Lies they told you in history class

[DarkRyter]

I'm pretty sure Jimmy Carter did not kidnap and devour 13 Christian Babies.

 

[TiloXofXTanto]

I don't know. I went on to Computer Sciences after high school, and never touched another history class, and Canadian history isn't interesting enough to go research on my own.

So I dunno. The only history I get is from local museums, which surely won't be epically inaccurate...

Whuh, buh, huh?
My friend, what Canadian history have you been hearing about.
This is what I've been hearing, and it looks awesome:

Spoiler: who could forget these events of interest throughout Canadian history

 

[lacktheknack]

I don't know. I went on to Computer Sciences after high school, and never touched another history class, and Canadian history isn't interesting enough to go research on my own.

So I dunno. The only history I get is from local museums, which surely won't be epically inaccurate...

Whuh, buh, huh?
My friend, what Canadian history have you been hearing about.
This is what I've been hearing, and it looks awesome:

Spoiler: who could forget these events of interest throughout Canadian history

Clearly, I must tell my ex-history teacher that drunk bums are the ultimate source of epic history.

 

[lokiduck]

Lol talked about this eariler in my College International Literature class. In Junior High I was in a Hippy program that taught us real history.

Really most of it is lies because what they tell you is always how happy and wholesome everything was.

That and places like Texas are making it worse by making it even worse than that.

 

[ImSkeletor]

"We're going to elect a president and he'll do what we want"

Plenty of previous Republican presidents I can mention with pointless wars.

OT: That was really used to teach people?

Also, as an Englishman, I refuse to admit that all of us are shit.

Don't pretend that only republicans have caused and or continued with questionable wars. JFK and LBJ (two democrats.) put us (Heavily) into Vietnam. Atleast Nixon ended the draft so you could chose if you wanted to fight. Plus Nixon was actually trying to get us the hell out of there. He was trying to slowly drain out americans and replace them with new Vietnamese troops.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

That there would be cake.

 

[TiloXofXTanto]

I don't know. I went on to Computer Sciences after high school, and never touched another history class, and Canadian history isn't interesting enough to go research on my own.

So I dunno. The only history I get is from local museums, which surely won't be epically inaccurate...

Whuh, buh, huh?
My friend, what Canadian history have you been hearing about.
This is what I've been hearing, and it looks awesome:

Spoiler: who could forget these events of interest throughout Canadian history

Clearly, I must tell my ex-history teacher that drunk bums are the ultimate source of epic history.

Clearly you must, do so immediately. In fact, we must all inform our history teachers as such.
ONWARDS TO EPICOCITY!

 

[Furioso]

History = His Story (God's story aka the bible) and EVOLUTION IS A LIE

And I don't even know about 9/11, he confused the hell out of me.

You had the worst history teacher ever. Did you go to a private school?

Because I know in most public schools that guy would get fired instantaneously.

Private Christian school.

They taught the "His Story" creation stuff in grade 8 history. In the optional biology class in our final year they taught evolution because it was part of the state curriculum. They did give us this nonsense anti-evolution booklet along with it, however. Our reasonable biology teacher let us trash it, but he still talked about creationism a bit.

The best part about that whole issue is that Charles Darwin used evolution to explain the existence of god saying (I am paraphrasing here) that only God could have the foresight to give nature the ability to evolve to survive

 

[Kargathia]

Don't forget that the Lusitania was carrying ammunition. They never told us that in school. They always tried to make it seem like the Germans just upped and sank an ocean liner for the hell of it.

As proof of ignorance, I didn't know that till you posted that. You re-learn things everyday I guess.

I'd say you're both right and wrong here, as it doesn't even matter whether she carried ammunition or not.

At the time everyone was under the impression that the Germans indeed just "upped and sank an ocean liner for the hell of it", and it influenced matters as such. After all, the importance of the Lusitania is not that a ship was lost, but that it caused a massive outrage, and pushed the U.S. further towards entering the war on the Allied side.

On Topic: apart from some simplification I really can't remember any glaringly obvious lies, omissions, or biased reporting. On the whole it pretty accurately taught that in most conflicts everyone involved acted like a dick.

My main gripe as history buff was that they were rehashing basic stuff I'd known for years.

 

[Supertegwyn]

I wouldn't say they're lies, at the end of the day you've gotta give kids a broad picture that they'll pay attention to (go tell a kid about the intricate policies and treaties that made up World War 2 beyond "LET'S SHOOT NAZIS!" and see how long they last before nodding off).

As for me, they would say that Hitler was wrong dance around Australia's involvement in the Gallipoli campaign (across the pond and never heard of it? It's a pretty big deal over here, even helped spawn a goddamn biscuit), saying that it was pretty much when Australia went full on Rambo and showed all the other countries how it was done. Not to mention all the spirit and bravery and courage and famous medics that used donkeys and what-not.

In reality, while all soldiers are brave, there was great sacrifice and it does have a place in our history, we were basically on England's leash and put on a smile for 8 months in hell after receiving wrong directions all the while losing thousands of soldiers and ultimately needing to retreat in what was a stalemate.

Still, ANZAC day's cool and they made a decent movie (and they're lovely biscuits).

See at my school they taught NOTHING about Gallipoli. It was all ancient history and the Renaissance.

