Reports on what supposedly educated Americans know-and more sensationally, don't know-come along fairly regularly, each more depressing than the last. A survey of recent college graduates commissioned by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and conducted by GfK Roper last year found that barely half knew that the U.S.

Reeva Steenkamp, a reality tv actress, was going to talk about women violence when she was shot by her boyfriend, ParaOlympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius.