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wait, it means that in the US you have to study all history in just one year?
I'll give you an example of how it worked for my education and how it works now.
When I was in school, American History was taught from beginning to end (1492 - present), in 5th, 8th, and 11th grades. So the early history was covered in depth three times, and the later history, basically anything past WWI, was rushed through in the last 4 weeks of the school year. I remember my 8th grade history teacher covered 1876 to 1914 in a few sentences in one class period so he could move on to WWI.
Nowadays, it roughly works like this: 5th grade is Columbus to the Revolutionary War 1492 - 1776, 8th Grade is Independence to the Civil War 1776 - 1865, 11th grade is 1865 - present.
When I was in school, World History was taught in 7th and 10th grades. Again, each time it was taught from beginning to end. However, I remember 7th grade was much more focused on Ancient Civilizations and 10th grade history more of a European History class. I'm not sure what they do now.
I suppose if I had limited my study to just the requirements I wouldn't have learned much at all, but while I was young, I voluntarily read small biographies of ever American president, and encyclopedia articles about the histories of countries I found interesting like the Roman, German and Ottoman Empires. Got to love those friendly, peace loving Germans. They really put the FUN into history!
Mostly European history, Roman empire, Greek city states, feudal times in Europe. Maybe some spillage into Russia via the cold war.
There was ALMOST NO ASIAN HISTORY other than their conflicts that involve the US, like the Vietnam or Korean War. I had to watch documentaries on TV, Youtube, and scour the internet for those! In all fairness Asian history goes back a long way and there may not have been enough time to cover that.
This is question is obviously for people who attended high school in the U.S.
Some of us were lucky and attended secondary schools overseas. In my case I was a student from 1969-72 at the International School Ibadan (Nigeria) . There one could take both the US high school courses
at the International Baccalauritiat level and the British O-level, A-level syllabus. I did both and also took cources for the West African Secondary School Certificate (Courses in African History, art and culture).
Some historical topics like slavery (i.e. the fact that Africans ran the slaving operations at places like El Mina and Lagos) or the colonial system in Africa (especially how European powers imposed their rule on native peoples) were sensitive topics that could trigger very emotional responses when brought up in classes circa 1970.
Ah man HS is such a blue for me. I was the biggest pothead at my school. I'll try to remember though. I do remember learning about all kinds of cultures and civs. Mesopotamia, Aztecs, Olmecs, Australian aborigines, ancient Egypt/Greece/Rome, China, definitely a lot about England and rest of the UK, a bit about France (Napoleon and French Rev). So quite a bit. I don't remember what the actual classes were called. Probably World Civ I & II and Western Civ I and II
Last edited by LordHelmit; 08-28-2014 at 07:46 PM..
I was taught ancient civilizations in 7th grade. In 8th grade, it was European history. World Cultures followed, but the entire emphasis was on China. I think that was the preference of my teacher as we never ventured on to other countries, even though there were chapters in the book on them.
10th thru graduation was all US history. I loved it then, and I still enjoy it now.
I went to Catholic HS as well, and my experience was completely different. We studied other religions and how that influenced countries/civilizations. There was very little Catholic teaching/history other than in religion class, as you might expect.
While there was an emphasis of Europe in world history, it was not from a Catholic perspective, though some of those subject would come up in discussion with teachers(not in the text books).
I was very pleased with my HS education and when I transferred schools in my senior year, I was way ahead of most of the kids because of it.
BTW - I didn't want to go either because you had to wear a tie and leather shoes, not to mention there were no girls. We only got to see our "sister school" at arranged events like dances. Fortunately there was another Catholic HS right next to ours that was co-ed. I still fondly remember the plaid skirts they wore and talking with them through the fence.
You sure got a better deal than me. I suspect that it is a matter of the times. My high schools years were '64-'68. I'll guess you are speaking of later time. I'd be surprised to learn that there was any Catholic school in operation in the mid sixties with the liberality you describe above.
A fair bit. Our higher level Spanish courses (4 and up - I went to 7) were taught as immersion classes around various topics. Spanish 4 was the history of Spain. Spanish 6 was the history of Latin America.
We spent precious little time studying the Middle East and Africa, though I studied both extensively in my own time under the recommendation and tutelage of a really fantastic teacher who picked up on my interest in diplomacy and ran with it.
There only non-American history was a required semester of world history - but at the time, they didn't offer the AP class. Non-AP classes were about as cursory as a few hours with Wikipedia.
Having graduated only 2 years ago, I went through a lot more history than students 40 or 50 years ago had.
However, the only world history I had was in 6th grade and AP world in high school. Throughout my school career it was always called "social studies" instead of history, and everyone pretty much had to take the same stuff. In 6th grade they teach ancient world history (from our beginnings up to around 1300 or so AD.
7th grade - World geography
8th grade - US History from the revolution up to the Civil war
9th grade - A continuation of 8th grade history, from the Civil war up to the early 90s
10th grade - US Govt.
After that you're on your own if you want to take any more. AP world history is VERY difficult. You basically have to learn the entire history of the world from ancient civilizations up to WWII, all in two semesters, or 90 hour and a half long class periods.
My history class in college last semester was far less grueling than that!
When you are boating, you will not see the word "equator" written across the ocean.
The end.
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