What do americans actually learn in history class?
The United States isn't even 250 years old. How do US schools spin that amount of history out over 11 or so years of compulsory education?
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curious-bunny
Lies, we also learn the same thing over and over but more boring and slightly more detail each time
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Ummitsstillme
I heard the Brits were a bunch of pompous pussies and we made them suck our Lexingtons and Concords.
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CozmoWank
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donteatstuffoffthesidewalk
their diet: tea & crumpets
our diet: whiskey & raw squirrel meatwhat the fuck did they think was gonna happen?
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megadriver
My girlfriend (British) learned that the British were the greatest contributors to winning WW2 for the Allies.
They were the real heroes of WW2 and they were the ones that crumbled Hitler. And the Americans contribution was very minor.Biggest sack of lies I've ever heard... England was practically begging the Americans for help.
She was stunned, when I told her what I learned and read about WW2.
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SwickDinging
I'm amazed that she even learned about WW2. I was taught very little about it. I think they've updated the curriculum since then to include more.
I was also taught virtually nothing about the British Empire.
I suppose to be fair British history is fucking long and they can't teach you all of it in detail during school, but you'd think that world wars and the British Empire would be more than a foot note...
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megadriver
Of course she learned about WW2... England was the savior of Europe. When I met her father in London, he was very quick to point out the greatness of British history and economy. Almost making England the primary force in Europe.
I then asked him why are all British car manufacturers now German, why do the Germans own most of Rolls Royce aeronautical, why the British army uses German G-wagons as military vehicles and their planes are Eurofighters, F16s and why his daughter is studying fashion design in Germany and sleeping with a Bulgarian man...
He then got angry and told me he was a foreman and had a Rover 75 and an old MGB (shit rustbucket that breaks down all the time)... And my E420's starter alone probably makes more power than those two scrap piles combined...I really hate this superiority complex the english have... Why can't they accept there are other countries with a rich history as well... Bulgaria has been around since the year 600, officially formed in 681. Way before England, Prussia, or every other western European country.
Yet to the British we are considered gypsy scum from the uncultured Balkans...
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SwickDinging
Eh, Britain is a pretty good place, I like it. Then again, I haven't lived there for years and one of the main reasons I don't live there is because I didn't want to raise my children there so... I obviously don't like it THAT much... Lol.
I think the superiority comes the fact that most people in the world speak English and most people know British culture well. I think it gives people this idea that wherever they go in the world, they are special. Kind of like Americans. That would be my best guess.
Your girlfriend's dad sounds weird. I don't know any Brits who go on about how great our cars are or how proud our history is. Must be an old people thing. But you probably shouldn't have said the "your daughter is sleeping with a Bulgarian man" thing. Men don't like it when you say that about their little girls. I bet it was hilarious though.
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megadriver
It was hilarious. I just hate being talked down to. He was bragging he was a foreman that worked in a factory and I have a cushy office job selling cars. Working for British Leyland is nothing to brag about. Everything they made was terrible XD
He had the worse job, yet still kept the snobbish attitude and trying to prove some superiority.
That's why I said it and I couldn't care less what he thinks. His little girl is over 18, has made a choice with who she wants to live and the only thing he can do is accept it.
Being passive aggressive isn't going to change anything. Treat people how you want to be treated.
If he was nice to me, we would have been friends.Also better with me, a white Bulgarian man from a christian family, than with a sand monkey. Europe is full of 'em nowadays.
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leggs91200
I know England/Britain culture well.
They speak with an English accent, drink tea, drive Vauxhalls, and look to Big Ben to know what time it is.
Their favorite band is The Who.
And when describing the kids, they say, "I say mate, he is a bloody fine lad!"Much more civilized than us Americans. We drink beer, have huge beer guts, say things like "It is 5 o'clock somewhere!" and we yell and curse at the TV when sports are on. And we drive oversized shit like Ford F150's.
