Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Government and economics were combined & only 1 half of one semester for me. The main things I remember are discussing the election in the gov't part (it was the Bush vs. Gore one) and learning how to write a check & keep the check register updated in the econ part.
Some of the classic American Lit authors have been replaced by newer authors (James Baldwin being one who has been added in the last couple decades).
i guess my wishful thinking was that instead of just studying western-civ there were topics on eastern/mid-eastern/african/south-american -civ. and instead of just greco-roman liturature, we also read asian, african, south-american classics.
my hypothesis is that most united states school districts concentrate of european topics because about 75 % of our population have european ancestry.
i guess my wishful thinking was that instead of just studying western-civ there were topics on eastern/mid-eastern/african/south-american -civ. and instead of just greco-roman liturature, we also read asian, african, south-american classics.
my hypothesis is that most united states school districts concentrate of european topics because about 75 % of our population have european ancestry.
Not at all a hypothesis. It's what is considered in the US, and much of Europe, as a classical education. It also ties into cultural literacy.
Some school systems are expanding the offerings a bit but colleges and testing here still concentrates on the above.
we had from pilgrims to war of 1812 for twelve years, never knew about the civil war till i got to college.
we had literature for four years of high school and then two course in college, after six-grade no more grammar
The first is an issue with the teacher. US History teachers are notorious (and it's a stereotype) for stopping at the Civil War. That's changed a bit since many systems have split USH into two years (with one of them, Beginnings to the Civil War being in 8th grade and Civil War to Present somewhere 9-11).
With grammar, that fell out of favor with Whole Language reading (among other reasons). Some of those other reasons revolve around what's on the standardized tests. Colleges also stopped offering grammar courses in teacher training beginning in the 1960s.
what subjects and topics did you study in high school and do you feel like you missed anything.
for me we had western civilization and studied stuff like the magna carta, trojan war, oedipus rex, ... for freshman and sophomore years but had u.s. history junior year.
for english we had u.s. literature 1-year. but outside of that i remember having to cover beuwulf, julius ceaser, canterbury tales, dr. faustus, homer, galileo, jason and the argonauts, ...
is this normal for the u.s. or was my school weird. during grade school i remember we had a lot of native american history (and learned a navajo sign language song -- go, my son).
Never had western civ or world geography, either. I never understood what literature was about--everything we read was extremely depressing. Never understood the point. I suppose sophomore year literature was my favorite, or least unpleasant, anyway--the Beowulf year, Canterbury Tales, etc. Read A Midsummer Night's Dream in Middle School--the first work of Shakespeare, with more to come in HS. The only history course I recall having was US history, which covered everything, and definitely did NOT stop at the Civil War! It seemed interminable.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 06-10-2016 at 12:05 AM..
what subjects and topics did you study in high school and do you feel like you missed anything.
for me we had western civilization and studied stuff like the magna carta, trojan war, oedipus rex, ... for freshman and sophomore years but had u.s. history junior year.
for english we had u.s. literature 1-year. but outside of that i remember having to cover beuwulf, julius ceaser, canterbury tales, dr. faustus, homer, galileo, jason and the argonauts, ...
is this normal for the u.s. or was my school weird. during grade school i remember we had a lot of native american history (and learned a navajo sign language song -- go, my son).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
Never had western civ or world geography, either. I never understood what literature was about--everything we read was extremely depressing. Never understood the point. I suppose sophomore year literature was my favorite, or least unpleasant, anyway--the Beowulf year, Canterbury Tales, etc. Read A Midsummer Night's Dream in Middle School--the first work of Shakespeare, with more to come in HS. The only history course I recall having was US history, which covered everything, and definitely did NOT stop at the Civil War! It seemed interminable.
I graduated from high school in 1973 and currently sub in 10 school districts for mostly social studies and English. Not that much has changed in what is taught in social studies in schools even though there is now 43 more years of history to cover. Many schools do have a class titled economics but most do not go that deep into the subject.
When I was in school we had one semester of geography in 7th grade. Today, many schools have dropped geography and a few have a year of geography.
My school called western civ world cultures. Almost all schools today refer to this class as world history. Many schools have ancient world history in 7th grade and world history starting with the Middle Ages in 10th grade.
My social studies teachers in junior high and high school were poor to average. History was covered from the perspective as something happened not why it happened. We seemed to focus a lot on inventions and explorers. I don't remember learning much about the Great Depression, or anything after that in history. I also never learned anything about the Constitution in school. I think as far as social studies, students are getting a better education today.
To the OP, I doubt you studied the Trojan War or Oedipus Rex in western civ. You likely read these in an English class that was studying ancient Greek literature. The Trojan War is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and was the subject of many works of Greek literature, most notably Homer's Iliad. Much of what you read in your English literature classes is common in most school districts. I doubt you read anything by Galileo since his writing were all scientific. I did not read Doctor Faustus in school and have not come across it in any of the schools where I sub.
My social studies teachers in junior high and high school were poor to average. History was covered from the perspective as something happened not why it happened. We seemed to focus a lot on inventions and explorers. I don't remember learning much about the Great Depression, or anything after that in history. I also never learned anything about the Constitution in school. I think as far as social studies, students are getting a better education today.
.
Kids are getting a better education today in part because universities are demanding a broader education to qualify for admission. And it's become much easier for HS students to blend their curriculum with college classes these days, which is also something some universities are requiring in order to qualify for freshman admission. Even so, I've noticed that many highschools don't offer enough of the types of SS courses the universities require to meet those req's.
You must have had something about the Constitution in your Civics class. Civics (or something similar) has always been a state requirement in (I assume) all states. Our teachers always said it's about being an informed voter and knowing how the system works.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.