In the Netherlands, history classes are built around the 'Canon of the Netherlands', a list of 50 themes that are supposed to summarize Dutch history. Included in these 50 subjects are the Romans, the Dutch Revolt, the VOC, Rembrandt, the slave trade, Max Havelaar (a 19th century critic of the Dutch regime in Indonesia), Anne Frank, the Indonesian war of Independence, and the decolonization of other Dutch colonies such as Suriname.

The Canon is meant for children between eight and fourteen years old and has found itself surrounded by heated debates since its inception in 2006. One reason for the creation of the Canon was the need to educate the children of immigrants about our cultural identity and our history. As a result, one source of criticism was the fact that the Canon was not just meant to give students a coherent overview of Dutch history but also to give them a (hopefully positive) idea on what it means to be Dutch. As a result of the latter, many argued, the Canon was designed also to instill a feeling of patriotic pride among students.

Many have argued that the 'bad' parts of Dutch history (the WIC's large role in the slave trade, VOC atrocities in Indonesia, Dutch atrocities during the Indonesian war of independence) were buried under a layer of eurocentric and nationalistic subjects and names, similar to history as it was taught until the 1960s. For example, lessons about the VOC discussed Dutch explorers such as Abel Tasman and Willem Barentsz and the founding of the VOC's headquarters in modern-day Jakarta but ignored the reactions of the locals to the arrival of the Dutch, early resistance to Dutch conquests and the rise of Indonesian nationalism as a result of the Dutch conquest.

Though the plight of Indonesians under Dutch rule is discussed during the lessons about Max Havelaar, these lessons almost always revolved around the governing rather than the governed. Rather than focusing more on local suffering or the Dutch role in creating this suffering, the lessons focused on the heroic Dutchman Max Havelaar, who published a book about the terrible living conditions of the majority of the Indonesian population. Again, rather than discussing the inherent flaws in Dutch colonialism, lessons instead focused on the Dutch attempts at making their colonial rule more ethical.

To summarize, the Canon of the Netherlands has been heavily criticized for a variety of reasons: Its focus on the governing and trading Dutch, rather than the governed Indonesians and the traded African slaves, its playing down of the consequences of colonization for local populations, and overall its secondary purpose of instilling a Dutch identity among students.

Recently the Canon has been the subject of discussion and it seems that some change will be implemented: After protests by a group promoting the history of black Dutchmen, more focus will be given to the experiences African slaves went through as they were bought, transported to the Americas, and sold. More attention will also be given to the massacres committed by the Dutch army in Indonesia between 1945 and 1949. These changes, however, are set to be implemented next school year.

Source: M. Vos 'The Return of the Canon: Transforming Dutch History Teaching.' History Workshop Journal, 67(1), 111-124.

Personal note (If this is not appropriate for the subreddit, I can edit out this part): I personally doubt these changes will have much of an effect in the coming years. 60% of Dutch middle/highschool students follow the so-called 'VMBO' traject in which history is not a mandatory subject. The other 40% who take the HAVO or VWO trajects are usually required to study history until they're 15 but 80% choose the drop the subject once they enter their 4th year.

Accepting the darker side of Dutch history is difficult, especially while we're having an active discussion as a society about whether or not we should remove statues of explorers who killed native populations or soldiers who put down colonial revolts.