"Who are the people in your neighborhood, the people that you meet each day?" (apologies to Mr. Raposo and the denizens of Sesame Street)

Try to stuff world history into the cranium of a kid without a narrative. It can't be done; it won't go in.

More kids know about Anne Frank and the Holocaust than about Communism because The Diary of a Young Girl is a compelling true story told by a kid about her experiences. Anne Frank's diary vs. a dry social history of the Ukraine in the 1930s. Hmmm. Which will stick? There are, however, a lot of kids who know a little about the Russian revolution. Why? In a word, Anastasia. Context, Tom. Story. This is the tool.

Also, when you're little, all history is local. It's about where I live and who lived here before me. Believe me when I tell you that the kids in my neck of the woods are very aware of the Civil War. Part of it was fought near here. They are also aware of the Underground Railroad, because it went right through this county. Yet they are surprised to learn that California was a free state and sent soldiers to fight on the Union side. Too far away. They also know quite a bit about the Revolutionary War because of the Liberty Trees around here, and the stories of various skirmishes and guerrilla attacks when this was on the edge of the frontier.

Likewise, I grew up very aware of the Revolutionary War. My sisters and I would roll down the steep hills at the Oriskany Battlefield. The importance of canals in the early years of the Republic was manifest to me because I could throw rocks in the remnant of one on a summer afternoon. I grew up very aware of the Underground Railroad for the same reason the children around here do, but less aware of the Civil War. I have greater, though skewed, awareness of Roman history because I grew up Catholic. I have overwhelming awareness of the Great Hunger because I grew up among the descendents of Famine Irish. And I do know a little more about Communism's institutional effects on real people, as the children where I grew up continue to do, because the community there is about 1/3 Polish, and every family has its stories of persecution and escape. These historical emphases are true there today.

But there you go. Stories of real people, with faces and names. Locations. Artifacts. These are what bring history to life. That's why your curriculum is as full of tribal lore and Asian history as it is. Who are the people in your neighborhood? What is the history of your neighborhood? We don't have a lot of that in elementary school here -- something about Native tribes every November, and I recall a unit on Africa in the 2nd grade -- and only one year of non-European/non-American curriculum (in 7th grade) before high school. I think my kids are missing just as much as yours, but in different areas. And you know something? They spend the whole fifth grade on American history, beginning in the colonial period, and somehow they never quite make it into the 20th century. But they know who John Peter Zenger was.

The Egyptians? Well, yeah. Everybody studies the Egyptians. The pyramids are fascinating, and it makes sense out of "The Ten Commandments" and "The Mummy", not to mention the inexplicable existence of house cats. Much good has it done us: a distressing number of people believe, in spite of their studies, that aliens are responsible for Egyptian civilization.

Regards--
Mary Anne