 

[Supertegwyn]

i don't know that i ever learned any lies because i've always had an interest in history and usually fact checked anything taught to me. something that has always interested me though is how the history syllabus usually went for me though. (this is in the US)

Learning period of six weeks
1)native american studies
2)american colonization and revolution
3)the US consitution/1780-1811
4)1815-1860
5)1870-1914
6)1919-1939/civil rights movement

ummm... not to complain but aren't we missing a couple of really major events on here? like world/nation changing events? oh yeah and i suppose i got the old oversimplification of the American Civil War being fought because of slavery.

Actually, that is not much of an oversimplification. You often here about the Civil War being fought over the issue of States' Rights, but if you refer to contemporary documents (the "Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union" being the least subtle of these), you find that the specific right at issue was the right to own slaves. You sometimes hear that cultural differences contributed to?or were even the cause of?the Civil War, but much of the modern 'dixified' Southern culture developed during and after Reconstruction. Prior to the Civil War, there were relatively few significant cultural differences between the North and South (slavery aside). Indeed, this lack of cultural distinction is often credited with the destruction of Southern morale during the period from 1863-64. As the exigencies of war forced the Confederacy to dismantle the institution of slavery, to the point of offering black slaves freedom in return for military service, the South?or rather, its people?having lost the very thing it was fighting for, also lost the will to continue fighting.

The myth of the Lost Cause is just that - a myth. The Civil War was fought over the right to continue owning slaves, as the Confederacy itself readily admitted at the time.

on topic, i love american history just for the blatant propaganda. we won wwII singlehandedly, the british were pricks and deserved a rebellion, JFK was a great president, hell we're the country that tried to hide the fact our president had polio. My favorite though isn't something that we're told, it's the things we're not told. your basic american history curriculum overlooks a dozen wars we fought in that made us look like right pricks

FDR never had Polio (probably). It is more likely he had Guillain-Barre syndrome.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

While I agree that cutting off oil and scrap metal definitely provoked Japan, saying that the US bullied Japan makes it sound like the US had no good reason to place the embargoes in the first place (which was to halt Japan's invasion of China and the surrounding nations).

What business of the U.S was it who Japan invaded or went to war against? Oh that's right! NONE!

 

[Filiecs]

I think that my history classes have been pretty accurate, even if slightly nationalistic.
We covered both world wars and spent 2 years learning abou world history: (or one year and another year US or European History.)
I have a question though, how many of you were taught about the Rape of Nanking in WWII history? My school says that it is not usually covered.

 

[Romblen]

I talked about how Euro-American relations were a lot more complicated than "America is awesome and England is full of dicks")

Something similar to this, except with Native Americans and the "Evil White Man"
Neither side was perfect, but through most of school I was taught, "Native Americans are amazing divine wonderful people who are all majestic" who were invaded by the Evil White Man who eats kittens.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

OT: That was really used to teach people?

No. It was a commercial production aired on network TV.

To be fair though, I remember watching these videos constantly in Elementary school.

 

[Kenny Kondom]

Too be honest, I've always veiwed history to be an ever-changing Media type, with new theorems and thoughts cropping up the more we learn about the World around us/Human psychology/new peices of evidence coming to light. And although it sometimes pains me to listen or read the "biased" ideology, it can also provide an insight as to how the politics and nation under scrutiny handled whatever crisis/predicament they found themselves under. And as a side note, and a "general rule of thumb", history is always told by the victor.... And occasionally supressed by the loser.

 

[Treblaine]

None, I live in England and over here are schools seem to be going through a phase of making kids make their own opinions.. an entirely good thing if you ask me..

Yeaaaah, you can manipulate students a lot in "making their own opinion" by framing the facts in an extremely dishonest way. To me, that makes a far worse deception. It's the method used by the most manipulative confidence tricksters.

If you are simply told "it was like this, this is your opinion on the subject" then it's clear you are being bullshitted and will seek out the truth. But if you are duped into thinking something that you think you have concluded entirely of your own volition THAT is a manipulation I cannot tolerate.

Ultimately UK curriculum tells both sides of a story, but ONLY from one perspective. For example, the perspective that the entire First World War was a stupid incompetent fuck up that started for no real reason. It is a very strong anti-war bias, but not in the honest sense of that the cost of war is too high for any aim, but the deception that if ever a war is fought then it is over nothing and in the worst way.

But what if the Military command DID know what they were doing and were making the best of the extreme situation? Instead the facts are presented in such a biased way that the only possible conclusion left to you is "Kitchener is a toff who should be put in trial for war crimes committed against his own soldiers".

I refer to my post:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/18.316033.12847639

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

I had a sub once that said the Holocaust was fake...

...

...I'm not joking...

 

[crepesack]

i don't know that i ever learned any lies because i've always had an interest in history and usually fact checked anything taught to me. something that has always interested me though is how the history syllabus usually went for me though. (this is in the US)

Learning period of six weeks
1)native american studies
2)american colonization and revolution
3)the US consitution/1780-1811
4)1815-1860
5)1870-1914
6)1919-1939/civil rights movement

ummm... not to complain but aren't we missing a couple of really major events on here? like world/nation changing events? oh yeah and i suppose i got the old oversimplification of the American Civil War being fought because of slavery.

In grade school slavery is more simple to explain than the fight for white dominance and states rights.

 

[Lenin211]

You seem to forget that the first country the Nazi's invaded was it's own

How great was captain america right?

All of the history taught currently at my high school is very US biased but other than that, I can't think of anything.