I can vouch for the fact that not a lot of people seem interested in foreign affairs. I notice people’s newspapers stacking up in the driveway, and then being thrown out without being read. It also does not help that the media does not display world information. On newsstands there are magazines full of celebrity of fashion gossip, not the important information for world affairs. People seem to find gossip more entertaining and what will sell is what will be displayed. I read the newspaper now and then, but my knowledge on world affairs is very limited. Knowing two people were murdered in Spain, or that another suicide bomb went off in Iraqi will not help me pass my next math exam. I focus primarily on what is affection me at the moment, and because of this I am ignorant in my regard for the rest of the world.
On another note, I was under the impression that Americans were learning more languages now then they have in the past. Thirty years ago there was not an expectation for people to learn a foreign language nor were there job requirements for it. Nowadays jobs are insisting that their employees to be at bilingual. I was surprised to learn that as the years go on, less people are being subjected to new languages.
I can understand why less Americans have passports compared to other countries, and it is because some Americans want to tour the U.S. before traveling abroad. The United States offers a lot of travel destinations and so citizens would not need to get their passports until much later. Also, the price on passports are rising, giving people a motive for not getting one.
For the most part, and I unfortunately fit into this category, Americans do not listen to the news as often as they should. But that undermines the people who are attentive to world affairs, know three of more languages, and travel abroad excessively. There are people out there who do have a good knowledge of what is going on in the rest of the globe. Just as a whole, most Americans are unaware of things outside of their own world.
Shawna, great entry! I was surprised to see the decline in second languages the first time I read the article as well. It seems like it is more important in the world now, so it seems like it is a trend we should work on training. Thanks!