Superpower in ignorance?

There has been much talk of the waning power of the USA. Indeed, looking at larger scales and broader developments, one might be inclined to draw such preliminary conclusions (China, India, Russia, Brazil, the EU etc...). Certainly on a discursive level, there has been a marked shift in emphasis away from the US, which may or may not correspond to actual events, but certainly renders the impression that the USA is no longer the centre of the world (in my own mental map the gravity has shifted away from America - both figuratively speaking, but also the way I imagine the world map).

There have been plentiful studies, commentaries, reports etc on the development of economies, natural resources, military might, the effects of ill-conceived (and dreadfully executed) foreign policy adventures. There are also a number of drip-drip studies (some quite bogus, others interesting) that tend to confirm and reconfirm our European prejudices about American ignorance.

The two that struck me today were these:

One survey of first year students (i.e. 18 year olds) revealed that the majority did not know that Czechoslovakia ever existed, nor that Germany had ever been divided, nor that John McEnroe used to play tennis (rather than be an ad-celebrity), nor that Apartheid existed in South Africa (a trend in ignorance first observed in 2006). When prompted with the expression Banana Republic, the majority thought they were referring to a brand and did not understand the expression in the historical-political sense.

Another survey (amongst American adults in general) demonstrated that a fifth (that is every fifth American!) believes that Barack Obama is a Muslim. This either shows that Americans can be incredibly gullible and impressionable, or - more worryingly - that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of compromise, 'Americanness', and dialogue (of course this survey was made against the backdrop of the 'Mosque' debate in New York).

This is not a case of bashing Americans. Not at all. It's simply a consideration why predictions of America's soon-to-be decline are rarely linked to the ever-increasing inward turn in US society as a whole. How is it possible that a country that was build on the idea of ever-growing horizons have turned so in on itself that apparently a good number of Americans barely comprehend their own country, let alone the world beyond the big blue sea? A country that has prized itself on its innovations now produces students (students, no less) who have never heard of the major developments and actors of around their own birth (not in some mythical distant past).

Is this indeed an integral part of how a country 'plays' on the international scene? There are often (lazy) references to Rome and decadence (of course the Roman Empire was at its strongest during some of the most 'decadent' periods - but never mind), but what about ignorance and decline? On the day that A-Level results are being published and the Great Education Debate starts afresh in that annual ritual, it is certainly worth bearing this in mind and also a word of warning how important and delicate the education system is. It is not about establishing 'global power' or anything, but about shaping a society that works. Education has certainly a key role to play, as the US (and perhaps most stingingly the 'progressives') are maybe just finding out.