world history (WW2 era, mainly)

[mgk920]

Assuming you went to HS in Europe, I am not surprised. In my Midwestern US high school we spent several weeks studying the US Civil War, I even won a history contest with a paper about it. Of course that was 30 years ago and in an optional history class I took. The regular curriculum of the time usually had a week of classes on the Civil War, more time was devoted to WWII, and WWI was usually mentioned as it related to the run-up to WWII. Since many of the teachers of the time spent time in Korea or Viet Nam, these conflicts got even more time devoted to them.

Very interesting in that here in Appleton, WI, there is a VERY POPULAR annual USA Civil War re-enactment day held during the spring in a city park for the fifth graders in the city's school system - complete with a mock battle in the afternoon.  The kids LOVE it and yes, it really does fire their interests in that über-important time on our nation's history.



Mike

[vdeane]

And we've been paying for that mistake, literally, since then.  It was the FDR era when we started running budget deficits, got the Ponzi scheme called Social Security, etc.  The only reason the economy recovered, IMHO, is WWII.

The ONLY reason?  World War II was certainly the biggest reason the depression ended, but I'd hardly call it the only one.  It can be argued that the current crisis was caused by the dismantling of the regulatory environment created by FDR.

Social Security isn't quite as insolvent as politicians say it is, but regardless, we would be better served to look and the even larger ponzi scheme that is an economic system that requires constant growth.  Guess what: constant growth cannot be maintained.

As for government inefficiency, in the case of agencies it's caused by interest groups (which IMO should be outlawed) making it more difficult to do anything.  For example, the time it takes to build a road would be 1/10 of what it is if it weren't for environmentalists and other interest groups interfering with policy.

[agentsteel53]

agencies it's caused by interest groups (which IMO should be outlawed)

a nice idea, but unworkable in practice.  it's like attempting to outlaw shortcuts, loopholes, cleverness, and in general people looking out for themselves.  Kinda mathematically impossible, unfortunately.  If there is an interest, there will very soon be an interest group.  And if you want to get rid of the interest, you'd have to start over with a new species.  Let's face it, humans are extraordinarily self-serving, for better or for worse, and no amount of law will get rid of that instinct.

[yanksfan6129]

As someone that is currently taking High School history, I can say that we did spend about a month on the civil war...as for Chris, I'm not at all surprised that you didn't cover the American Civil War any, simply because it is an American event and you are in the Netherlands.

Of note, I don't know how many years of American history others here took in High School, but at my school it is divided into US History I and US History II...so we take 2 years, which allows for a little more in-depth. Also, I'm taking other US history-related classes as electives, this year I'm taking American Political Systems and Constitutional Law, and next year I plan on taking AP Government. My school also offers a lot of foreign history classes, and I will probably be taking Holocaust and Genocide next year, and possibly AP European history, although I am more interested in the history of the world post-1500 or so, so I may end up taking Modern European History instead.

[J N Winkler]

As someone that is currently taking High School history, I can say that we did spend about a month on the civil war...as for Chris, I'm not at all surprised that you didn't cover the American Civil War any, simply because it is an American event and you are in the Netherlands.

It may also have something to do with the fact that the Netherlands was neutral in World War I.  Both sides in the Civil War pioneered trench warfare and mechanized weaponry, so within Europe it is generally recognized as a precursor (in technological terms) of the later war.  But European neutrals like Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden were spared the horrors of the trenches.

Of note, I don't know how many years of American history others here took in High School, but at my school it is divided into US History I and US History II...so we take 2 years, which allows for a little more in-depth. Also, I'm taking other US history-related classes as electives, this year I'm taking American Political Systems and Constitutional Law, and next year I plan on taking AP Government. My school also offers a lot of foreign history classes, and I will probably be taking Holocaust and Genocide next year, and possibly AP European history, although I am more interested in the history of the world post-1500 or so, so I may end up taking Modern European History instead.

I went to the Wichita public schools and graduated from high school in 1993.  At the time I was in school, two years of American history were required at the high school level, and I fulfilled this with a honors section of US History I (where I heard all about "our" country) and later by AP US History.  I had one year of World History, as a honors section, which was worthless since the teacher didn't challenge us.  (I had wanted to take the course earlier, from a different and more challenging teacher, but had to give up because of a scheduling conflict.)

Because I went to a comprehensive high school instead of a magnet or the district's IB program (which was at a different high school), the offerings of taught AP courses were limited.  If you wanted to take the AP exam in a course for which no AP section was offered and you wanted time out of your schedule to prepare for it, you needed to find a teacher in the general subject area who was willing to supervise you, and you also had to get agreement from the principal.

