SDF. Really. Sometimes you make really interesting points but this is just silly. Unless you're a total libertarian with no belief in public goods like education and total faith in the market, then surely you must realize that young people may be too lazy to learn these things for themselves but ought to be taught them. After all, we went to war in Iraq, ostensibly in response to an attack on New York. You don't think it matters in a democracy whether people know where these two places are? How can you appreciate the risk associated with turning Iraq over to Shiites who may be closely with Iran if you don't know that Iran and Iraq share a border?