What do Americans learn in school about history?
I was chatting away in another community entirely, using various historical parallels to describe things, and was informed by a couple of American posters that I was overestimating the historical knowledge of the average American by a considerable degree. Their description of "what Americans learn" seems to imply that by the end of senior school, Americans know considerably less than the average British eight-year-old. Also, they referred to what was learnt in "high school", but never answered my enquiry as to what was learnt in junior school.
We were using Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul and Britain as a specific example, but the implication was that knowledge of anything at all prior to the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers was close to zero.
The main difference I've gathered between the American and British education systems is that the American one stays "broader" for far longer than ours: so, since my own education was British, and focused on the sciences, I'd expect the average American to know more than I do about history rather than less. (My formal education in the subject stopped when I was 13).
Could someone fill me in, please? I know there's a stereotypical view of Americans as ignorant of history, but this community has made it clear in the past that most stereotypes are untrue. Are my informants exaggerating? (I do hope so.)
Edit: thanks, everyone! Looks like the answer is "it varies" (which is rather what I expected). It also looks as if British education varies a lot more than I'd realised. In tangential issues, I now know what "AP" means in the American education system, and have been surprised at how many other people also learnt their Roman history in Latin class.
In practical terms, it would appear that the common historical cultural references I can assume in a mixed-nationality discussion are quite close to zero. Which is a shame, but useful to know.
Further edit: it looks as if my original two informants were cynical people with a remarkably low opinion of their own countrymen. That's rather sad.
We were using Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul and Britain as a specific example, but the implication was that knowledge of anything at all prior to the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers was close to zero.
The main difference I've gathered between the American and British education systems is that the American one stays "broader" for far longer than ours: so, since my own education was British, and focused on the sciences, I'd expect the average American to know more than I do about history rather than less. (My formal education in the subject stopped when I was 13).
Could someone fill me in, please? I know there's a stereotypical view of Americans as ignorant of history, but this community has made it clear in the past that most stereotypes are untrue. Are my informants exaggerating? (I do hope so.)
Edit: thanks, everyone! Looks like the answer is "it varies" (which is rather what I expected). It also looks as if British education varies a lot more than I'd realised. In tangential issues, I now know what "AP" means in the American education system, and have been surprised at how many other people also learnt their Roman history in Latin class.
In practical terms, it would appear that the common historical cultural references I can assume in a mixed-nationality discussion are quite close to zero. Which is a shame, but useful to know.
Further edit: it looks as if my original two informants were cynical people with a remarkably low opinion of their own countrymen. That's rather sad.