I live in Japan, and almost anytime I mention famous events from the west no one knows what I'm talking about, especially classical history. I think everyone just focuses on what's important in their section of the world, and inquisitive minds can do more research later.

I think too many people expect their education to be spoonfed to them. You're not going to learn all there is to know in either High School or college. If you have an interest then you have to take your own initiative. Especially for history, so many people just aren't interested or don't care. Maybe if they renamed history class to Story Time and made it more engaging then more people would want to learn.