[feet]

This is just the opinion of some fool on the internet, but I personally think that interacting with people from other cultures is far more important than just reading about them. Not saying I disagree with you, I definitely had social studies in school in the US but that didn't impact me nearly as much as interacting with other fellow fools on the internet. We can learn a lot more about each others perspectives and cultures by interacting.

[icedata]

I completely agree. I live in Canada, and run a weekly Zoom call on startups etc. We have quite a few members from India, Latin America and elsewhere and I find it useful to get their perspectives. I even have callers from China (you need to change the Zoom data center config to permit this). These are people that I met on WeChat groups (unfortunately not a realistic option outside China for most right now), and some former students. We try to stay away from politics, but interestingly there is a wide range of points of view from Chinese callers.

[programmer_dude]

Agreed. Though the things I learnt in social studies like history, geography, and civics helped me in finding a common ground with people of other cultures. Given my introverted nature I imagine I would have had a much harder time if I did not have this foundation.