So given that you acknowledge how woefully inadequate your education is, and knowing that the Teacher's Unions work hand-in-hand with the Democrat party have you ever cosidered that you perception of government, our country, it's role in the world, etc, is likewise grossly skewed to fit an agenda?

Or its a liberal conspiracy. That's what I meant to say.

But surely you had heard of it, right Bo?

Odd. Granted it was thirty years ago, but comparing a British, Canadian, and American grade-school history books, I would say that the American one had the most pro-itself bias, and the bias was on the conservative side. Of course, a lot can happen in thirty years.

I think that the bias here is more ignoring issues that don't directly affect American sensibilities (e.g. genocide and discrimination are OK as long as white people aren't responsible.) It's a similar thing in Canada.

I wouldn't automatically say that it's a Liberal or Conservative conspiracy. There just isn't enough American content to make it interesting.

@Draug ... Yeah, I've heard of it, but I have a lot more interest in it now because I may be going to Rwanda next year.

@2WL ... Technically, but not by much. In general, people seem to know nothing about it. The same can be said for the Cambodian genocide and the ongoing displacement crisis in Uganda and the DR Congo. Ironically, the same could be said for Stalin's genocide, simply because that period gets overlooked in USSR history, even though it actually affected us. It's like the Holocaust is the only thing we know well and the conflicts in Kosovo only because we were involved.

@krellin ... Yeah, from first to eighth grade, i.e. public school. Public school is shit and has been for a long time, at least since I started to notice.

'technically, but not by much', but if the course was trying to go up to then it seems fair that it wasn't included....

And you especially won't hear that the genocide was basically France's fault.

" think that the bias here is more ignoring issues that don't directly affect American sensibilities (e.g. genocide and discrimination are OK as long as white people aren't responsible.) It's a similar thing in Canada. "

Of course we have an education system that focuses on American issue. lol duhhh....If we want to learn about issues in other countries, we take classes that focus on those issues...

@goldfinger ... The Rwandan genocide was Belgium, I believe, but yeah, that's something they like to leave out.

@SD, 2WL ... the title of the course was "African Imperialism," and it detailed imperialist history since the late 1800s (with a small unit for everything before). The instructor claimed that the effects of imperialist rule in Africa were largely concluded at the end of apartheid in South Africa, which, given the various genocides later on, indicate that to be false. Maybe that clarification helps.

No, it was France. It was due to the whole peace process, and France was Rwanda's representative muscle at the table, and forced the government to make too many accommodations to the Tutsi rebels, and effectively alienated the radical Tutsi element to the extent that they launched a coup and began the genocide.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/world/europe/france-to-shun-genocide-services-after-rwanda-leader-fixes-share-of-blame.html?_r=0

Whoa whoa whoa. You took AFRICAN HISTORY in PUBLIC SCHOOL in EIGHTH GRADE??

That is a revolution in itself. I've never heard the like. That's fantastic. We have no such thing in Texas. Where did you go to school?

Also, we did however learn about the Rwandan genocide in 9th grade World Geography, but only because our teacher wanted to talk about it and because Hotel Rwanda was out on video at the time, not because it was on the curriculum.

On the anniversary of the genocide, by the way, I recommend anyone to have a look at this. It's an incredible story:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_6954/index.html

Oh, sure. I'm talking about the Belgian imperialism in the 20s and 30s, which resulted in ethnic branching. Wrote a paper on it earlier this year...

But yeah, speaking of shit no one knows about or cares about, bo_sox...

CAR Crisis. Ongoing etho-religious cleansing. No one cares.

I have to hand it to Ban Ki-Moon though. He isn't letting people just ignore it:

"The world agreed on our collective responsibility to protect a population when the state is unwilling or unable to do that basic job. The people of CAR should not have to run and die while the world decides whether to keep its promise. You have waited long enough."

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2014/04/05/un-chief-ban-ki-moon-visits-c-african-republic

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/centralafricanrepublic/10747572/Ban-Ki-moon-warns-of-Rwandan-genocide-repeat-in-Central-African-Republic.html

Lol Thucy, I took the class at my high school as part of an advanced program. Sorry.

I don't know a ton about the CAR events, like most people, apparently. Still, I agree, Ban Ki-Moon is great at getting things like that out there.

@ bo, that helps a lot, nonsensical that they didn't mention it then given that it can be traced back IN SO MANY WAYS to western imperialism.

