In schools in the United States, US History classes last the whole year to cover the roughly 200 years that the nation has existed and sometimes more about before the Revolution and rarer, the population of the continent many thousands of years ago. However, since countries in Europe have been part of recorded history seemingly much longer, what kind of material is covered in classes in the UK and other European countries?
Hell, I learned more about European History my Sophomore year of high school than I did learn American History my Junior year.
Here in the UK, compulsory education, studies as far back as around 1000 years ago, but mainly on the tudors, victorians, vikings etc.
Yea, and they wonder why the United States doesnt know much about other countries? My school goes over the same shit for 5 years on american history, while world history they only spend 2 years on.... theres a lot more world than just the United States... it should be opposite.
when I was back in High School I've learned "sorta"
Pre Historic
Middle Ages
Dutch Golden Age (Dutch East Indies, VOC, 17th Century)
WW1, WW2, Vietnam, American Revolution, Vietnam War.
How The Netherlands became as it is.
and all sort of stuff between that, School systems in different ages etc etc.
Pre Historic
Middle Ages
Dutch Golden Age (Dutch East Indies, VOC, 17th Century)
WW1, WW2, Vietnam, American Revolution, Vietnam War.
How The Netherlands became as it is.
and all sort of stuff between that, School systems in different ages etc etc.
And after all this you'll get political history. Blegh!^*AlphA*^ wrote:
when I was back in High School I've learned "sorta"
Pre Historic
Middle Ages
Dutch Golden Age (Dutch East Indies, VOC, 17th Century)
WW1, WW2, Vietnam, American Revolution, Vietnam War.
How The Netherlands became as it is.
and all sort of stuff between that, School systems in different ages etc etc.
I'm in ireland, i learn about the irish revolution against the british and the american revolution. And we also learn about the romans and the early irish settlers and stuff like that!
I'm in Ireland also. The Plantations and Irish Revolution are big. But obviously WW1 and WW2 are the big things.
As another product of the Irish system, I can tell you that it starts really early.
I remember covering prehistoric stuff, starting in the Paleolithic Era, and moving up through the Bronze and Iron Ages, switch over to Rome for some of that stuff, and then back to Ireland for the early Christian era. Then, lots of stuff about monks and vikings. Interspersed through all of that will be Irish mythological stuff. Then, jump past the Middle Ages, where we were all on holiday for 400 years or so (so far as I can tell...) and you get the arrival of the British, which becomes the focus of Irish history classes, covering the Plantation era and a variety of uprisings and rebellions stretching over 250-300 years. There's a serious focus on the gaining of independence and the civil war during the early 20th century, and the particularly complicated politics of that time, which is still with us today.
After that, there's some coverage of the World Wars, though not as much as you might think. WWI doesn't get covered much at all, since the 1914-1918 period coincides with the Rising that lead to the Irish Free State. WWII sees a bit of coverage, but again it's not a major focus, since we didn't actually take part in that one, remaining (fairly) neutral and isolationist.
Post WWII stuff concerns itself mostly with European integration, the formation of the EEC/EU and so on.
So... over the years of schooling, I guess I covered a period from about 4000BC to the present. Major focus on certain specific periods, especially the plantations in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the rebellion of 1916, and the aftermath of that, including the civil war.
It is very Ireland-centric, I guess, but there's always occasional forays into other stuff. I remember learning about the French and American revolutions, for example, (and how they related to the later Irish rising). The Romans never came to Ireland, but I definitely learned about them and their wacky world-conquering ways.
Can't remember what else we did, and I've read a lot of history since I left school, so some of it blurs a bit. Still, it was a wide-ranging curriculum, even if it was always coming back to stuff that seemed like the same stuff we were doing last century...
I remember covering prehistoric stuff, starting in the Paleolithic Era, and moving up through the Bronze and Iron Ages, switch over to Rome for some of that stuff, and then back to Ireland for the early Christian era. Then, lots of stuff about monks and vikings. Interspersed through all of that will be Irish mythological stuff. Then, jump past the Middle Ages, where we were all on holiday for 400 years or so (so far as I can tell...) and you get the arrival of the British, which becomes the focus of Irish history classes, covering the Plantation era and a variety of uprisings and rebellions stretching over 250-300 years. There's a serious focus on the gaining of independence and the civil war during the early 20th century, and the particularly complicated politics of that time, which is still with us today.
After that, there's some coverage of the World Wars, though not as much as you might think. WWI doesn't get covered much at all, since the 1914-1918 period coincides with the Rising that lead to the Irish Free State. WWII sees a bit of coverage, but again it's not a major focus, since we didn't actually take part in that one, remaining (fairly) neutral and isolationist.
Post WWII stuff concerns itself mostly with European integration, the formation of the EEC/EU and so on.
So... over the years of schooling, I guess I covered a period from about 4000BC to the present. Major focus on certain specific periods, especially the plantations in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the rebellion of 1916, and the aftermath of that, including the civil war.
It is very Ireland-centric, I guess, but there's always occasional forays into other stuff. I remember learning about the French and American revolutions, for example, (and how they related to the later Irish rising). The Romans never came to Ireland, but I definitely learned about them and their wacky world-conquering ways.
Can't remember what else we did, and I've read a lot of history since I left school, so some of it blurs a bit. Still, it was a wide-ranging curriculum, even if it was always coming back to stuff that seemed like the same stuff we were doing last century...
I always thought that Irish History began with the invention of Guiness.
At A/S level (Age 16-17) It's:
Stalinist Russia
The civil rights movement in the USA
Boom and Bust of 1920s USA
The boom and bust is the most boring subject ever. Other two are ok.
Stalinist Russia
The civil rights movement in the USA
Boom and Bust of 1920s USA
The boom and bust is the most boring subject ever. Other two are ok.
As i'm a school kid still, in my 3 years at secondary school we have learnt stuff rom the roman empire all the way up to vietnam