Global History Wasn't Taught

Educational deficit

I did not take World History in high school. I was warned off by another history buff, an older friend who laughed in ridicule at the teacher’s introductory lecture. “Some of you more advanced students already know the difference between a country and a continent,” she said without confidence, expressing the hope that she would be able to find enough material to keep such “advanced” students interested and engaged. The class mainly consisted of tracing maps of countries, their locations, and relationship to nearby countries.

My friend reported doing jumping jacks in the class because he was so bored. In retrospect, he told me recently, that he did actually learn some things from that class. The teacher was a certified English teacher, but not certified in world history. Recognizing her own deficiencies in the subject matter — she probably rarely if ever left small-town North Carolina herself — she assigned students to do oral and written reports on many of the countries on the globe. My friend, who had lived in Scotland for several years, found those reports interesting.

I’ve been thinking about what I missed due to my lack of grounding in world or global history. I’m sure many intelligent young (and old) people lack the same grounding today. One of my goals here on Substack (as well as on YouTube) is to offer the global history and global mindset that students are unlikely to get in school or from mass culture.

If we are motivated independent learners, not only does global history help us make sense of the world, it helps us to see opportunities I did not see for myself as a young person —- to join the foreign service, the Peace Corps, an international NGO, an advocacy organization, a series of international schools, an intelligence service, or the military.