It wasn't until Star Trek came on TV that the average American knew the difference between a 'galaxy' and a 'solar system'. And no one seems to be able to grasp the concept of 'constellation'. Science is hard, its boring, its for sissies. And its so hard, only 'brains' can do it. And everybody knows 'brains' are not cool.

The average US college graduate cannot tell you the difference between an atom and a molecule, or a compound and an element. Unless they are pursuing a scientific degree, they use interchangeably the terms Force, Energy, Power and Momentum, as if they all meant the same thing. I'd be willing to bet the average American can't even name the branches of government, or the difference between the House and the Senate, or find Spain on a map.

Yes, there are ignorant people all over the world, but only in the USA are affluent people with access to education and media so poorly informed, and worse, they aren't even aware of it. Even worse than that, they often seem proud of it.

And when it comes to math, forget it. I have run across many otherwise intelligent, articulate people who are totally helpless with even the simplest math. I'm not talking calculus or algebra or trig, I mean how to add or multiply fractions, how to convert decimals to fractions and back, or the Associative, Distributive and Commutative laws.

And go to any bookstore, and I'll bet the astrology section is three times the size of the astronomy shelf.

Americans aren't any dumber or smarter than anyone else in the world, but we seem to have a cultural distaste for education and knowledge. We seem to think its effeminate, conceited, elitist, anti-social, cowardly, even subversive. And those who aren't ignorant and stupid still have learned to keep it to themselves, because we so desperately want to be just like everybody else.

My cousin Rudy from Cuba remarked on that soon after he came to this country, at the age of 16. "Americans aren't necessarily dumb, but the ones who aren't all seem determined to hide it."

My grandfather, a bit older and wiser, put it this way; "Americans aren't as smart as they think they are, but they're not as stupid as we think they are."