• Dudewitbow@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Im talking in terms of high school, albeit I took AP history, but its not like they dont teach about Vietnam and Korea in school, at least in my own experience.

    • GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      I took AP US History and did pretty well in it and, well, the Korean war was mentioned but it was discussed almost not at all. Vietnam was mostly discussed in relation to the domestic reaction to it with the media coverage, as well as some discussion of “Domino Theory”. Even My Lai hardly got mentioned.

    • emizeko [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      you’re probably right that I overstated my case and exaggerated a bit but what was taught a couple decades ago was thin and pretty dire

      • charlie [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        Nah, you’re exactly right. And I’m tired of people coming into these threads saying “my bare bones high school level ap course covered this because I recognize the topic you’re saying.”

        If you think that’s true, go read a bunch of actual history books and see how complete you think that education still is.

      • Dudewitbow@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        If i had to say what they dont teach very much, it would be asian and african history before the 1500s for the most part, unless they had interacted with european settlers at some point in history.

        • boboblaw [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          Ironically I went to a good high school and we did cover that, but when it came to relatively recent US history, the curriculum was spotty and superficial. I got the sense that teachers wanted to avoid controversial topics and debates.

          It’s like with ancient African/Asian/American empires, you have a certain psychological distance and can discuss it casually. With recent American history, especially when the history curriculum is necessarily half economics, it can get “controversial”. And I’m sure there was more one “gifted” kid aching to do the bit from Good Will Hunting…