In the Western world, the content of what students learn has generally been informed by the liberal arts or "the classics" (math, arts, hard sciences, and social sciences), a concept that stretches back to antiquity. In American public education, the formal study of "history" was codified by the National Education Association Committee of Ten meetings that began in 1892.

Source: National Education Association of the United States. Committee of Ten on Secondary School Studies. (1894). Report of the committee of ten on secondary school studies: With the reports of the conferences arranged by the committee. National Education Association.