Non-Americans, how often did you learn about the United States in school?

[Shâréz]

My question to you Limeys is: How did you learn about the USA and its founding if not in school?

It's not taught in school here, nor do I see why it should. No offence but the founding of the US is rather irrelevant here.

[Honzi]

No Romans in Swiss history classes?. That's kind of odd. We had several weeks about them, especially the Limes, although they barely touched German territory.

Yes a tiny bit of Roman history was taught, but not really in depth as it was with the stuff I've mentioned.

[Catta]

Iirc it was a bit on the slave trade - then the civil war and then from around WW2 and forward.

[Tokru]

Early settlers (Mayflower etc. blablabla), declaration of independence & subsequent war, civil war & slavery, colonization of the west, US foreign policy (nonintervention) in the late 19th century, role in WWI, the treaty of Versailles, WWII and the Cold War - all that in history.
American culture and modern history etc. in English class.

That's from a public school education in Germany. That being said, I imagine that many of my former classmates don't actually remember all of that anymore, so you might want to take some of the answers here with a grain of salt as well

You can hardly call the bold part "stuff that did not involve your home country at all, just the US" ;-)

[Deleted]

1 year of history in GCSE as part of our study on the cold war.

Basics of the founding of the US up to about the 1850's in not that great detail in the 2nd year of secondary school.

[Vinland]

We just barely touched the American Revolutionary War. Like, 1 or 2 classes, and thats it.


Also, our English classes covered England´s history mostly.

[Mikael123]

I didn't learn anything that was specifically only about USA. The last year in highschool history classes we covered the Cold War. Naturally the US was often mentioned. Whn I was younger I learned about the American War of Independence. But again - that's not USA only.

[doomchken]

What do you learn about the United States' role in WWII?

[Xanjori]

What do you learn about the United States' role in WWII?

The same as we learn about everyone elses role?

[Deleted]

The things we learned were associated with WW2.
And our teacher blaming the US for many dysfunctions on an international level. With mostly some legit facts, sadly.
On University level, Some Professors are against US Government/education and other stuff, bashing them to the ground.
...


From Belgium.

[Deleted]

we study both ww1 and ww2 in school so USA is included, but you don't learn about USA in school,always something involving it is in the news...i mean how much did you learn about France or Spain in school?

[Atamus]

Sorry to say it but the only historical impact the US had for the last few 100 years revolves mostly around participating in wars (entering WW2, cold war, Vietnam, Iraq/Afgan).

Come on, give us more credit than that. Our ingenuity has been huge on a global scale. That device you are using (assuming it is a PC), yeah you're welcome. Video games, again you're welcome. The internet. And not to mention our most important invention, rolled toilet paper. There are a lot of other cool things that came from America that are now used around the world. But those are just a few. It is not all about guns, bombs, and wars. Whether you want to admit it or not, our economic, political, and cultural influences were so great in the 20th century they named it after us, the only super power standing after the fall of the USSR.

But on a side note as an American on the other side I have learned extensively about American, British, Japanese, French, Chinese, and Russian History (Post revolution) and to a lesser extent on all major historical periods for the last 10,000 years. But that is what a good history education will do for you.

[Deleted]

You can hardly call the bold part "stuff that did not involve your home country at all, just the US" ;-)

Yeah, I know, but there are some aspects to this stuff that doesn't involve Germany directly (or would at least matter just as much without it). US foreign policy towards its neighbors and reluctance to get involved in European affairs in the 19th century, the Great Depression (obviously also relevant for Germany, but still important without it), Korean war, Vietnam, etc.

You could even say that nothing does not involve my home country. After all, many German emigrants live in the US. Germany mercenaries fought for the Brits in the war of independence. The resurgence of the German economy after WWII due to the Korean War (and not just because of the Marshall Plan). And so on.

[Tokru]

Come on, give us more credit than that. Our ingenuity has been huge on a global scale. That device you are using (assuming it is a PC), yeah you're welcome. Video games, again you're welcome. The internet. And not to mention our most important invention, rolled toilet paper. There are a lot of other cool things that came from America that are now used around the world. But those are just a few. It is not all about guns, bombs, and wars. Whether you want to admit it or not, our economic, political, and cultural influences were so great in the 20th century they named it after us, the only super power standing after the fall of the USSR.

Since when is the 20th century named after the US? That's the first time I hear about that.

And your political and cultural influence were only so great because of guns, bombs and war. Only the economic influence is in big parts not connected to that.

[Runeweaver]

Err, not much as far as I recall. A few history lessons on the slave trade and a few about Martin Luther King.
Edit: Oh and some lessons on WW2. Still, it wasn't really a massive amount.
That was pretty much it really.

[Combatbutler]

Come on, give us more credit than that. Our ingenuity has been huge on a global scale. That device you are using (assuming it is a PC), yeah you're welcome. Video games, again you're welcome. The internet. And not to mention our most important invention, rolled toilet paper. There are a lot of other cool things that came from America that are now used around the world. But those are just a few. It is not all about guns, bombs, and wars. Whether you want to admit it or not, our economic, political, and cultural influences were so great in the 20th century they named it after us, the only super power standing after the fall of the USSR.

But on a side note as an American on the other side I have learned extensively about American, British, Japanese, French, Chinese, and Russian History (Post revolution) and to a lesser extent on all major historical periods for the last 10,000 years. But that is what a good history education will do for you.

You might have contributed a lot in recent times, but that does not make you that special, you are just a very young nation, with very little interesting history compared to other nations, that is just fact.

[shadowstep]

really not much...
i´ve learned about Portugal, Spain, France; England ( all those have 900+ years of history) and early Civs. like greeks, romans etc...
we only had a few classes that talked about american revolution and then nothing until early/mid 20th century, because its by that time that America started to make an impact on the world..
But i guess thats because compared to most of EU countries you guys are still very young...

[Deleted]

Come on, give us more credit than that. Our ingenuity has been huge on a global scale. That device you are using (assuming it is a PC), yeah you're welcome. Video games, again you're welcome. The internet. And not to mention our most important invention, rolled toilet paper. There are a lot of other cool things that came from America that are now used around the world. But those are just a few. It is not all about guns, bombs, and wars. Whether you want to admit it or not, our economic, political, and cultural influences were so great in the 20th century they named it after us, the only super power standing after the fall of the USSR.

But on a side note as an American on the other side I have learned extensively about American, British, Japanese, French, Chinese, and Russian History (Post revolution) and to a lesser extent on all major historical periods for the last 10,000 years. But that is what a good history education will do for you.

America is a big and wealthy country, you can only expect Americans to invent things (good or bad).

To answer OP, yes we did have some history lessons about Americas part of different wars.

New question (or not, didn't read all posts); How much do Americans learn about other countries in school?

[Deleted]

Come on, give us more credit than that. Our ingenuity has been huge on a global scale. That device you are using (assuming it is a PC), yeah you're welcome. Video games, again you're welcome. The internet. And not to mention our most important invention, rolled toilet paper. There are a lot of other cool things that came from America that are now used around the world. But those are just a few. It is not all about guns, bombs, and wars. Whether you want to admit it or not, our economic, political, and cultural influences were so great in the 20th century they named it after us, the only super power standing after the fall of the USSR.

But on a side note as an American on the other side I have learned extensively about American, British, Japanese, French, Chinese, and Russian History (Post revolution) and to a lesser extent on all major historical periods for the last 10,000 years. But that is what a good history education will do for you.

To quote Goethe:
“Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality”

[xylophone]

To quote Goethe:
“Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality”

Only because we're nice enough to share it with you =D