Hello,

I graduated from a public high school in 2014 so hopefully my anecdote will be of assistance here. Do take note that I went to school in Maryland, which is a state that has well funded schools where I had access to a large selection of courses and reading materials. I'll explain the general year-to-year structure of history education, and then answer the nuanced questions that you had in order. I'm currently a human geography student at college now, and I've only taken one history course here in my three years. I love the topic but I'm neither a major nor a minor so hopefully I can provide an 'outsider' view on the subject of history education.

History proper began for me in middle school. Prior to this, it was rolled into a general 'social studies' curriculum, which largely took a bow to mathematics, literature and physical science education during elementary school. Art, music and literature classes did have a strong history component. I remember this focusing mostly on American history, especially colonization, the Revolution and the Civil War. At this point, students were grouped into 'merit' and 'honors' classes. There may have been supplemental or special education for a below-merit level but I didn't know if that existed directly. I was always in either an honors course or AP in history.

Sixth grade (11-12) history concerned early human evolution and the development of early societies. We had a few exercises on what I could now call basic social theory, trying to explain why societies and structures form and to whose benefit. Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt were then covered, along with cursory studies of China, India and the cradles of civilization in the Americas. 2012 was a little while off in 2007-2008 so it was fashionable to discuss apocalypse predictions when the Mayans came up. I think we also discussed political happenings and current events in our community and the world. It was probably Mesopotamia that got the most exposure, and there was great coverage of how early societies like that developed. I believe we stopped with Ancient Greece and Rome, as the course was only a semester long. Like with mathematics education, there was a general progression in the history education over the seven years of secondary schooling, with each year covering a broad part of history. You had more freedom to choose which history you wanted to take as you got into high school, however.

In seventh grade (12-13) we had a small recap of the origins of humans and early civilizations, and then there was a major unit on Roman history. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the rise of Christianity was discussed as well as medieval society. Not much attention was paid to the early medieval period and we jumped right into the feudalism characteristic of high medieval society. I remember there being days focused on medieval China and also a whole week on the rise of Islam and it's basic beliefs and creeds.This continued on until the early modern period, when early European colonization was discussed. The semester ended around that time.

Eighth grade (13-14) included early American history. We briefly went over pre-Colombian civilizations and then discussed English and later British colonization. A good deal of time was spent on the colonial period and how slavery worked and was developed. There was a lot of buildup to the American revolution and what kind of political processes went on were examined. The general view was pro-American but it was not uncritical of the revolution and it explicitly mentioned Loyalists as still being Americans and a component of American society at the time. Then there was a section on the creation of the American government and specifically the Constitution, along with the three-fifths compromise. The next section covered early expansion and the first few presidents. We moved onto the Mexican War and then there was a long section on the causes and events of the US Civil War. I remember having to prepare a report on specific battles and campaigns during the Civil War. We briefly covered Reconstruction and the semester ended.

Ninth grade (high school, 14-15) was not a history class but rather a government class. There was of course a lot of history included but the main focus was practical knowledge of elections, political parties, political viewpoints, ideology, trying to form a viewpoint and how the legal system works if one found oneself within. Lots of attention was given to historical documents.

During tenth grade (15-16), you were given a choice between an honors or merit Modern History course or an AP course. Amongst AP courses you could choose AP American History, AP European History, or AP World History. I chose World History as it was geared towards sophomores. I think the basic Modern History course covered everything from where seventh grade left off, but in Europe and on a global scale. It included the Protestant Reformation, exploration etc. etc. up until World War Two.

In eleventh grade (16-17), you again had a choice between a standard course and AP. I took the standard that year because AP courses were year long and I couldn't fit one in my schedule. The topic of that honors course was Modern American History, which concerned American History from Reconstruction to the present day. That class was especially critical of a large part of American history and society, especially imperialism and industrialism. A good part was spent on the American Gilded Age and it's faults. The teacher was big on informing us of alternative viewpoints to events, and gave a very critical view of the Indian Wars which wrapped up during this period. There was a great focus on the non-American causes of the two World Wars, and recent history was given a fairly unabashed treatment. The sexual revolution was discussed as well as the emergence of modern popular culture, rock and hip-hop, etc. Interestingly, queer and LGBT history was also discussed quite a bit with Stonewall and other events during and after the 60s, which I was glad to hear. It was all very frank and I felt like the class was very open in its content.