How much non-American history are American children taught about?

Question

People say it isn't much, but I'm just wondering if it's true? Do they learn about Ancient civilisations like the Egyptians, Romans and Greeks? Do they learn much about Europe in the middle ages? What about modern history - do they learn much about the first and second world wars?

I'm not criticising or anything - I mean it's not like we learn much about American history where i'm from - but we do cover a bit, we learn the general basics of the pilgrim fathers and all that, and we do about the role slavery played in America's history. We also cover the depression in quite a lot of detail.

So, if you're American, what did you learn about in history class?

- a curious foreigner.

Answer 1

I'll put it into two words: not enough


Many curriculums have students do two years of American History and one on World Cultures in middle school (ages 11-14) and one on world history and two on American history in high shcool as well (ages 14-18). Since the history of the world is so long (obviously), the one year of world history taken in high school doesn't cover in any detail. We waste our time learning about stupid and trivial events in American history when learning about the world around us can help us understand our country better.

I know that students in European countries know American history well, and America's rise to being a superpower even better. I've been in AP (advanced placement) history classes and got a 4 out of 5 on my AP exam in American History, and I can't really tell you how America is like it is today.

What I can tell you is that we had a tea party, or we had a Supreme Justice named John Marshall or how about the Louisiana Purchase (that was exciting (<- sarcastic))!? American history is a joke, and I believe that more emphasis should be put on the thousands of years of world history as compared to the three hundred years of American.

Answer 2

Some but not enough. I don't think anyone ever gets "enough" history!

My education in history covered all eras and lands, but then I have a graduate degree in History, which is six years of intense study most folks would not have. By the time I was finished my seconday education (17 years old) I had taken at least four years of World and American history, so I was pretty well-versed.

Unfortunately today, the history that's being taught is fraught with political and social agendas from the apologist that have hijacked the Education profession.

Pilgrims, Slavery and the Depression. Wow. If that's what you covered of American history, you must think us a pretty foul lot.

The Pilgrims were intolerant religious fanatics that actually had very little bearing on the eventual creation of the US. Thank goodness! They are a cute tale for 6 year olds but the Pilgrims are really overrated in their influence on history.

Slavery was certainly not invented by Americans and it's importance in the shaping of the country comes not in the glory of it's ending but in the violent nature in which it was ended. The US was the only country in the world in the mid-1800s that practically destroyed itself by a major, bloody and completely avoidable war, not because of the resolve of the slave holders but due to the arrogance of the abolishonists. Every other country freed slaves peacefully except us, we destroyed half of the country and persisted in disenfranchising not only the freed slaves but their former masters as well for well over 100 years.

Ah the Depression. That's a good one. So many things from our society, both good and bad, came out of that period.

Just like our cousins in England, American history is clearly defined by our wars. We chose our wars well and made sure we won, that is until recent times. Well, Vietnam is not an exception. We were fighting the spread of Soviet-Sino Communism, not Ho Chi Minh and to that end we actually won in Vietnam by outlasting everyone but the poor Vietnamese.

Answer 3

Well, here was my curriculum in school in history.

3rd Grade: Learn about the four ancient civilizations and the explorerers (like Colombus, Lief Ericson).
4th grade: Learn about Virginia (VA is a state) history
5th Grade: Learn about American history and some more VA history
6th Grade: Learn about the history of the Eastern hemisphere. This covered from prehistoric times to modernity, but not in much detail.
7th Grade: More in depth U.S. history, up until 1877.
8th Grade: More in-depth U.S. history after 1877
9th Grade: World History to 1500. This includes ancient civilizations, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance.
10th Grade: World History after 1500. This includes the Renaissance and Reformation, exploration, absolutism (and all the wars involved with this and the formation of many of the countries as states), a lot of things about England's history, romanticism and some of the other movements of the time, colonization/imperialism across the globe, and the World Wars and the Cold Wars. We learned a lot about the U.S.S.R and how China became Communist. History kind of stopped after the Cold War because we ran out of time, although there were more things in the curriculum to cover.
11th Grade: American History. Very in-depth.
12th: American Government.

Answer 4

I'm not American but most Americans I know are pretty well educated. (Of course I met some not-so-well educated ones too but mainly on the internet). In many ways it's easier for them because all major works, for example, in Egyptology are either written in English or have been translated into English, but in minor European languages not all of them are available.

