Can we just take a moment and talk about how our history classes gave us so little history? This invasion into Ukraine brought to mind the Vietnam War and I realized that I know absolutely nothing about that war. Nothing. We never made it that far in history class. We never made it past World War 2, in fact. And yet, we never really studied what happened before the Revolutionary War in depth either.

It’s like our history books gave a chapter to the beginning of history until the beginning of America and then ignored everything else. Even the classes that were supposed to be world history didn’t really cover much either.

And you can’t just blame school, but also textbook editors who let these things happen. They focus on what they believe is most important and skim the rest. And yet, the most important things to one person may not be for someone else. And vice versa, the “unimportant things” may be very important to people who didn’t write the textbook that dictates what we learn.

But why do we always stop at WW2? Never, not once, did a history class I was in make it past the 40’s. I don’t even recall us reaching the end of the war. I feel so old saying this, but kids these days are missing so much of our history because of this style of teaching.

And the fact that I didn’t even really realize this, or at least acknowledge it until there is some dilemma in the world just makes it so much worse. I enjoy learning history, but when there’s decades of history that I know almost nothing, it’s disconcerting. Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.

And this goes for world history too. In high school, we had one mandatory world history class. And that is nowhere near enough. And even that class was mainly European centered and what we learned often tied back to the United States, leaving gaps in knowledge about the rest of the world. Ask me about Australia. Go on. I know nothing about Australia’s history, except mainly criminals were sent there at some point. Maybe. And that comes from my own readings, and not anything I learned in school.

Why are we so unaware of history, ours and the rest of the world’s history? This is a good opportunity for kids to really expand their knowledge and learn about history on their own. But also, they shouldn’t have to look so far to learn about history. It’s a terrifying thought that kids will be missing a hundred years or more of just the history of the United States, if they never make it past the 40’s. We need a better way to teach history, and a much better awareness of international history. Not just in reference to this country.

Here’s hoping there’s a better way to teach history that really allows an understanding of the centuries of history we are currently brushing aside. And I’m not pretending to be a teacher who can actually put this into practice. But it’s something that should be addressed. Alongside the other hundreds of things teachers have to deal with. Shoutout to teachers for doing so much for us.

Thanks for coming along for my rant.