I was in a restaurant Houston, Texas a few years ago. My daughter knew several people who worked there, and they had graduated from the local high school.

When a waitress asked "will there be anything else?", I said "yes... who won the Civil War, the Union or the Confederacy?" She had no idea. She went and asked another waitress, who also didn't know. They talked to a guy who worked at the restaurant, and he didn't know either. One thought the Civil War was fought in the 1960's.

Finally, a fourth person, a waitress, came to our table beaming because SHE knew that the Union North won. She also knew it was some time in the 1800's.

When they all walked away except our waitress, my daughter said "That's like not knowing who Gandhi was". Our waitress then asked "Who's Gandhi?"

Yup... these were all high school graduates, living in an area that was directly affected by the Civil War... and they had zero knowledge of it. My kids could tell me from 1st grade about the Civil War and most other aspects of our history.