teach these subjects, but they don't. They don't provide enough education on these subjects in elementary or secondary education. Those who go on to higher learning will have the opportunity to learn more only if they are in their plan of study, like majoring in political science. Speaking for myself, I've tried to learn more about both subjects and wish I could travel more so that I could really take in all the information first hand. In world affairs, I think our media could do a better job in informing us on more foreign affairs, but they don't. I learn some from getting on the internet and reading books, magazines, and newspapers. That isn't enough I'm sure.

To many people have no concern beyond the mundane of work, school, home, family. It concerns them not if the food they feed their family was grown with slave labor or with toxic chemicals and only got to this country through bribes to corrupt politicians, as long as it is in the store when they want to buy it. And IMHO, that is how our government likes it. Here is hoping that Obama can change that.

i dont think we do, i think its just like any thing else. if you look for brain dead, clueless americans you will find them. if you look for intelligent informed americans you will find them.