The general population has no clue where other countries are located on the map.
This is a perpetual myth. Many Americans are WELL versed on geography, some are not, just like in any other country.
Of course Europeans know Europe better, and Asians know Asia better. Cultures tend to be geocentric.
I'll put my geographic knowledge up against an above average person in any other nation. It's fun to call ourselves stupid, but it isn't true. And late night shows interviewing thousands of people on the street in order to showcase the handful of respondents who can't answer the questions is helping the myth along nicely.
It is true that many other countries, particularly in Europe, have more varied linguistic abilities than we do, but I believe that's because A: European countries are smaller and contact zones between languages more numerous, and B: English has become the international standard, allowing us 'mericans to be lazy to learn a second (or third) language. I learned German and Japanese, and have largely lost both for inability to practice.
We do not have the best education system in the world, but it is light years from the worst.
