In the same amount of time? Are you sure? We start school at four and a half, leave at 16 or 18, a lot of years to learn history. University and college is extra years.
I'm confused...how much time do you think we spend in school? For americans, at least where I am, it starts between 2 and 4, and high school finished at either 17 or 18, depending on your birthday. Then most people in america (google says 70%) go to college as well. So it's the exact same amount of time...did you think americans start school later, or that we left earlier?
Apart from the obvious that the history of the Americas is also the history of Europe ( who did you think 'settled the country' if not Europeans? You seem to be very defensive about your couple of hundred years history while forgetting the interdependency of your history with ours. Did you know how many people were driven to famine and poverty in the UK because of your Civil War? Look up 'Cotton Famine'.
I didn't mean to appear defensive...I'm not offended or otherwise concerned about what people in the UK think of american history, any more than I care what people in Virginia think about New York. As far as I'm concerned, the UK is just a large state (or group of states I guess).
Just confused about why people in Europe think they know
more about american history than americans. I've thought about it in the past, and came up with three theories (sticking with the UK for this conversation, but generalizing for most europeans I've met):
1: People from the UK actually do know more, and spend more time learning it. That would surprise me though, since even though we are very interdependent like you said, we don't spend as much time learning about the UK's history as we do on american history, and so many countries once belonged (for lack of a better word) to the UK that to spend all that time on every countries cessation would be impossible.
2: People from the UK tend to believe Americans spend less time learning about our history than we actually do. Since you mentioned time in schooling earlier...the year estimate I made earlier was just for high school. We also spend a year in middle school and a year in elementary school learning about that stuff as well. And a ton of students learn more in college, or on their own.
3: People from the UK think there is a mass conspiracy out there that americans are actively being taught incorrect facts. This seems to be a popular idea, but I can't wrap my head around actually thinking it's true.
You stated you knew little, I posted a link to help with that, what are you so crotchety about this?
if Americans are so 'not bothered' about what you call the British 'occupancy' ( think you need to research more about that)why do so many Americans search for British roots? Many Americans at the time didn't 'rebel' against the British, they were paying far less tax than British people and had the same amount of votes as they did.... ie not very many. Universal suffrage didn't come for a very long time and it came in the UK a long time before it did in the US ( 1965 for black people in the USA)
I think you're confusing me with wandering student. Rereading his post, he mentioned not knowing a lot about it, so that explains your post and it's a good link IMO. Maybe that's also where you're reading the defensiveness and crotchetiness? I didn't see that in his post either though. I also didn't refer to it as British occupancy. I also don't have any british roots, nor would it effect me if I did. And I haven't said anything about us rebelling, the 'rightness' of that, or universal suffrage. I think you're attributing a lot of things to me I never said.
Learning what you are taught and learning the truth are often two very different things, you always have to bear than in mind.
Okay, so you subscribe to both theory 2 and 3 from above. Are people in the UK taught two versions of events...what actually happened and what you believe Americans believe happen? I really can't wrap my head around this.
if you really want to get Europeans and Brits mad you should start quoting the US version of the Second World War.
I might do that at some point. I took a couple electives in college focusing on WW2, so it could be fun.