Sarah Hoyt has some interesting ideas about what makes Americans unique.
It is that we are Ungovernable. Part of her point is that Americans believe in a heavy dose of self government and don't have a need to find experts to tell them what to do.
I think this is a strong theme in the homeschooling movement. We don't see a need to ask "the experts" how to raise our children. And especially once you start to understand that "the experts" don't know all that much and/or are frequently wrong. (I love Thomas Sowell's Inside American Education.)
As Janine said years ago: "We have a probelm with authority figures."