To us, "bloody" usually means someone was a victim of a violent crime.Comment Hidden ( show )
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donteatstuffoffthesidewalk
ever read about how churchill (the then secretary of the limey navy) sat back and let the lusitania git torpedoed so he could drag the usa into ww1?
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palehorse
History isn't all US history, we usually cover a lot of World History too.
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dimwitted
No horrors of slavery of the African Americans. No mass genocide of the American Indians. The holocaust may have been a sham...
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WashYaDoggy
How their grandparents raised high the confederate flag, how ATV's were and still are the best form of transport, how it was their uncle bucks right to bare arms, now their right.
MERICA
Not to forget the history of boiling everything edible in oil and fat before consuming.
MERICA
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leggs91200
I hated history/social studies.
If my report card was gonna have a D or an F, it would be THAT class.They talked about boring shit like when states joined the union or signing some treaty or just whatever boring crap.
The first thing I remember from history is in first grade there was a pic of George Washington on the wall. I told my friends, "Hey, that's the man on a dollar bill!"Only other thing I remember is my step mom was trying to help me with social studies one time, some guy names "Prince Charles" came up but I was so bored and frustrated I started crying.
I read history stuff and my mind shuts down.
EDIT - needless to say, i have no interest in politics either.
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Grunewald
Bwahaha you wouldn't be the first person whom Prince Charles made cry!!!
He's a national treasure but he does put his foot in it a lot...
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leggs91200
Not that guy who is the son of Diane. I don't remember for sure. Prince Albert maybe? The artist formerly known as Prince?
Remember, you are talking to a D and F social studies student.
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Grunewald
Haha no probs. He's Diana's ex husband. Their marriage was a disaster. She had an affair and wrote an autobiography talking about how unhappy she was, then died in a 'car accident' a few years later. Investigations have shown that it was indeed a genuine car crash due to the taxi driver being intoxicated while trying to escape paparazzi, but the newspapers went wild with speculation: had the Royal Family bumped her off to keep her quiet? Was it set up by Prince Charles as an act of revenge?
It's easier to understand who someone is when the news won't shut up about them.
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leggs91200
I guess you are in the UK?
One thing I remember about that whole ordeal is that Diana died on august 31, 1997 and TWO WEEKS, TWO WEEKS later, Sept 13 1997, Elton John released that damn song about it.
I mean it got written, produced, recorded, and released in just two weeks? You tell me that shit isn't fishy. She died and they wasted NO time banking on it.Here are my sources -
Death -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Diana,_Princess_of_WalesSong release -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candle_in_the_Wind_1997Comment Hidden ( show )-
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Grunewald
I was...
That song's history too, y'know.You're not that bad at it.
What I was taught in History was World Wars ad infinitum, ancient civilizations plus a relatively small amount of British history, Weimar Germany and the origins of the EU.In the later years it was about comparing sources and looking at vested interest, bias and how propaganda can influence public opinion. It didn't present Britain as being completely spotless in the world wars - and especially not in the first: all those millions of young men who were sold glory and received drudgery, all for a war of attrition that ended up as a contest in killing for killing's sake. Our essays were on evaluating whether the wars were worth it, though our opinions weren't quite free: we were nudged in the direction the school wanted us to take (as you can see from the summary I've just given). In retrospect, even though I don't remember many names or dates, the source-analysing skills are quite useful today, to an extent that we all couldn't quite have anticipated back in 2006.
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chuy
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SmokeEverything
They basically just drill propaganda into your head all day. You don't learn any real history, just how much freedom you have and how america has consistently been a force for good in the world.
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megadriver
I'm interested to know if Americans learn about Europe. Pretty sure you guys learn stuff about ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, but do you learn anything more?
In Bulgaria, we covered our history, history of most of Europe, a bit of ancient China and the Huns and history of the US.
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Bazinga
Very little about Europe, unless you take university level classes. The history of preliminary alliances in Europe are important to understand the fundamental causes of WWI. Other than that, American history is mostly about wars, and the few decades between each of them. My conclusion is that if the U.S. really thinks it is only a nation, it needs to stop acting like it is an empire.
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LloydAsher