Education of the Masses

Seymour Martin Lipset stated "Who knows only one country knows no countries"
I was reading "How Academia Failed the Nation" by Francis Fukuyama (one of the most intriguing political writers in my opinion) and I felt the need to share my findings with you.  The article talks about the September 11 attacks and the lack of preparedness the United States felt during the response period.  Fukuyama states that there were few that even spoke Pushto or Arabic at all and most of those involved in the assault on Iraq had little understanding of the culture and this led to some of the devastation that would have possibly been avoided had they been educated on the deeper meanings of culture to other nations.
There were few schools that even had Middle Eastern studies as a part of their curriculum at a college level and there were even less specialized programs with training to handle and understand other cultures specifically those in the Middle East.  It is hard for someone at my age to remember in detail what foreign diplomacy and relations were like because I had just started my freshman year in high school but as history has shown, all it takes to shove the masses into education is a tragedy.  The world wars, the attempted invasion of several Asiatic countries, and the Stock Market crash of 1929 were all events that pushed us as a whole into branching out in our education of those things beyond the norms of the time.  It is apparent that this country is lacking in certain knowledge which I believe comes from being a hegemon that has little to fear from any other country.
Fukuyama goes on to say that although it is imperative for people to have at least a basic knowledge of regional studies, it is not enough and "has it's own limitations".  It is more simple to understand one's own country of origin than it is to learn about something completely foreign in immense amounts of ways.  It is easy to overlook and draw general conclusions in areas where specificity is necessary.  Can this be changed?  Will it always take something terrible happening to bring us to reality?  Let us hope not but let this be a lesson learned that we must (as should other countries) be well learned about nations with whom we interact.