It's just, you can't learn everything about anywhere, they probably pick things that are somewhat relevant to you. I can't imagine you learning about the Whiskey Rebellion, or the Zanj Rebellion, or the Greek Civil War in any depth, or the Albigensian Crusade, or like a million other random things, is all
But the Boer War was really important to world history, at least in terms of Europe and Africa. You don't even need to get too far into it to get to the important parts: The origin of concentration camps, the British killing lots of people, the Boers being astoundingly racist...
Like, I learned about the USA funding a horrible repressive dictatorship in Cuba up until the Revolution in school.
This would blow twitter Marxist's minds.
protip if you are wondering about the history of any south/central american country you can safely assume that we sponsored a brutal dictatorship in that country at some point.
Things I learned about in my history classes (all of them)
Chapter 1: Colonial America
Chapter 2: American Revolution
Chapter 3: More American Revolution
Chapter 4: Further American Revolution
Chapter 5: The Entire Time Period Between The American Revolution and The Civil War
Chapter 6: The Civil War
Chapter 7: More Civil War
Chapter 8: Reconstruction and Then World War I
Chapter 9: World War II
Chapter 10: World War II Again
Chapter 11: Still More World War II
Chapter 12: You Wanted To Learn About Something Other Than World War II? Fuck You, You're Going To Learn Even More About World War II
Chapter 13: The Korean War and The Vietnam War
Chapter 14: "The Modern Era"
Chapter 15: Why Terrorism Is Bad
I only had a single international history class middle school, and another one in high school. Both were very general and covered thousands of years of history per chapter until like 1800, where we spent most of the rest of the class on The French Revolution.
Most people I've spoken to in the US had similar experiences.
Like, I learned about the USA funding a horrible repressive dictatorship in Cuba up until the Revolution in school.
This would blow twitter Marxist's minds.
protip if you are wondering about the history of any south/central american country you can safely assume that we sponsored a brutal dictatorship in that country at some point.
Except the one I had in 7th grade which was actually pretty good, but it was replaced by a different one the next year (even though 7th and 8th grade History were supposed to use two halves of the same textbook).
WWII is something that tends to be covered in a fair amount of depth, though.
well i mean what i'm thinking is that the impact of internment was mostly internal. I mean here in Murka we didn't really learn about the Home Guard or something.
plus in american education at least as i experienced it, the internment camps were actually brought up in the uh, social history classes, and in the context of American racial history rather than WWII. which certainly makes sense to me, since as far as I know the internment camps didn't really have any impact on the prosecution of the war. (usually the 442nd is mentioned though)
Things I learned about in my history classes (all of them)
Chapter 1: Colonial America
Chapter 2: American Revolution
Chapter 3: More American Revolution
Chapter 4: Further American Revolution
Chapter 5: The Entire Time Period Between The American Revolution and The Civil War
Chapter 6: The Civil War
Chapter 7: More Civil War
Chapter 8: Reconstruction and Then World War I
Chapter 9: World War II
Chapter 10: World War II Again
Chapter 11: Still More World War II
Chapter 12: You Wanted To Learn About Something Other Than World War II? Fuck You, You're Going To Learn Even More About World War II
Chapter 13: The Korean War and The Vietnam War
Chapter 14: "The Modern Era"
Chapter 15: Why Terrorism Is Bad
I only had a single international history class middle school, and another one in high school. Both were very general and covered thousands of years of history per chapter until like 1800, where we spent most of the rest of the class on The French Revolution.
Most people I've spoken to in the US had similar experiences.
the american public education system is appalling and the history classes are the bottom of the barrel that exists in the bottom of the other barrel.
I am forever grateful for the amazing history teachers I had in my time and my vast thirst for knowledge leading me to the good stuff independently and also for living in one of the best school districts in the country.
the american public education system is appalling and the history classes are the bottom of the barrel that exists in the bottom of the other barrel.
I am forever grateful for the amazing history teachers I had in my time and my vast thirst for knowledge leading me to the good stuff independently and also for living in one of the best school districts in the country.
It's legitimately sad that I know most of what I know about history from a couple of used library books and Wikipedia.
Like I know that Columbus was essentially Hitler With Some Boats, and was in fact criticized even in his day for his excessive cruelty toward native americans, but you know where I learned that?
I don't know what schools you guys went to, but my history textbooks were uniformly incredibly....let's say patriotic.
it does vary. my US History teacher was a big fan of Lies. Other teachers, probably even in the same school, were not.
Sounds like a great book.
I think the series we used for most of middle school was actually called Liberty if I remember right, so, you know.
the actual textbook we used in class was The American Paegant, which is like, on the list there. I don't honestly remember how propagandic it was; I'm pretty sure it covered some unsavory things like the billion invasions of Haiti and the Filipino-American War. but it was definitely augmented by the teacher. i remember he showed a clip of a Marine relative of his being interviewed by CNN about Operation Uphold Democracy (i love how fucking stupid these names are)
Like I know that Columbus was essentially Hitler With Some Boats, and was in fact criticized even in his day for his excessive cruelty toward native americans, but you know where I learned that?
Fucking Cracked.
That is depressing.
oh we definitely went over that, thank gods. there was something about thimbles of gold
that reminds me, for some reason our Latin textbook had these weird asides that compared the united states to the roman empire in positive terms
it was the weirdest fucking thing and we never talked about them in class
lmao i want to see this
books looked like this:
can't find any excerpts, but imagine something straight out of the promotional material of a far right-wing think tank, like something Mussolini would write if he were from Texas.
