I agree that history is usually taught really badly. I think it is worse than math. I remember almost nothing from high school history. I don't even remember any of the classes or the teachers.
It is strange because it is an extremely dynamic and exciting topic. It has the full range of human drama and struggle around the world. You would think a good teacher could make the subject absolutely riveting.
Unfortunately, there may be a good reason why it is not. The whole system of textbook manufacture, procurement, and distribution is basically broken. Every step of the way, ignorant people make all the important decisions on what subject matter gets in front of the student. The makers of textbooks want to sell as many as they can, so they make sure there is nothing controversial in them. They are pandering to the people who choose the textbooks. In some states there is one small committee who chooses the textbooks for the whole state. Whatever you do,
don't read this book. It will really make you mad.
Then the teachers and school administrations are also trying to avoid controversy. We can't even teach science without looking over our shoulders these days. It's no wonder we get almost nothing out of history.
The sad thing is that a system of government like ours requires an educated and informed electorate to really work well. And since that is not happening, we find people all over the place who think its perfectly ok to say things like if we don't have anything to hide, why care about wiretapping. Or that we get our rights from the President, as if the French Revolution was never fought over the Divine Right of Kings.
Its good that you both had a good experience with at least one history teacher. My interest came later in life born out of a concern for social justice. I think it also may have grown out of seeds planted in me as a young hippie in the VietNam, Nixon and Watergate era.
I have one interesting story that changed the way I look at our amazing system of government. After college I worked for a university building scientific instruments for the chemistry department. I hung out with all the grad students and postdocs, most of whom were foreigners. One day while eating lunch we were discussing a topic that was in the news. Some parents had hired someone to kidnap their own daughter back from the Moonies compound and "deprogram" her from their influence. A couple of us Americans were debating whether it was Constitutional or not. The foreign guys were pretty silent during that part until one of them, a Jordanian, said, "Hey you guys actually take this Constitution seriously, don't you?" I don't know who was more surprised. The foreigners' surprise in seeing us regard the Constitution as a foundational document or our surprise at their surprise. They couldn't quite grasp the concept of a government of laws and not of men. Or that the President is a civil servant.
Ever since that day, I can't help think about how unlikely a document it is in that it goes against thousands of years of self-seeking human behavior. And I can't help thinking how incredible it is that once it was established it has lasted over 200 years, or how many people died throughout European and American history to bring it about, and how fragile it is as it gets its power only from our faith in it and our regard for it.
These days I am afraid for it, though. Its worst enemy is not Islamic terrorism. It is American self-ignorance.
