You and the author are quite right. I grew up in the 50s and finished high school in 1965. History, from early Canadian history to Ancient History and ending with post WWII history, was taught through out those years.  While it was never a really detailed examination it did give us a grounding that allowed us to relate to current events as they happened. In reading the comments posted on various news sites, I see that many lack this basic background. For example, 'moon howler' mentions Islamists, but if he realized that the seeds of this radicalism were sown by the post WWI carving up of Ottoman Empire by Britain and France and subsequent Big Power meddling, he might better understand the situation facing the Middle East. Without a basic grounding in history, we wind up, in the words of Pierre Trudeau, " contemplating the lint in our navels". And I say this not as an academic, but as a lifetime blue collar worker.