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
I just realized that my experiences with education are unique outliers and should not be counted because I self-taught history (among other things) for like ten years.
I just realized that my experiences with education are unique outliers and should not be counted because I self-taught history (among other things) for like ten years.
That might legitimately be the best way to do it.
My younger brothers go to an online school with a heavy homeschooling element (the place is called Commonwealth Connections Academy) and have already covered a wider breadth of history topics in their classes than I ever did, and the older two are only going to 5th grade this year.
It helps that there's a local history class too, to provide some more immediate context.
Like I know that Columbus was essentially Hitler With Some Boats, and was in fact criticized even in his day for his excessive cruelty toward native americans, but you know where I learned that?
Fucking Cracked.
That is depressing.
oh we definitely went over that, thank gods. there was something about thimbles of gold
Yup, we did too.
Of course, I used to live in one of the most progressive, academically swanky public school districts in the country, so I probably do not count.
Of course, I used to live in one of the most progressive, academically swanky public school districts in the country, so I probably do not count.
i live(d) in a pretty conservative and poor (district nearly got shut down for lack of tax once, that was fun) area, e.g. got abstinence-only sex ed. i think this teacher mostly got away w/things because it was an AP class, and the kind of parent who'd complain isn't gonna have a kid there
Of course, I used to live in one of the most progressive, academically swanky public school districts in the country, so I probably do not count.
i live(d) in a pretty conservative and poor (district nearly got shut down for lack of tax once, that was fun) area, e.g. got abstinence-only sex ed. i think this teacher mostly got away w/things because it was an AP class, and the kind of parent who'd complain isn't gonna have a kid there
i got in an argument with a different teacher once because i thought "communist dictatorship" was an oversimplification as a form of government, and he said yes but if you wa nt to go into that kind of detail you should have taken the AP version
There are still huge gaps in my history knowledge.
As a European I gravitate toward history about the areas my ancestors are from (mostly Central and Eastern Europe). It's not just that I don't know a lot about say, the Indian subcontinent, I don't know a lot about Spain.
^^^ I was the only person to bring up anal in sex ed, which was mildly ironic given that at that point I still never really thought about sex outside the abstract. But I did know how it worked! Yay, reading!
I think the most notable thing that ever happened in a sex ed class I took was when someone stole the demonstration condoms they brought (and didn't ever use to demonstrate anything, incidentally).
i got in an argument with a different teacher once because i thought "communist dictatorship" was an oversimplification as a form of government, and he said yes but if you wa nt to go into that kind of detail you should have taken the AP version
I got the opposite response, but again, barely-pretending-not-to-be-a-Marxist social studies teacher.
i got in an argument with a different teacher once because i thought "communist dictatorship" was an oversimplification as a form of government, and he said yes but if you wa nt to go into that kind of detail you should have taken the AP version
I got the opposite response, but again, barely-pretending-not-to-be-a-Marxist social studies teacher.
see, that's been my experience in college. (not that i've taken history outside of gen ed.) same area, too. funny how it works.
There are still huge gaps in my history knowledge.
As a European I gravitate toward history about the areas my ancestors are from (mostly Central and Eastern Europe). It's not just that I don't know a lot about say, the Indian subcontinent, I don't know a lot about Spain.
there's a lot there
i have a six hundred page book on an eight year period of labor history in a small part of one country
speaking of tumblr there was this really great post that wrote up european history in the style that american history textbooks mangle and condense native american history
Comments
Obviously you can't learn everything.
WWII is something that tends to be covered in a fair amount of depth, though.
Chapter 1: Colonial America
Chapter 2: American Revolution
Chapter 3: More American Revolution
Chapter 4: Further American Revolution
Chapter 5: The Entire Time Period Between The American Revolution and The Civil War
Chapter 6: The Civil War
Chapter 7: More Civil War
Chapter 8: Reconstruction and Then World War I
Chapter 9: World War II
Chapter 10: World War II Again
Chapter 11: Still More World War II
Chapter 12: You Wanted To Learn About Something Other Than World War II? Fuck You, You're Going To Learn Even More About World War II
Chapter 13: The Korean War and The Vietnam War
Chapter 14: "The Modern Era"
Chapter 15: Why Terrorism Is Bad
I only had a single international history class middle school, and another one in high school. Both were very general and covered thousands of years of history per chapter until like 1800, where we spent most of the rest of the class on The French Revolution.
Most people I've spoken to in the US had similar experiences.
plus in american education at least as i experienced it, the internment camps were actually brought up in the uh, social history classes, and in the context of American racial history rather than WWII. which certainly makes sense to me, since as far as I know the internment camps didn't really have any impact on the prosecution of the war. (usually the 442nd is mentioned though)
Except, again, in 7th grade.
I think the series we used for most of middle school was actually called Liberty if I remember right, so, you know.
my school didn't have latin but this one guy in band had learned it elsewhere and he was an amazing prick
Fucking Cracked.
That is depressing.
My younger brothers go to an online school with a heavy homeschooling element (the place is called Commonwealth Connections Academy) and have already covered a wider breadth of history topics in their classes than I ever did, and the older two are only going to 5th grade this year.
It helps that there's a local history class too, to provide some more immediate context.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
As a European I gravitate toward history about the areas my ancestors are from (mostly Central and Eastern Europe). It's not just that I don't know a lot about say, the Indian subcontinent, I don't know a lot about Spain.
i have a six hundred page book on an eight year period of labor history in a small part of one country
:V