Yeah, bless him, he's no Hammarskjöld, but he is trying.

Yeah, it does, SD. Pretty much all of Africa's modern day problems do. The end of apartheid in South Africa did not somehow eliminate imperialist issues, as the class suggested.

The borders between countries in the Middle East and Africa was, I believe, largely set by Western powers after WWII. They were based on Western interests and ignored cultural and religious boundaries, forcing people that had been fighting for hundreds of years to be in the same country.
Imperialism may be largely gone, but that legacy will continue to lead to discrimination and genocide for long after I'm gone.

"I think that the bias here is more ignoring issues that don't directly affect American sensibilities (e.g. genocide and discrimination are OK as long as white people aren't responsible.) It's a similar thing in Canada."
Ironic because the textbook here shows the Aparthied, which was oppression by whites, and Bo was complaining about the Rwandan genocide which was a crime by blacks.

In my experience at least, history classes in America and Canada are very anti-European, more then anything.

They always show all the problems colonization caused to its colonies and never showed the benefits, it always shows the benefits colonization brought to the homeland and never the costs. I've seen courses that taught about the Atlantic slave trade, but I've never seen a course that talked about any other slave practices, European or other.

One of the history classes taught at my school was called "History of Genocide", over half the class was about the Holocaust, and we did learn about the Rwandan civil war and genocide, however, according to the teacher the genocide was mostly Bill Clinton's fault for not intervening, and not the fault of you know the tribal tensions that actually caused the genocide (we spent more time looking at why the US didn't intervene then what actually happened).

"The borders between countries in the Middle East and Africa was, I believe, largely set by Western powers after WWII. They were based on Western interests and ignored cultural and religious boundaries, forcing people that had been fighting for hundreds of years to be in the same country. "
Close, the current map of Africa was decided essentially over the centuries of European colonization. It was based on the administrative regions used by the Europeans during colonization, not based on WW2.

In Rwanda's case, the current borders of Rwanda where arbitrarily drawn on a map following World War 1, not World War 2. Prior to that it was part of German East Africa, however was ceded to Belgium following the German Empires defeat in the war.

It also has a great deal to do with the power sharing agreements, resource distribution, etc. occurred right after independence. Botswana, for example, is doing fantastically (though, they were more or less ignored by the British) and Somaliland was functioning just fine before its merger into Somalia.

There are many success stories in Africa, and nearly as many almost-successes. Were it not for the personalities of a few leaders (*cough* Mugabe *Cough*) there would be many, many more success stories in Africa.

Yes, the British and others did rule by a divide and conquer means, but what we forget is that at the time of independence in most of these places there was overwhelming nationalism and optimism. There was the possibility that the divides we see today would not occur.

I did a term paper for my comparative economics class on post-colonial Botswana and its an incredibly interesting case.

Gaborone is a brety cool guy. Eh establish functional market economy and democracy in Africa and doesnt afraid of anything

Honestly, I'm most surprised that you were offered an African history class at all. Or an elective, in history. I graduated in 2011, and I assume it's only gotten worse since then, but my history lineup was:
9th grade: World History & Cultural Diversity
10th grade: US History 1
11th grade: AP US History
12th grade: Economics and Government

Note that I had no choice in these, besides what level (On-level vs. College Prep vs. Honors) and the option of taking AP US History instead of American History 2.

Electives? HAHA!

"I took the class at my high school as part of an advanced program. Sorry."

Don't you go to a private high school?

The choices in Canada were:
8th grade: Canadian history till 1900 (so first Aboriginals, then colonization, then the American revolution, then the war of 1812, then the lead up to confederation, and Canada at the turn of the century.
9th grade: No history courses
10th grade: 20th century Canadian and World History (WW1, interwar period, WW2, coldwar)
11th grade: Choice of American history, Ancient History, Genocide and African history
12th grade: Various choices that I can't remember, since you only have 4 electives in grade 12, compared to 6 in grade 11, I did not take any histories in grade 12. My electives were used on Economics, Accounting, Calculus and Political Science. My twin brother took a European history course that started with the French Revolution and ended with the build up till world war 1. The two largest essays he had to write was on Italian unification and the relations between England and Germany right before the great war. It sounded like an interesting course.

In NY, eighth grade was state history, 9/10 were global history, 11 was US history, and 12 was economics and PIG. Is there a Canadian equivalent of state history? Provincial history?