Historian Walter Russell Mead, surveying what U.S. state educational systems teach their students about Latin America, has given 33 of them a D or F. Only 12 got an A or B. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/14749045.htm
In this thread, “Why do Americans know so little about Canada?” – http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=373082 – the consensus is that there just aren’t very many reasons for Yanks to pay attention to Canada. A stable, prosperous, democratic country with few social problems and no major points of conflict with the U.S. does not generate much news here. Well enough. But why are we so ignorant about Latin America? We have a lot of reasons to pay attention to LA! That’s where most of our immigrants come from, and a lot of our imported oil and gas, and practically all of our cocaine, and we’ve been involved, directly or indirectly, in more than a few Latin American wars, and may be again. Shouldn’t Latin American history and current events be covered very thoroughly in American history and social studies classes?