It Was Ever Thus: The Unenlightened American

Canada and the United States are close geographic neighbours. Sharing a long border. Sharing trade and energy resources, and depending on close cooperation in a myriad of ventures including manufacturing and defence. Yet Canada has always known that it was low on the totem pole of esteem from the American administration, whichever one was in power at any given time. And the lowest ebb appears to be right about now.

The American public has never been too interested in their neighbours; a type of mind-cloistering arrogance typical among those who feel such high self-esteem that they imagine noting the presence of others is completely redundant to their needs. Parochial and xenophobic in the extreme, Canada and Canadians are, by and large, considered irrelevant to the Americans, if they're considered at all, and that much is debatable.

Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs has long established Canadian studies programs in various U.S. universities, to try to help educate Americans on the very basics of their neighbours, culture as expressed by literature, by art, along with the political culture which is different from that of the Americans, a focus of that attempt to arouse some interest and facilitate some absorption of basic facts about Canada.

Nothing much seems to have  worked. And now comes some data anew validating the gross ignorance of Americans and their disturbing disinterest in the existence and affairs of a geographic neighbour. Recent results from the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress emphasize the gap in knowledge by American teens in grade eight to the most basic of understanding of Canada, its politics and its society.

Results from the "nation's Report Card demonstrate that 33 percent of American Grade 8 students know just about nothing outside their own country's existence; they respond to questions about Canada, Australia and France with the assumption that all three represent some manner of dictatorships.

A national standardized test queried what the current governments of the three countries have in common; and 23 percent of the 29,000 teens taking the test selected "they have leaders with absolute power" from among four options. Another ten percent selected "they are controlled by the military." Again, out of four options, an additional 12 percent picked "they discourage participation by citizens in public affairs."

In total 54 percent selected the correct response: "They have constitutions that limit their power". In 2014, 23 percent of teens scored at or above proficient on the civics portion of the test; astonishingly a mere 18 percent scored at or above proficient for U.S. history. So the ignorance and educational neglect is not isolated to knowledge about foreign countries, even one in door-knocking distance but a lack of interest in their own country as well.

Kenneth Holland, professor at Ball State University and the president of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States thinks that ignorance may indicate a larger failure to educate American youth: "I think there's a broader problem and that is that Americans know very little bout Canada"; a stunningly obvious declaration. The Canadian government once funded programs providing grants to academics studying Canada globally.

"One purpose of those grants was to provide professional development for K-12 teachers", explained Professor Holland. But the government of Canada eliminated the program in 2012 "So there really is very little money now to train teachers who teach those middle schoolers", he added. Which is a mite absurd, that a country would have to fund specific areas of education in another country to ensure it is not entirely forgotten in a country whose education system leaves much to be desired.

"Canada is a very important ally of the United States. You can see that all over the world right now. Ukraine, Iraq, Syria: Canada is right there fighting alongside the United States", he emphasized. Stressing areas far less important than those of social, trade and political ties, but effectively summarizing which has greater importance in the opinion of Americans.

The reverse, on the other hand is a fact of Canadian life; that most Canadians know the important details about U.S. politics, its society, and its culture; the exertion of the powerful over the modestly moderate.