America is in peril, and there is reason to fear for the future. The peril stems from our fundamental and profound ignorance about the rest of the world. A May 2016 global literacy survey of college students conducted by National Geographic and the Council on Foreign Relations showed significant gaps between what young people understand about today's world and what they're going to need to understand to successfully navigate it. In a random sample of around 1,200 respondents aged 18 to 26, the average score on the survey's knowledge questions was a failing 55 percent. Just 29 percent of respondents earned a minimal passing grade of 66 percent correct answers or beer. Just over 1 percent of respondents scored 91 percent or higher. One question, for example, was whether over the past five years, more Mexicans had left the United States than had entered it. Only 34 percent correctly responded that more had left. In another question, only 30 percent of respondents knew which branch of the US government (the legislative) has the power to declare war.