text: Your first answer is interesting since it assumes one learns about history and geography in school.Of course you do, but you learn much more just from research based on your own interests and curiosities. No.The answer is more complex and relates to the chauvinism that seems to characterise the U.S. When we look at the U.S from the outside, as citizens of other places, it is like experiencing a time warp --- the place looks stuck in the 19th century in terms of political and social attitudes.