I know that Americans are usually picked upon by Europeans for having a not too great education, but that's mostly said about sciences like maths or physics (and I'm a complete dumbass at both so I cannot comment on it). But teaching history from an egocentric point of view is not unique to the US. I went to a high school which was the best in my county and among the top 5 in my middle-sized European country, and all I learnt about was:
- Some prehistory;
- Some ancient cultures outside Europe, like Egypt, Mesopotamia;
- A whole lot of European history, abut half of what being that of my own country;
- About other continents: when were they "discovered" (what an Eurocentric word... why should it be "discovered" when its inhabitants had known about its existence for a long time) and what sides they took in the world war;
- US revolution and civil war.
That's all. So I wouldn't say Americans are undereducated when it comes to history. I wouldn't even say they have more time to learn about other countries' history because theirs is too short -- after all even one war could be taught for months if you really go into all the details.

Answer 5

Sadly what I remember most about history class was learning American history from the Pilgrims to the Civil War.
I remember every year it seemed we started over and 1865 was as far as we could get.
In high school, my senior year of Spanish we learned all of Spain's history from essentially the beginning of time until modern day.
We also had a "global studies" class that attempted to teach us about every country in the world - it's kinda tough to learn the entire world in one year.
My sophomore year I had an American history class that actually made it to World War II and a little beyond - and that teacher actually talked about other countries - not just the US.
I think we probably learned the basics about the ancient civilizations but I learned much more of that in college.

The problem with most high school history classes (at least when I was in school) was that the people teaching them were coaches who were in teaching because they wanted to be coaches and they seemed to care more about getting ready for the next game than teaching us history.

I'm sure middle school and elementary school we learned more- but on a much simpler level.


I always found it intriguing that I learned over 2000 years of Spain's history in one year, yet our classes couldn't cover 200 years of American history in one year. I think we focus on minute details of our own history TOO Much, instead of putting our history in context with the rest of the world.

Answer 6

Good question. People love to downplay public education in this country, but I must say, looking back, I learned a LOT about history in other places.

Middle school was probably about a 70/30 mix. That is- 70% world and 30% American. 9th grade was World History, 10th grade was an elective history, and 11th grade was American History.

Answer 7

I can't remember how much I learned in elementary school, but I think during that time, education is mostly focused on the United States. I remember learning about the states and their capitals. In middle school, we learned our state's history for one year, American history for one year, and global studies for one year.

The global studies class was an advanced one, so it was more in-depth. we focused mainly on Europe and Asia (mostly Russian history, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and culture, and India as well as focusing on apartheid and child soldiers in Africa, and Brazilian history). We didn't learn about Canada or Australia, sadly. In high school (ages 14-18), normally we first learn about the US Government and Citizenship, in tenth grade a more intensive education on US history, and in eleventh and twelfth grade I'm planning to take European History and World History. European History covers 1450 to the present day and focus on governmental changes, society, and culture. World History covers 8000 BCE to present day.

I know that we spend a LOT of time learning about the 20th century. We've covered World War One and World War Two every year in school as far back as I can remember. We learn a lot about the Cold War, the Great Depression, and the Vietnam and Korean Wars.

However, it depends on the student. More challenging courses (like AP or honors) will cover history more in-depth than regular courses will.

Answer 8

In 6th grade I learned about the ancient civilizations. But my class worked at an extremely slow pace, so we only made it to Mesopotamia and Egypt.
In 7th grade we learned about the middle ages in China, Japan, Europe, and a few other countries.

Answer 9

97% of Japan is Japanese. They do take their culture "purity" seriously, so it is hard to be an outside in Japan even if you do speak the language fluently. Even if they are not consciously rejecting you on merit of heritage, there will be cultural pressures to reject you. Outside of perhaps teaching English, I wouldn't be to confident that would get in a Job. There is also the problem that Japan is struggling with it's population right now as not enough people are having children. This means that schools are getting less and less students and the position of teacher is in very low demand. Low Job demand with high supply tends to make it extremely difficult to get the position, especially when you already at a disadvantage. My suggestion is that if you really want to be teaching in Japan, you should be doing so as a private instructor. This would probably increase the probability of you finding at least part-time employment in the country.

Answer 10

I can tell you this = I learned about black history all through elementary school, like MLK and rosa parks, not much, like I had no idea about any of the presidents and civil war, etc., and in 5th grade I had no SS, just like the economy and japan being technologically advanced for like two months and that's it. in 6th grade, I learned about egypt, mesopotamia, greece, the roman empire, the stone age, something to do with judiasm/jerusalem that was linked with one of the above places, and some other stuff. this year, 7th grade, I'm learning about US history, all the way back to the beginning of time up to 1877. like the first americans, indians, colombus, etc.