I study in Mexico, but went to emelmentary, middle, and high school in the states. Took some college courses in history and they are radically different at my current college. We emphasize a lot on historiography and interpreting historical texts. I have heard from other classmates that in other countries most emphasis on historiography comes at the graduate program. So how much was historiography emphasized in your programs? (sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong section)
I read history in Oxford and we had an entire module on historiography (about 20% of the whole course). The course involved studying different schools of history (Marxist history, linguistic turn etc.) In all our other modules we were expected to have an awareness only of the big names in the field (like say Christopher Hill for the English Civil War) and names tied to specific interpretations of the period (like Lyndal Roper's work on witch hunts).
we have a whole class on it; plus every other class emphasizes it. Its pretty important I'd say, and our history program isn't really anything special.
I go to the University of Toronto, but I did a year at Dartmouth College before I transferred. We talk about it in every class here, especially when analyzing primary sources. We do have some classes on it specifically within the history and American studies departments- some are cross-posted with the philosophy department- but it's generally always a consideration.
It might have something to do with the courses your friends are taking? Or perhaps they're in the 200/300 courses and haven't done a lot of not-survey-class work.