What do Americans learn in school about history?

[janewilliams20]

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,

Comments

[sparkofcreation]

I went to a US public school and my husband to a Scottish one, and I learned considerably more history than he did, as he was never required to study it--he told me he was only required to study five subjects throughout secondary school and they were English, math, and he had to pick three more--he did music, physics, and chemistry. He basically never studied history again after the age of 9 when the Scots were living in huts (he says Scottish schools are obsessed with huts made of peat and that all he learned after that was The Fall of the Empire and then Churchill and that was it), whereas from 6th through 12th grade I had three years of American history, two years of world history, and one year of criminal and Constitutional law, all of which were mandatory. (Also, as social sciences electives I took one semester of civil law, one semester of sociology, and one year of psychology. And my guidance counselor was not pleased that I opted to take art rather than economics.) In university I was required to take one western civilizations course, one non-western civilizations course, and one cross-cultural course, in addition to two non-history social sciences courses.

So, in short, my knowledge of history is considerably broader both geographically and time-wise than what my husband got in his Scottish schools. In fact, I agree with your final assessment. I would expect the average American to know more about history than the average Brit with the equivalent educational experience, which I think is the sticking point.

I've been meaning to write something (not on this community) about what I consider basic knowledge than any human being should have, and I would expect (per your specific example) most Americans to know that the Roman Empire was huge, that Julius Caesar was its leader at one point, and that it included at times Britain, France, parts of Northern Africa, and so on. (I wouldn't necessarily expect them to match up which Roman emperor conquered which bits or when, although I personally did know that.) I would also expect Americans to know which European countries colonized which parts of the Western hemisphere, that Britain colonized Australia, and that Asia was traditionally closed off to the rest of the world. I would expect at least a significant number of them them to know what Magna Carta is. I would not expect them to know much world history, other than the major wars (Revolutionary, Spanish-American, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and I suppose the two Gulf Wars now--I was in school before they were in the history books), after the 1600s. I would expect them to know that there was a Soviet Union and some of the larger countries that emerged from it, same goes for the former Yugoslavia and probably Czechoslovakia.

[licon]

How old (roughly) is your husband? Because my husband also went to a Scottish school, and his required classes were very different.

(In my English school, history was required up to the age of about 14 at which point it became optional - most people had to choose between history or geography.)

[sparkofcreation]

He left school in 1996. ISTR that in the earlier years of secondary school he also studied Latin and German, but his A levels were in English, maths, chemistry, physics, and music, and his Highers in English, chemistry, and music.

[licon]

That's weird. Most Scottish schools don't do A-levels.

Normally Scottish schools offer Standard Grades (roughly equivalent to GCSEs), where students take 7-9 separate subjects; English, maths and science are usually required, then students choose the others. Later they can take 4-5 Highers (which I think are like AS-levels). There's something else too, but I can't remember what it is.

[sparkofcreation]

Well, I tend to get A-levels and Standard Grades mixed up, because I have other friends who went to school in England. So it probably was Standard Grades-I met him long after we'd both finished university, so it's not like this is something he talks about a lot. But I'm sure he took 5 subjects and then 3.

[licon]

Some schools allow pupils to take fewer, for whatever reason: I know some schools with lower-ability pupils just try to get them through the required classes. If he went on to take Highers though, only 5 surprises me.

[sparkofcreation]

Well, he then did his B. Mus., so maybe that's why, if he was planning to study music rather than an academic subject?

[licon]

You're not usually allowed to drop that many subjects that early, unless he was highly talented and focusing strongly on music at that point.

I'm only mentioning this because it's not representative of the Scottish system. Your average British student (English/Welsh/Scottish) takes around 7-9 subjects until school leaving age (16), and then goes on for advanced study with 3-5 subjects.

[sparkofcreation]

I could, of course, be completely wrong, and he may have done Latin and German through Standard Grades, which would make 7 subjects. But my point was that he'd never studied history after primary school, in any case.

[winterbadger]

I would expect (per your specific example) most Americans to know that the Roman Empire was huge, that Julius Caesar was its leader at one point...

Except that, just to be mildly pedantic, Julius Caesar was the one famous male Caesar who was *not* an emperor...

[janewilliams20]

I noticed the careful use of the word "leader" rather than "emperor" :)