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f1ve-Star t1_iqpctgw wrote

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AdminsAreLazyID10TS t1_iqq60f1 wrote

Some people paid a bare minimum of attention in school, you know.

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AnselaJonla t1_iqqi1qb wrote

Some people did not study American history in school.

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WebbityWebbs t1_iqqmcyz wrote

Fair enough. It’s frankly illegal to teach American history is parts of America now. Although, American and French Revolutions were a pretty big deal in world history. They basically paved the way for the modern world order.

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AnselaJonla t1_iqqmkcv wrote

I didn't learn American history for a very good reason: I'm not American and didn't attend an American school.

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flannicus90 t1_iqseiea wrote

Sounds like an excuse to me. /s Realtedly, if you don't mind, how was your home-country's teaching of its own history, and where was it? As an American from the Midwest, this is one of my favorite questions to ask folks.

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AnselaJonla t1_iqsiz69 wrote

Until GCSE years, history is rotated with geography and religious education as a "humanities" block. At GCSE you pick one.

As you can imagine, having maybe two hours a week on history for a third of the year (well, two sixths in my school) means you can't go into depth about the UK's long history.

In primary school it was general details, about various historical eras, sanitised to a pre-teen safe level. Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, etc.

In secondary school you got stuff like the Tudors, Industrial Revolution, a sanitised view of the Empire, World Wars. At pre-GCSE there wasn't much about America at all.

I can honestly say I've learned more about the Napoleonic Wars (and a bit about India) from Bernard Cornwell/Sharpe, the World Wars from Sabaton, and the American Revolution from Hamilton.

I am over a decade past school age though, and I didn't take GCSE History because one of the teachers was an awful person.

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AdminsAreLazyID10TS t1_iqsfaoz wrote

Funny, we learn basic British history, and the American Revolution is also British history, if you will recall.

Can't imagine why the UK doesn't mention a Frenchman who was a key figure in freeing both America and the French peasantry.

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