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US History in 9th grade
World History (heavy Western emphasis) in 10th grade
Psychology for one semester and government for the other semester in 11th grade
That's all that was available for Social Studies in my high school, except geography, which none of the smart kids took, as it was simply coloring in maps.
9th grade English was mostly classic American short stories. I also remember reading Romeo & Juliet
10th grade I took a journalism class one semester and a composition class the other
11th grade was Advanced Composition all year
12th grade was College Prep English, a combination of writing and literary analysis for various western texts.
The teachers were all pretty good, with the exception of 10th grade English.
I was at a very small, rural public high school in the 1980s. We did not have much for course variety, but what was taught, was done well, and I was well-prepared for college when I graduated.
I'm not "angry". You're the one who is upset he didn't learn about various subjects. As a note, much of what you're talking about is in World History classes at the high school level. So either you didn't pay attention or your teacher decided some of it was irrelevant to what is (and always has been attempted) to do in public education, which is to give the student an overall cultural foundation of US society. The same thing would have happened had you gone to school in France or Sierra Leone, you learn about your country's culture and how it interconnects.
I would dare say that some of the principles outlined in the Magna Carta have impacted you more than Mansa Musa's travels or minutiae about the Ibo.
my brother just mentioned great expectations and i still cringed.
I got their so called college prep. I should have taken accounting in addition to that but I do not know if they even had it back then. It was never mentioned as an option.
I think it should have been mandatory for everyone since some time in the 50s.
I got their so called college prep. I should have taken accounting in addition to that but I do not know if they even had it back then. It was never mentioned as an option.
I think it should have been mandatory for everyone since some time in the 50s.
I prefer personal finance to accounting for high school students.
Freshman: English was "American Literature"and mostly short stories. This was a required class. Social Studies was "American History" and covered up to WW1 in depth. It was also a required class. I think the teacher wasn't so great with pacing, as we were supposed to get through the present day, but rushed through everything post-WW1.
Sophomore: English was required, but we could choose from a variety of different classes. I chose a journalism class that was pretty good. For Social Studies, I took "World History" which was really more "Western Civilization" as it hit the Greeks, Romans, European history.
Junior: Composition class that included reading classic texts and writing analytical papers. For Social Studies, I had one semester of US government and one semester of psychology.
Senior: College Prep English, that wasn't technically an AP course as such things didn't exist in my small town, but it was pretty challenging. No Social Studies classes - the only option I could have taken was a semester-long geography class, that had a rep as being super easy and boring. I took multiple science and language classes instead.
Freshman: English was "American Literature"and mostly short stories. This was a required class. Social Studies was "American History" and covered up to WW1 in depth. It was also a required class. I think the teacher wasn't so great with pacing, as we were supposed to get through the present day, but rushed through everything post-WW1.
Sophomore: English was required, but we could choose from a variety of different classes. I chose a journalism class that was pretty good. For Social Studies, I took "World History" which was really more "Western Civilization" as it hit the Greeks, Romans, European history.
Junior: Composition class that included reading classic texts and writing analytical papers. For Social Studies, I had one semester of US government and one semester of psychology.
Senior: College Prep English, that wasn't technically an AP course as such things didn't exist in my small town, but it was pretty challenging. No Social Studies classes - the only option I could have taken was a semester-long geography class, that had a rep as being super easy and boring. I took multiple science and language classes instead.
Wow you really remember well.
I graduated in 1981 and I think it was somewhat different. We had general requirements like you had to complete 1 year of any science. Math through Algebra II, 4 English classes of any kind, I think it was 2 years of history of any kind. We had no geography, not even sure if it was available, we had to take a class called Civics.
To try to get my science credit, I took a class called "Animal Science." turned out it was a class about farming and not a science credit. I took Biology I as a junior but did not take the second semester because a better opportunity popped up. Then I took Biology I again as a senior. Since it was a year long class, I had to retake the first semester. At the end of the semester the teacher met with me and the principal and we all agreed my taking the first semester of Biology I twice was equal to a year of science and I should not take the second semester (I just sat in the back of the class and chatted with a senior girl who was also taking it, but still got A+ on everything. Teacher wanted me out of the class.) .
I learned next to nothing about Europe and absolutely nothing about China,Japan or anything about Asia at all other than a short discussion of the Vietnam war in one class. We learned about the battles of WWII and the politics in the USA at the time, but very little about Europe at the time, other than the names and results of battles. WWI and the War of 1812 were barely mentioned. In my world at the beginning of college, history started with the Pilgrims coming to America. i mostly learned on my own later. Now I probably know more about the ancient history of Denmark than most Danish citizens know, but they may know more about US history than I do - especially certain periods that never interested me.
