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Clearly, the poster is unfamiliar with various countries where leadership was seized in a coup by warlords and corrupt military, etc. and run as a dictatorial regime with genocide, rape, ethnic cleansing, etc. if he really thinks that U.S.'s "track record of lying and corruption" really charts, by comparison.
Although, that said, the average tribal member in the U.S. may well have certain founded opinions regarding dictatorial regimes, corrupt military, genocide, rape, and ethnic cleansing, to be honest.
Whatever you do, don't give out a blank map of the United States, and ask anyone, of any educational background, to fill in the names of the states. I've seen PhDs and medical students with barely a clue about the identities of many of the midwestern/western states..
So im assuming everyone remembers all the math,chemistry,science they took in school here too?
I remember a good deal of math (algebra, calculus, trigonometry) and find that whatever I forgot (like some formulas) come back very quickly once I start explaining it to my kids. I guess memorizing wasn't as bad as they said it was.
I remember physics pretty well, chemistry and biology not that well, but I didn't like chemistry to begin with.
Well I have no way of knowing what facts other people know, but I am personally upset that I don't know some things such as:
When and why the Spanish Inquisition happened;
What part of history Napoleon, Attila the Hun, Rasputin, Joan of Arc, etc were a part of, and why;
Which US President was in office during each war (I know the most recent ones, but not Vietnam and prior);
What D-Day was about;
What's up with George Washington, supposed wooden teeth, and the legend about chopping down a cherry tree.
I don't know much about the ancient Mongolian Empire;
Why is Spanish spoken in both Spain and Mexico? They're pretty far away from each other.
Etc.
I do know that Benjamin Franklin was NOT a US President. Haha. Some people think he was.
On all but "I don't know much about the ancient Mongolian Empire;" I think that education has tried to shed being "Euro-centric." I think this is unfortunate since the majority heritage is European. That is why, in my opinion, much relevant history has just been dropped.
Whatever you do, don't give out a blank map of the United States, and ask anyone, of any educational background, to fill in the names of the states. I've seen PhDs and medical students with barely a clue about the identities of many of the midwestern/western states..
I was once on a music sharing service called Winmx. I was chatting with someone from Thunder Bay, Ontario, and I told him I was American. He was amazed when I could give him the Canadian capitals from West to East. I told him I was just typing out random letters. He said "you got them, and even in order" and questioned if I was really American.
As far as historical facts that people don't know, many, even from the New York area, don't know that New York City was the first capital of the U.S. Few know that 1787 was the year that the Constitution was drafted. Even fewer know that John Adams was the second President of the U.S.
The bigger problem is that people know / were taught the wrong facts. Some were already discussed here.
- Columbus did not discover America. Vikings first came here about 480 years before him.
- the American revolution was not about "getting rid of tyranny". The British rule was hardly tyrannical, by the standards of the time, and the taxes that Colonists had to pay were actually less than the taxes the Brits themselves paid to protect the colonies from the French. It was a political power grab, pure and simple, and the Founding Fathers did really become traitors by allying themselves with France - the country that England was at war with at the time. It's like Texas revolting and aligning with Iraq in 2003.
- The American Civil War was about slavery... for the South. For North, it was about protecting the Union with North as the dominant force, and forcing South into submission once and for all. For Union, ending the slavery was a tool, not the goal. Even though many Northerners individually opposed slavery on moral grounds.
- The American contribution to WW1 was rather modest, and WW2 was primarily won by the Soviets and British (with more significant American help)
- Kennedy was a pretty lame president who achieved little and nearly got us all killed.
There are many aspects of learning beyond simple rote memorization of factual information. I'm not going to be as blown by somebody who has an impressive ability to commit lists of capital cities to memory, for instance, as I am someone who can explain to me cultural norms in a given region, the historical background leading up to the settling of an area and how that did or didn't affect local culture throughout history, foods, music, other culture, what languages are spoken, what customs are prevalent and why, what the political landscape has looked like over time, historical relationships with other entities, prominent figures from an area, what they were known for and why, etc.
There's the level of rote recall of individual facts. Then there's truly learning and understanding and drawing connections.
The OP is talking about the people that don't know the very basics, the who, what, where, when.
Without those you cannot expect anyone to know or understand what you listed in your post. Since we are talking about the very first step I don't really understand the reason for your post, and there is one like it every time someone posts about the lack of basic knowledge.
We realize that knowing capitols isn't a big deal, but not knowing something as basic as that is!
The bigger problem is that people know / were taught the wrong facts. Some were already discussed here.
- Columbus did not discover America. Vikings first came here about 480 years before him...............
- The American contribution to WW1 was rather modest, and WW2 was primarily won by the Soviets and British (with more significant American help)..................
The first was not really known, for sure, until fairly recently. There were theories but they weren't accepted through the 1970s.
You can quibble over the word "discovered" so look at results instead. Which voyages/settlements changed the world and which did not?
No History curriculum I've seen has really ever overstated the US role in WW I. What is true is that the fresh US troops gave the French and English enough oomph to force Germany into the Armistice.
As to WW II in a US History class, why would a US History class emphasize the Soviet contribution? England is treated a bit differently because of the Battle of Britain.
And again, had it not been for the US, England could not have mounted a successful cross Channel invasion. Lend-Lease put the Red Army on motorized transport.
As I stated upthread, you can bet your butt that Russian History classes rarely mention the US when dealing with WW II.
Which was a problem during the war, the Party line was that all the supplies were coming from the US Communist Party. It caused somewhat of a diplomatic row.
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