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When I was in school, there was almost no study of the history of the state of Wisconsin. In grade school, around 5th grade, there was a monthly reader that came out of the State Historical Society, and our teacher would spend about an hour discussing its extracurricular contents. In High School, the state was covered only anecdotally by the Civics teacher, to the extent that he knew anything about the state in the first place, but no formal study of it from textbooks. No exam ever required any more than the name of the state capital and the year of admission to the union, which was easy because I was in 5th grade in the centennial year.
By contrast, when I got to college in Louisiana, my classmates had a mind-boggling depth of knowledge about the history of the state, could name a lot of ex-governors and what they did, knew exactly where all geographical features were, and could describe war battles in Louisiana in minute detail, which they argued over endlessly.
Of course, when your state's history is populated by people like Huey Long, Jean Lafitte, Andrew Jackson, and Evangeline (never mind that she was fictitious), it's a lot easier for a student to get enthusiastic about it.
I made a mission in the 4th grade. Trust me. That says everything.
I was educated by the state of California. Starting with elementary school we got city, county and state history out the wazoo. To this day I can tell you the story of Rudolph Boysen and his amazing berry. I know about grape crop failures, Madame Modjeska, the history of the bear on the state flag, and why Anaheim Bay is named Anaheim Bay even though it's not in Anaheim. We went to Capistrano to learn about Father Serra and observe the swallows. I can look at an old orange crate label and tell you where it was packed. (OK. I'm exaggerating. But only a little.) We went to Balboa to learn about (get ready for it) Balboa and his amazing feats of sailing and discovery.
I even got herded onto the train to ride from Fullerton to Olvera Street to learn more about the roots of the proud people of the El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula.
Twice.
Oh, and I didn't get to go down to Michael's or someplace and buy some jive pre-fab, stryofoam "Mission Kit". Nope. Kinney's shoe box and paper mache. Mission Santa Barbara, the "Queen of the Missions".
(Does learning Don Drysdale's ERA count as history?)
I was born in Montreal, Quebec where we were taught extensive history of our Province - of which the Francophones are intensely proud.
My Family then moved to Pennsylvania where I had "civics" classes which also gave me a very good background on not just it's history, but the way in which government operates.
Four times, by the time i graduated from HS in Va. That is to say, for four of the 12 years, the history study was only Va. history starting in the 3rd grade. Of course back then, we were taught (seriously) that slavery was good, Plessy vs. Ferguson was still the law of the land and that the settlement at Jamestown was the cumulation of all of western civilization up to that point.
In 7th grade, we have to take a Utah history class. It's really boring, especially since most people know everything interesting about the state by then.
Where I grew up our fifth grade teacher taught us alot about atown we lived close to. Setauket, Long Island. It had a pretty intresting history.
We never did study any state history that I can recall other then learning Albany was the Capitol.
When I was in school, there was almost no study of the history of the state of Wisconsin. In grade school, around 5th grade, there was a monthly reader that came out of the State Historical Society, and our teacher would spend about an hour discussing its extracurricular contents. In High School, the state was covered only anecdotally by the Civics teacher, to the extent that he knew anything about the state in the first place, but no formal study of it from textbooks. No exam ever required any more than the name of the state capital and the year of admission to the union, which was easy because I was in 5th grade in the centennial year.
By contrast, when I got to college in Louisiana, my classmates had a mind-boggling depth of knowledge about the history of the state, could name a lot of ex-governors and what they did, knew exactly where all geographical features were, and could describe war battles in Louisiana in minute detail, which they argued over endlessly.
Of course, when your state's history is populated by people like Huey Long, Jean Lafitte, Andrew Jackson, and Evangeline (never mind that she was fictitious), it's a lot easier for a student to get enthusiastic about it.
I don't recall learning anything about New Jersey in a history class in school. I did, and still do, quite a bit of reading about it in adulthood.
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