History class!

    • History class!

      This is for everyone but mostly those outside of the USA - that's where i live!

      i was thinking about how we are a baby nation really especially compared to other places in the world. The UK for instance. How does your education system go about teaching soooooo much?!

      Also the things i don't learn, i think because we are ashamed? Like the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. I had to learn about that when watching The Watchmen series on HBO! Sad. Is it like this elsewhere too??

      I wonder how Germany handles the Nazi stuff?

    • Very interesting.
      We also have times we are not supposed to be proud of, but we was taught about it anyway.
      Our vikings were vicious. Converted to the way we think today, the world would hate Denmark. And we've had mad kings and inbreeding royals. We aren't spared at school.
      "Comedy is like sex. If they haven't made a noise in a while, change what you're doing" - Sara Pascoe

    • Kara Zor-El wrote:

      Natacha wrote:

      And we've had mad kings and inbreeding royals. We aren't spared at school.
      that's Game of Thrones stuff =O
      Well... I was about to say, that's a bit romantizised, but maybe a bit.
      "Comedy is like sex. If they haven't made a noise in a while, change what you're doing" - Sara Pascoe

    • We're rather restricted to a few things in what we're taught (like everything if it's not on our set curriculum it's not taught)

      Mostly Roman's, Vikings, Tudors, and second world war

      I only did about irish history (and the troubles of religion and British rule over them) as I took it as an option

      Most stuff I've learnt have been out of school (going to museums, watching tv documentaries, and playing computer games :D )

      Good Friend :play: Kinda Romantic :love: Ready to Rock :zomg:

      "If you try to follow fashion you'll always be chasing, and probably never catch it. If you be yourself and make your own style, fashion might just bump into you one day."

    • History class is mandatory for years in Austria, so we can get through a lot. In the type of school I am, I will have it for 7 years and can take it as an additional elective for 2 years (on top of having it as a regular class the same years).

      And as my country shares a dark history with Germany, we don't gloss over it in my school. WW1 and WW2, including the interwar period that included a short civil war in my country, are actually the topic in this year's class. We will go to a former concentration camp, Mauthausen memorial, this spring. As far as I know, that's mandatory for all schools where I live, though I am unsure if that's a local rule or in the whole country.
      I have heard it depends on your own teacher, though. The curriculum is not hiding anything, but teachers can still brush over things. And some of our books are also a bit too friendly, I think. But we all got the Internet and access to a lot more information, also in the school library, for our projects and assignments.

    • History.. my favourite subject!!! You made a few different points here....

      1st, I think every country sterilises their history to some degree. History is not really fact... it is the facts as seen by the person who wrote it. With lots of opinion included, and emphasis of what that person thought was important, and deleting things that person did not like. So if you read many sources of history of the same region, you will get very different stories. And sadly, the histories that are unpopular get buried deep into the archives. Or destroyed.

      As to length... I cannot speak for other countries, nor even for other regions of my own country, nor even for other schools in my own region. But at my school, we spend a lot of time on history/culture/religion (I would say, half of my courses relate to it), because there is so much of it to know, and it is important.

      We learn of the ancient Greeks who lived here before being kicked out by the ancient Romans. And being "owned" by France a few times, Spain a few times, the Habsburgs and Bavarians, then Spain again then France again and England even, and many many others in the meantime. History is long, and all of it is important, but parts do get skipped over because we do not live long enough to really understand all of it.

      It is complicated by the fact that borders change, and every region even within countries has its own history, seldom linear, and that the regions/countries of the past are now combined into modern nations (a good example is Germany... few people outside of Germany even know when it even became a nation. Likewise, most people think Rome and Italy were the same country, just because Rome is inside modern Italy). Our history includes Belgium and part of Luxembourg, until they broke away in the mid 1800s. And most people think of the history of Holland, not realising that Holland is just one region of the country. Every region was their own history.

      More recent history... we do study the time when we hated Germany, even after the Liberation in 1945. (Mostly, we hated them for attacking/bombing/occupying even after we issued a Declaration of Neutrality). And we learn how we reconciled with them, became close to them as we are now. And how our relationship with the UK and USA was (and perhaps is) stronger than our national relationship with much of Europe. Even in recent history, there is SO MUCH to learn and understand, that it is impossible.

      Additional point: I suspect none of you in the USA study Dutch history. But my school requires multiple courses of USA history and culture.

    • mentallychaotic wrote:

      History.. my favourite subject!!! You made a few different points here....

      1st, I think every country sterilises their history to some degree. History is not really fact... it is the facts as seen by the person who wrote it. With lots of opinion included, and emphasis of what that person thought was important, and deleting things that person did not like. So if you read many sources of history of the same region, you will get very different stories. And sadly, the histories that are unpopular get buried deep into the archives. Or destroyed.

      As to length... I cannot speak for other countries, nor even for other regions of my own country, nor even for other schools in my own region. But at my school, we spend a lot of time on history/culture/religion (I would say, half of my courses relate to it), because there is so much of it to know, and it is important.

      We learn of the ancient Greeks who lived here before being kicked out by the ancient Romans. And being "owned" by France a few times, Spain a few times, the Habsburgs and Bavarians, then Spain again then France again and England even, and many many others in the meantime. History is long, and all of it is important, but parts do get skipped over because we do not live long enough to really understand all of it.

