Definitely. Objectively is super important, otherwise you learn nothing.

It’s a long time ago for me as well, but as far as I remember I pretty much had the same experience as you it seems, the history classes in secondary school were way too narrow. And too short, it should’ve been taught in every year.

Did any of your guys take a class like "Western Civilization" in high school?

I did, and I loved that class.  I loved learning about the Trojan War. Paris. Hector. Agamemnon. Achilles. The Trojan Horse. The Illiad.

"Helen, the face that launched a 1000 ships"

I also loved learning about the Persian Wars. Darius. Xerxes. Battle of Marathon. Battle of Thermopylae. Battle of Salamis. Battle of Plataea. Leonidas. Sparta. Athens.

"Spartan, come back with your shield or on it"

That was basically history as we got it in school, all about western (mostly ancient) civilization. The rest of the world were simply places to colonize.

And colonization was always presented as a positive, right from the Roman occupation. They brought organization and roads. The Mongol invasion of Europe 'shuffled' people around. The French occupation brought us surnames. The discovery of the Americas and later the far East bringing prosperity.

It's nice to always see the positives, yet only focusing on those, WW1 and WW2 were the first ones where there were actually negatives attached to history. But no criticism of the allied troops of course, fire bombing entire cities nor all the war crimes like starvation 'hunger plan' as a tactic. (Which is now in effect in Gaza) It was always black and white, no greys in history. And the aftermath was just about the cold war, nothing about the creation of the UN, international law, Geneva conventions.

There was a lot of scapegoating Russia for everything and it was until much later that I learned about the role Russia played in WW2. Of course many events happened after I went to school, and the Soviet Union was the biggest bad guy after Germany when I was growing up. How Russia went from ally in WW2 to lethal enemy in the Cold War was not taught though.

Geopolitics would be a good course for schools! (If objective of course) as well as world religions. Those are shaping our world as it is today. Yet also the most biased subjects.

🤡🤡🤡🤡

Russia has released a propaganda video as “Santa Claus is shot down by Russian air defense over Moscow”

An air defense operator says: “That’s it, the target is destroyed. We don’t need anything foreign in our world. Happy New Year!”

That’s everything you need to know about Russian society.

[image or embed]

— SAINT JAVELIN (@saintjavelin.bsky.social) 27 December 2024 at 13:00

The timing of this ad...Also does that map on the globe show Russia in control of China? Lol.

Was Western Civilization a history or english/reading class?

WC was a history class.

I only ask because you mentioned things like the Iliad. Which was covered in my english class because from my understanding it's more like historical fiction. Some elements are rooted in the real world but much is made up like Achilles.

I personally have a strong memory of being sad when I learned the Trojan Horse was likely not real, thinking to myself "that cannot be, it's in my video game that I love so dearly for being based on history" lol.

I hear you. I should have mentioned Homer more so than the Iliad.  We didn't read it all in that class. However, the teacher (Mrs. Pierce) did have us read a few chapters of "The Odyssey." Which was ok, but based on events after the TW. 

Personally, I believe in the Trojan Horse...It makes sense.....but at the least, it still applies to news today...."Trojan Horse PC virus is a real threat today."

The term "Achilles heel" is still one that resonates today, especially among athletes.......So, it's not all "fake", a lot of it is still relevant today.