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Comment by CM30 | Hacker News Reader

Is that only an American thing? Because over here in the UK geography and history are mandatory parts of the school curriculum for those aged 5-13, and are usually taught to 14-16 year olds as well.

If they've removed it from the US version, that's pretty depressing.

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I found both history and geography pretty lacking at school (partly why I dropped them both before GCSE-level).

My only real memory of Geography classes is how oxbow lakes are formed.

My memory of history in primary and secondary school involved Celts & Romans (one in primary, once in secondary), Tudors & Stuarts (likewise), some unit about the agricultural revolution(? secondary school) and a short time learning about the Second World War (secondary school).

I think it probably gets better during GCSEs and A-Levels, but I only started learning about history again after Civilization V inspired me to check out some history podcasts (mainly because I felt embarrassed about not knowing anything about these civilizations and their leaders).

> I found both history and geography pretty lacking at school (partly why I dropped them both before GCSE-level).

I thought you were required to do one or the other at GCSE? What did you do instead?

I thought so too, but my school didn't make us at the time (I started Y10 in 2004). I was able to pick four options at GCSE, so I took French, Spanish, Drama and Music. My other subjects were 2x English, 3x Science, 2x Maths, German (I took the exam at the end of Y9 because I was dropping it anyway), 0.5x IT and 0.5x Religion.

Would explain that video that went viral years ago though of US citizens interviewed in the street and asked where the US was on a map of the world.

Some of the responses were comical. Some were just depressing.

There is no single "US version" of primary or secondary education. Curriculum is mostly set at the local or state level, so you will see lots of variation in stuff like this.

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