What did they teach you about China / Japan / U.S. in School?
I want to know what you learned in school about China / Japan / U.S. in school. School meaning grades 1-12 but not college. Mostly regarding history and not current events. I live in America so i will comment about China / Japan. If you live in China then comment about America/ Japan. people from other countries are encouraged to comment about China / Japan also. I am sure America gets talked about everywhere so its more interesting to find out the later. If possible please state your Age, location if possible Location : New York City, USA Age: 24 Summary: I think from grades 1-12 there was a total of no more than 24hours related history about China / Japan. There is about 1chapter devoted to each. China - Technology advancements, paper, gunpowder etc. Wars that were fought between China and western countries. Big thing about communism. Japan - World war 2 was a big issue. A lot of emphasis on pearl harbor, and the atomic bombs. Japanese culture was truncated to 1page a chapt Thanks to everyone whose answered so far. It seems more than one person has mentioned south america being left out of the picture. From my experience the discussion of Inca, and Azetec civilization far surpassed that of East Asian ones. Also when studying colonization south america was mentioned a great deal. Could this be due to the fact that there are many hispanics living in NYC ?
History - 8 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
the silk road all the dynasties the grreat wall ancient china
2 :
Very little. You've got it right, what you describe. Nothing has changed -- I'm 57, so the same dumbass non-education has been going on for at least thirty years and probably all time. Americans are dumber than hell about Japan and China, especially what the Chinese Civil War meant and what the end of colonialism meant in Asia. I really don't like to say this and sincerely wish it were otherwise, the world would be in better shape if we were more knowledgable.
3 :
very little history is taught in US schools, most of what passes for history is revisionist propoganda at best,unfortunately... I was constantly in trouble for questioning and/or correcting teachers,most of whom taught straight from the teaching guide and didnt know or care about the actual facts or events,And its gotten worse ,I saw some of my nieces homework a while back and not only was there a lack of indepth learning, there was complete falsehoods and PC half truths thruout most of her texts.
4 :
18 NSW Australia (Finished School this year with two History classes) From the USA, We learned about it's participation in WW1, WW2, Vietnam, and its civil rights movement, also when studying the cold war we learned of it's presidents in that time, and the various popular cold war clashes. Hmmn, not too much else -but that is quite a lot. China? Very little. Surprisingly enough, we touched (and by that I mean passingly mentioned) on Chinese prisoners in WW2, and in the Cold War we studied to a light non-syllabus required degree it's significance as an ally and then lack thereof to the Soviet Union. Japan was different for me, I did a focus study on WWII Generals which included Yamamoto, however outside that (as in, in general) we discussed briefly Japanese positions and strategies in WWII, but thats about it. Ancient Asia, such as Feudal Japan and Three Kingdoms China is not mentioned at all even in our Ancient History classes (to my knowledge, I did not do Ancient History). The U.S is discussed quite a lot, to be expected I guess considering we are close allies and they were the champions of capitalism throughout the 20th, my only complaint is that its spotlight darkens and even blacks out other events and nations.
5 :
I grew up in the USA and I did learn a reasonable amount about China and Japan in school. I'd say we learned less about Asia than we did about Europe, but more than we did about South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. I took a class called Ancient and Medieval History, which was meant to be worldwide but was probably 70% Europe, 15% China, 10% Japan, and 5% South America. We mostly learned about technology, religion, wars and a bit about culture in general. In my American History class (which was an AP class) we actually learned a fair bit about modern Japan, though only in terms of the war. There was also a big focus on the treatment of Japanese immigrants living in the USA. I think it was relatively balanced - we learned about the Japanese treatment of the Koreans at the time, but also talked about the ethics of using nuclear weapons. It wasn't perfect, but compared to other posters it would seem that things were better covered in my school. I would have like to learn more though! Also, my husband was educated in the British education system, and he says that he didn't learn anything about China and Japan except during Religious Education (RE) classes. They were supposed to learn about all the world religion, but he says it was about 75% Christianity and everything else squeezed into the remaining 25%.
6 :
they don't teach alot about china or Japan even if its thousands years of history it takes up about 1 chapter like 20 pg and american history is like only 270 years long but it takes up most of our history book. I find it funny. I'm from california
7 :
One thing we can surely imagine is that there are several school text book publishers in the US and Japan, and also tons of sub-readers and reference books in thier markets. The content will vary. However, in China, if I am right, since the government is still ruled by one-party, there is only one school text book publisher (virtually) which makes government-designated or compiled text book.
8 :
location:Shanghai,China age:20 I'm a Chinese college student in a university of science and technology Japan:I remember when i was in the school,the history book talked much about the the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-1945) and something about Japan's role in World War 2 . U.S:1.When talking about U.S,in the history book,We got know that U.S only has a history of 200 years. And so much great man in the human history like Albert Einstein\Edison\Lincolnã€George Washington.... 2.And the big role in the world modern history like the A-bomb against Japan 3.The other important section in the book talked about U.S civil war--the war between the south state and the north state ,and black ivory issue.
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