I did AP Psychology as a self-study (but didn't seek a schedule hole with all the red tape that would have entailed), and got five out of five.  A friend of mine sought a schedule hole with supervision, and did AP European History; I think she got at least four out of five.  I did AP Government (four out of five, partly because the format of the exam was radically revised the year I took it) as a taught course, AP Physics B as a supervised self-study (five out of five on that, I think), and AP Chemistry as a taught course with two two-hour sections each week (three out of five on the exam--it is a very tough exam and, despite endless chivvying from our teacher, most of us just didn't do enough lab work).

People who load themselves down with AP classes are generally seeking either to grease admission to a prestigious university or get a head start on distribution requirements at a second-echelon institution like a state university.  At Harvard, for example, if you received high scores on a sufficient number of AP exams, you could enter with sophomore standing.  After that point there was no benefit to taking additional AP exams because these would not eliminate further course requirements.  In the end I decided to go to Kansas State, and seek admission to a prestigious university for my graduate work, so I cashed in my AP exam scores for course credits.  I forget the exact number I got, but I think it was between 60 and 70 (140 are required to graduate with a single major).  One acquaintance of mine, a really bright person from Baldwin City, entered with over 100--one of the associate deans remarked that it was difficult to find courses for her to take.

I was an extremely undisciplined student, and wound up taking five years to complete three majors counting toward one BS and one BA degree.  A friend of mine with much better work habits also took five years to complete a BS degree with three majors, but one was chemical engineering--engineering majors at KSU are very demanding--and he later finished a chemistry PhD at Berkeley in five years.

[yanksfan6129]

All of the classes that I mentioned that weren't AP are honors classes.

[english si]

As someone that is currently taking High School history, I can say that we did spend about a month on the civil war...as for Chris, I'm not at all surprised that you didn't cover the American Civil War any, simply because it is an American event and you are in the Netherlands.

It may also have something to do with the fact that the Netherlands was neutral in World War I.  Both sides in the Civil War pioneered trench warfare and mechanized weaponry, so within Europe it is generally recognized as a precursor (in technological terms) of the later war.  But European neutrals like Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden were spared the horrors of the trenches.

I don't think that the American Civil War is on the National Curriculum in England and Wales, despite the UK fighting in WW1. I stopped doing History at 14 (though I love the subject, it was that or Geography and I liked Geography better, and was better at it. As it turns out the Geography GCSE course was full of all the things I didn't like about studying History in school, and I went from being in the top few in the year, to a C grade), but we did WW1 and the Industrial Revolution.

Those I know who did degree level History didn't do it other than, perhaps, very briefly. This has more to do with a lack of American History in the academics' fields of study.

I think the topics for English/Welsh schools' compulsory history have Tudors and Stuarts at least twice each and the Stone Age, Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Romans, Ancient Greeks, Victorians, WW1, Industrial Revolution (including the Agricultural Revolution), Saxons and Vikings all once, with WW1, the Industrial Revolution and some Tudor and Stuart stuff (and probably something else) coming in secondary school and thus actually studied in a bit of depth. GCSE History tends to be Modern History: post-WW1 stuff.

I should explain that compulsory schooling in England and Wales is split into 4 (called Key Stages). There are certain things that need to be covered in the first three key stages, but on things like History, Science, RS and Geography, which year in the stage a topic is covered is up to the school, giving a bit of flexibility. In the 4th Key Stage (GCSEs and equivalent), the number of compulsory subjects drops down to English Language, Maths and Science, plus a technology subject (brought in my academic year - school didn't have the infrastructure, so, to my pleasure, we were exempted) and a humanity subject (physical exercise, citizenship, personal social and heath education and religious/ethics studies (or at most schools, doss about for a lesson a week) are also manditory, but don't have to be tested). On top of these, there are wide array of additional subjects - my school made ICT, English Lit, double honours science and a modern language (French or German were our choices - Spanish has since replaced German at the school) compulsory, a choice of humanity and language and gave 2 wild-card choices (I did business studies and electronics) out of the various subjects that the school offered, as well as the option to do triple-honours science. I went to a top school, so did more than the average number of subjects (I did 11 - the average is something like 8).

[vdeane]

At my high school it's required to take the AP exam for all AP courses taken.  Unfortunately if you want advanced level classes at my high school you have to go AP (with a few exceptions) as the majority of the honors classes were removed 20 years ago due to their being too much competition among students (the remaining ones are required by New York and can't be removed).

My college gives credit for all AP exams taken (elective credit if they don't have a corresponding course for it) and with all the AP exams I took I have an extra semester's worth of credit.