Why thanks, CoT

That's sort of my point, though - that a lot of the people I interact with (at work as well as in my commute and such) aren't really adequately versed in math and science.
To be quite honest, most of my education has been very much along the lines of what you described as happening in Europe. I went to a private high-school that gave me a very balanced education, and then, though I went for engineering, I took went for 'General engineering' which basically means I know the basics in each of the specific fields. It comes in handy for construction, because I do really need to know a bit about each, but I'm a poor example of engineering in the US, I think.
My fiancee, on the other hand, would definitely fit into one of those 'islands of excellence' you mentioned - having gotten her bachelor's and master's in Mechanical Engineering, and currently going for her PhD in the same at MIT, focusing in nanotechnology. However, and she'll be the first to admit it, she has great trouble with more 'liberal arts' types of subjects - language, grammar, communication.
However, I tend to deal with a lot of less educated people (not necessarily stupid) in my line of work, and I also get to see a glimpse of the public education system as well (working with the School Construction Authority in NYC) and so I recognize that alot of the knowledge base is truly clustered. As was described before, it seems alot of the specific knowledge of a field tends to be clumped in specific geographic areas. I just tend to notice more of those locations abroad than I do here at home.
So, basically, I guess I'm asking whether or not people you interact with tend to be more 'balanced' in their studies and knowledge, as opposed to the highly focused people I tend to deal with - as in, most people tend to know their subject incredibly well, to the detriment of all others.
~kov.