      It is complicated by the fact that borders change, and every region even within countries has its own history, seldom linear, and that the regions/countries of the past are now combined into modern nations (a good example is Germany... few people outside of Germany even know when it even became a nation. Likewise, most people think Rome and Italy were the same country, just because Rome is inside modern Italy). Our history includes Belgium and part of Luxembourg, until they broke away in the mid 1800s. And most people think of the history of Holland, not realising that Holland is just one region of the country. Every region was their own history.

      More recent history... we do study the time when we hated Germany, even after the Liberation in 1945. (Mostly, we hated them for attacking/bombing/occupying even after we issued a Declaration of Neutrality). And we learn how we reconciled with them, became close to them as we are now. And how our relationship with the UK and USA was (and perhaps is) stronger than our national relationship with much of Europe. Even in recent history, there is SO MUCH to learn and understand, that it is impossible.

      Additional point: I suspect none of you in the USA study Dutch history. But my school requires multiple courses of USA history and culture.
      it's true. Like how the southern states feel differently about the history of the civil war than the northern states!

      And yea the educational system failed us with Dutch history. :P

    • BJade wrote:

      We're rather restricted to a few things in what we're taught (like everything if it's not on our set curriculum it's not taught)

      Mostly Roman's, Vikings, Tudors, and second world war

      Like Jade said, even though we’ve got a lot of history (more than the USA anyway), what we’re taught in school is pretty much limited to the same few topics: for me it was the Normans (William the Conqueror and the Bayeux Tapestry), Henry VIII and his wives (“divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived” :D ) Queen Victoria, and the two world wars. In my school we also did something on local history, which included looking at the Industrial Revolution, and something on the history of medicine, which was quite interesting. One of my A-levels is History, and the modules I’ve done so far include Germany between the two wars, including the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, and 19th Century British history, which covers the Industrial Revolution again and also the British Empire.

      There has been a lot of controversy recently about what should and shouldn’t be taught in history, particularly to do with race and Empire and slavery. There’s a lot of people, including some politicians, who aren’t happy that people might be questioning whether the British Empire was a good thing or not, and who get angry when protesters pull down statues of people who made their fortunes from slavery. I think that’s why in schools they often just stick to ‘safe’ subjects like Henry VIII.

      In America, is the history of Native Americans ever taught, and the way their land was taken by white European settlers?

    • mentallychaotic wrote:

      History.. my favourite subject!!! You made a few different points here....

      1st, I think every country sterilises their history to some degree. History is not really fact... it is the facts as seen by the person who wrote it. With lots of opinion included, and emphasis of what that person thought was important, and deleting things that person did not like. So if you read many sources of history of the same region, you will get very different stories. And sadly, the histories that are unpopular get buried deep into the archives. Or destroyed.

      As to length... I cannot speak for other countries, nor even for other regions of my own country, nor even for other schools in my own region. But at my school, we spend a lot of time on history/culture/religion (I would say, half of my courses relate to it), because there is so much of it to know, and it is important.

      We learn of the ancient Greeks who lived here before being kicked out by the ancient Romans. And being "owned" by France a few times, Spain a few times, the Habsburgs and Bavarians, then Spain again then France again and England even, and many many others in the meantime. History is long, and all of it is important, but parts do get skipped over because we do not live long enough to really understand all of it.

      It is complicated by the fact that borders change, and every region even within countries has its own history, seldom linear, and that the regions/countries of the past are now combined into modern nations (a good example is Germany... few people outside of Germany even know when it even became a nation. Likewise, most people think Rome and Italy were the same country, just because Rome is inside modern Italy). Our history includes Belgium and part of Luxembourg, until they broke away in the mid 1800s. And most people think of the history of Holland, not realising that Holland is just one region of the country. Every region was their own history.

      More recent history... we do study the time when we hated Germany, even after the Liberation in 1945. (Mostly, we hated them for attacking/bombing/occupying even after we issued a Declaration of Neutrality). And we learn how we reconciled with them, became close to them as we are now. And how our relationship with the UK and USA was (and perhaps is) stronger than our national relationship with much of Europe. Even in recent history, there is SO MUCH to learn and understand, that it is impossible.

      Additional point: I suspect none of you in the USA study Dutch history. But my school requires multiple courses of USA history and culture.
      Wow, that’s a really insightful response. Probably one of the best I’ve seen on this forum.

      I also agree that studying history is extremely important, and it is the events that occurred in the past which shape the world we exist in today. Ultimately, there is a reason why things are the way they are today. A curiosity to know what lead up to the present can be satisfied through the study of history.

      One thing I’ll say though, is; you Europeans must have a lot more content to learn vs us Aussies. Since there are soo many nations in Europe, each with such long backstories, and various interconnections throughout the times.

    • Daniel C wrote:

      One thing I’ll say though, is; you Europeans must have a lot more content to learn vs us Aussies. Since there are soo many nations in Europe, each with such long backstories, and various interconnections throughout the times.
      Thank you for your kind comments.

      This part is, I am sure, what @Kara Zor-El was referring to when she said "How does your education system go about teaching soooooo much?!" And to respond to both of you: It is impossible. Every region, every school, every teacher... teaches what they feel are the important parts. There is no other way, because even "young" countries have more history than is possible to understand.

      I do agree with you, that the curiosity to know what shaped our current lives is important. It is unfortunate that people in power are so often those who do not understand history nor its importance.

      There are so many parts of history that I would like to understand. But sadly there is little information available for much of it, or the information available is so opinionised that it is not useful.