I agree with Tormuse that stupidity is not an American thing, it's a part of humanity I guess. I'm a parent of 2 young kids myself, and you better believe I'm raising them to think for themselves instead of relying on others (or worse, devices) to do their thinking for them. I realise we're living on a crowded globe - which is why I'm sticking to 2 kids, one to succeed each parent - but if I'd let that sole fact detain me from having kids at all, the number of 'stupid' kids would rise a little, relatively speaking.
And indeed, it's definitely not the kids that are to blame: I've never been in a physical fight for my entire life, but boy would I relish the opportunity to punch some parents on the nose. I believe there should be parenting exams, with a minimum pass grade to be allowed to have children, if not for the benefit of the world then for said children themselves. I also believe that neutering should be part of our legal system (provided the system is fair and just). And once that's in place, we can talk post-natal abortion ;)
The last bit's bullshit of course, but I really think that raising children isn't getting the public attention that it should get.
Oh and in regard to the issue that set this off: be very VERY aware of the heavily coloured lens through which media are presented to you. Sure you can find 20/50/100 kids who didn't know the Titanic was real, who have no clue as to what WWI and II were about (or who were participants) or who think God put fossils in the ground in order to mislead us.
There will be at least as many kids who do know their facts, but they're not exciting enough to do an article about. So the moral of the story is the same: thou shalt think for thyself.