Did you learn about St. Louis in School? (Springfield, Louisiana: job market, neighborhoods)

[arch_genesis]

Just curious how you came to acquire what knowledge you have of St. Louis. Were you taught about in school perhaps in geography or history or is it something you've always known having grown up in St. Louis.

I thought geography was a wasted subject when I took it in high school. It was essentially fill in the blanks on a world map. When am I ever going to get a map where the countries aren't named?

I think it would be great if St. Louis and its history were taught extensively in high school. Most of my knowledge about St. Louis I've learned in the past 3 years through websites and wikipedia. After high school I left St. Louis as did a lot of my peers and I left not knowing anything about it. Which brings me to my point, perhaps it can be used in partt help reverse the outward migration of our youth to other cities. I think a lot of kids leave the city not knowing anything about it. I know I did.

What do you think? There was a U.S. History course, a World History course but no St. Louis History Course.

If you were teaching a course on St. Louis what topics would you cover?

[DinsdalePirahna]

I did and I'm a product of New York State Schools.

Louis and Clarke
Dred Scott Descision
Missouri Compromise
Worlds Fair and Olympics
Underground Railroad
Natchez vs Robert E. Lee
Laclede and Choteau (spelling?)
Treaty of Paris
Louisiana Purchase.

Teaching local history is very important.

[kshe95girl]

^ Chouteau
St. Louis Walk of Fame - Auguste Chouteau

[MrZetec]

I actually got a Bachelors degree in this "wasted subject" and actually work in my field, it is one of the up and coming job markets, especially in St. Louis

[CarrieNeno]

I learned very little about the actual history of the city St Louis and it’s neighborhoods in school?! Yes, I too did the Old Courthouse, Arch, and History Museum fieldtrips and yah, yah, yah... but I thank two knowledgeable native parents and a job that takes me city wide everyday, from one river to the other, for my awareness.

I recall in 6th grade being assigned a city neighborhood in groups ( i had the section of North City around the Bissell ). We spent the whole day down there: touring, eating lunch, "working", and learning about the history and landmarks... but that was the extent of my St Louis teachings in school, sadly.

[STLMetro]

The knowledged I gained of St. Louis was just looking around and visiting new places. In school, St. Louis was talked about only as a secondary note to the items mentioned above (Louis and Clark, etc.) We never even took a tour of the old courthouse. It may be due to the fact that I lived in Illinois, but we visited Lincoln's tomb in Springfield (almost 2 hours away) and never went to St. Louis (about 15 minutes away).

[kshe95girl]

This is digressing from the OP's point, but just slightly.
I grew up and went to school in Sainte Genevieve, and throughout my years in school, the history of the area was never mentioned, we never visited any of the amazing examples of French Colonial architecture, nor was Saint Louis ever mentioned, the history of Missouri took about 15 minutes to breeze through.
The Louisiana Purchase was mentioned only in passing. Like another poster here, I learned about the treasures in my own back yard through parents intensely interested in history, who passed it along to me.

[arch_genesis]

Originally Posted by MrZetec

I actually got a Bachelors degree in this "wasted subject" and actually work in my field, it is one of the up and coming job markets, especially in St. Louis

lol I wasn't trying to insult your field it just so happened in high school my geography class wasn't all it could've been. my teacher was there to collect a paycheck. I love geography/history hence why I made the thread.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by arch_genesis

lol I wasn't trying to insult your field it just so happened in high school my geography class wasn't all it could've been. my teacher was there to collect a paycheck. I love geography/history hence why I made the thread.

History and social studies, especially in high school, is where many of the schools hide their football and other sports coaches. And the subject matter suffers.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

History and social studies, especially in high school, is where many of the schools hide their football and other sports coaches. And the subject matter suffers.

That's not true where I went to school. Most of the coaching staff were Math and Physics Teachers. Most of our sport programs were nationally ranked (Rick Horton is a product of that HS)

Our History and Social Studies teachers were all top notch.