Asian history you definitely find in high school textbooks, but you're right that those chapters tend to get skipped. Federal guidelines I believe support the teaching of Asia, Africa, etc., but local and state guidelines frequently haven't caught up. There's a sense that "our" Western culture is more important, which seems ridiculous when you consider all the Americans who do not come from a European background or the fact that learning about others is also kind of important in today's world. My experience with this has been good, however. We read the Shahnama and Li Po in world lit, and got our fill of Mansa Musa and the Tang in world history. In addition, world history classes I observed in my teacher education program as an undergrad did cover some "non- Western" subjects: They all began with the four river valley civilizations, and tossed in Islam when discussing the conquests and early medieval Europe. The Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas also make it in, which is strange when you think of the relative historical legacy of the Mayans and ancient India. One additional point: I am a grad student in medieval Middle Eastern history at Wisconsin, and my advisor always asks his classes how many have studied any history of the region before. He says the number goes up every year. This year for the first time it topped the 50% mark, and in my discussion sections I had several students say they decided to take "The Making of the Islamic World" because they liked the brief overview of it they got in high school. So things are getting better. Brian
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