Education in History

Britbong so college for me;

My A-Level was split into three, with coursework (on the Civil Rights Movement of the US), the British Empire, and the making of modern Britain and the USA.

British Empire consisted of everything from the Battle of Plassey that secured us in India in 1757 to the start of the First World War - ranging from the adoption of free trade, the creation of the worlds greatest navy, the colonisation of Australia, Canada, and India, and the American Revolution and our failures that led to its success.

Making of Modern Britain and the USA was pretty shit, basically the level of economic and social change.

To be fair I'd say that'd be the best our education system could offer us while keeping history useful to a degree - half something amazingly interesting, and something more applicable to the modern day that, while not as interesting, does help you understand the modern world. I took Government and Politics and Business Studies alongside the History A-Level, so it all added up pretty decently.

There wasn't much pandering to political correctness, if that's what you mean, other than attempts to make us all feel bad for the Aboriginals getting ill and apparently being our fault.

Hope that helps.

History in my public highschool was alright, it generally covered the basics, World History in Freshman year and AP U.S history in Junior year, I did take some history class in sophomore year but I honestly can't remember it, I think it was European history. World history was your general ancient history to modern day stuff and U.S history covered the Colonial period to Modern day in theory but we only got to LBJ by the end of the year due to a heavy focus on Puritans in America and LBJ.

I would have liked a bit more focus on lesser known topics or a deeper look but you have to stick to the curriculum somewhat in my state/county so it's understandable that the amount of time spent on topics covered were short.

There was a heavy focus on essay writing and analyzing sources in all of my history classes, even in middle school, so I feel that I was taught fairly well in regards to interpreting and understanding history.

The only teacher that I can say obviously influenced my understanding was my AP US history teacher, particularly her extreme focus on Puritans (we spent nearly a month on them alone) changed my view of the founding of America very significantly.

I got a lot of information about history outside the class. Probably more than from highschool classes, since they retreaded middle-school material a bit and I was interested in history beforehand. Embarrassingly enough most of it was Wikipedia and video game related but I began to read actual historical books in my Junior and Senior years of Highschool.

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>>3186034
Former NSW HSC Modern History student here.

> What were/are your experiences off the history classes in high school?

One of the few subjects I actually enjoyed. I did economics, physics, mathematics, English, but it was history that made high school worth it.

>What did you learn in those classes?

We did an Albert Speer and Joseph Stalin personality study. We studied the growth and destruction of Weimar Germany and WWI.

> Do you feel that you were thaught how to grasp History (or the past)?

Indeed, I would daresay that in my locality, I'm one of the few who actually understands how intimately the present is tied to our past.

> In which ways did 'the world outside the classroom' shape or help form your understanding of History?

I'm the child of two parents who are only here because of a 20th century conflict. My own life drove me to understand how things connect to each other in the grand scheme of things.