Freshman: English was "American Literature"and mostly short stories. This was a required class. Social Studies was "American History" and covered up to WW1 in depth. It was also a required class. I think the teacher wasn't so great with pacing, as we were supposed to get through the present day, but rushed through everything post-WW1.
Sophomore: English was required, but we could choose from a variety of different classes. I chose a journalism class that was pretty good. For Social Studies, I took "World History" which was really more "Western Civilization" as it hit the Greeks, Romans, European history.
Junior: Composition class that included reading classic texts and writing analytical papers. For Social Studies, I had one semester of US government and one semester of psychology.
Senior: College Prep English, that wasn't technically an AP course as such things didn't exist in my small town, but it was pretty challenging. No Social Studies classes - the only option I could have taken was a semester-long geography class, that had a rep as being super easy and boring. I took multiple science and language classes instead.
You're really lucky, to get all that college prep writing, and journalism. What state did you go to school in? There was nothing like that in the CA public schools, even in "good" districts, except maybe journalism, as a background to producing the school newspaper.
I graduated in 1981 and I think it was somewhat different. We had general requirements like you had to complete 1 year of any science. Math through Algebra II, 4 English classes of any kind, I think it was 2 years of history of any kind. We had no geography, not even sure if it was available, we had to take a class called Civics.
To try to get my science credit, I took a class called "Animal Science." turned out it was a class about farming and not a science credit. I took Biology I as a junior but did not take the second semester because a better opportunity popped up. Then I took Biology I again as a senior. Since it was a year long class, I had to retake the first semester. At the end of the semester the teacher met with me and the principal and we all agreed my taking the first semester of Biology I twice was equal to a year of science and I should not take the second semester (I just sat in the back of the class and chatted with a senior girl who was also taking it, but still got A+ on everything. Teacher wanted me out of the class.) .
I learned next to nothing about Europe and absolutely nothing about China,Japan or anything about Asia at all other than a short discussion of the Vietnam war in one class. We learned about the battles of WWII and the politics in the USA at the time, but very little about Europe at the time, other than the names and results of battles. WWI and the War of 1812 were barely mentioned. In my world at the beginning of college, history started with the Pilgrims coming to America. i mostly learned on my own later. Now I probably know more about the ancient history of Denmark than most Danish citizens know, but they may know more about US history than I do - especially certain periods that never interested me.
Apparently I don't remember that well, because I just realized this is an old thread, and I answered it back in 2016!
Although my two answers were consistent, so there's that.
You're really lucky, to get all that college prep writing, and journalism. What state did you go to school in? There was nothing like that in the CA public schools, even in "good" districts, except maybe journalism, as a background to producing the school newspaper.
Wisconsin. It was a small, rural area, too. They didn't have any AP classes, limited foreign language, no calculus. But, what they did teach, they taught very well. I feel that I got a good basic education and was well-prepared for college.
I graduated an 1,850 student regional public high school in 2010.
9th Grade- English was Western Literature. It was a mix of biography, short stories, novels, plays, etc. The teacher was great but I hated Romeo and Juliet. Social Studies was World History, from the ancient civilizations up to the Renaissance. We had a student teacher most of the semester who was actually pretty good.
10th Grade- English was mostly a composition class. We did a ton of writing, and read books like Animal Farm, A Separate Peace, To Kill A Mockingbird, and The Crucible. I liked the novel selection in this class the most. Social Studies was World History II, from the Renaissance up until the modern day. In reality, we only made it up until the 1960s though.
11th Grade- English was entirely American Literature based. The teacher was brand new with no classroom management, and I can't remember a single memorable book I read. They also "taught" us how to do a research paper, but not really. Social Studies was AP US History. The teacher was terrible, and would lecture on for hours about completely insignificant moments in American History. It was basically up to everyone in the class to prepare for the AP exam on their own. If I ever have to listen to another lecture about the Era of Good Feeling again I'll kill somebody.
12th Grade- Seniors got to choose an elective, and I chose Science Fiction and Fantasy. It was with the same teacher who I had freshman year, and he is the only reason I took it as I had no interest in sci-fi/fantasy. I fully credit him with getting me into the genre that I still love to read today. He was laid back, sarcastic, and just an overall solid teacher. Social Studies was also an elective, and I took a World Affairs class which was taught in a seminar style. It was basically one long discussion and debate class, which was great for teaching critical thinking.
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