When I was living in Germany during college, my friends and I went to a bowling alley in a small city. The guy who have us our shoes was fluent in English and French. We traveled to Greece, and lesser educated people were still intimately familiar with all the workings of world politics. Dulios and I sat in an Irish pub in Germany many hours talking to British military grunts and Irish migrant workers about the state of world affairs. These categories of people in the US would be largely slack-jawed when it comes to life outside the United States. We are so ethnocentric. On this Independence Day, I have no problem honoring my country. Nevertheless, the curse of low expectations cannot be all...

When I was living in Germany during college, my friends and I went to a bowling alley in a small city. The guy who have us our shoes was fluent in English and French. We traveled to Greece, and lesser educated people were still intimately familiar with all the workings of world politics. Dulios and I sat in an Irish pub in Germany many hours talking to British military grunts and Irish migrant workers about the state of world affairs. These categories of people in the US would be largely slack-jawed when it comes to life outside the United States. We are so ethnocentric. On this Independence Day, I have no problem honoring my country. Nevertheless, the curse of low expectations cannot be allowed to take over our national psyche any longer. We are losing ground in the world citizen, informed thinker ideal.

I found this video very disturbing. When I was 14, I spent the entire summer touring Europe and the Middle East with two teachers. Every teenager I met--and this was 40 years ago--spoke English (and usually one other foreign language) quite well. I remember asking this one German girl what kind of grade she received in school in "English" and "Spanish" language class. Turned out that she only earned "Cs" while I got "A's" in Honors Spanish class. As young as I was, I knew the U.S. was clueless when it came to teaching foreign languages in school! And forty years ago, world history and geography were required coursework--much more than today. Instead, our kids know how to take tests and are...

I found this video very disturbing. When I was 14, I spent the entire summer touring Europe and the Middle East with two teachers. Every teenager I met--and this was 40 years ago--spoke English (and usually one other foreign language) quite well. I remember asking this one German girl what kind of grade she received in school in "English" and "Spanish" language class. Turned out that she only earned "Cs" while I got "A's" in Honors Spanish class. As young as I was, I knew the U.S. was clueless when it came to teaching foreign languages in school! And forty years ago, world history and geography were required coursework--much more than today. Instead, our kids know how to take tests and are experts in be- ing disrespectful to teachers and others in authority because they are consumed with being "entitled."