Did you have to study your state history in school?
 

In Texas all public school kids have to study Texas history in 7th grade. If you attend a public university in Texas you have to take 3 credit hours of Texas History or Texas Politics (Texas state government).

Me and some of my friends were discussing our shared, yet individual 7th grade Texas History stories and got to wondering if other states require their students to take a state history course.

So did ya? What state, and what grade was the class required?

Georgia, and I seem to remember that in high school you could choose between state history and social studies. This was a long time ago, though (the early 80s). I don't remember state history being a requirement for my university degree.

Ohio History was required in either 7th or 8th grade, as of the early 90's (I'm assuming it's still that way). I took it in 7th grade. I specifically remember having to do reports that listed famous Ohioans from specific genres (politics, sports, etc.). I had famous musicians, and being the little headbanger I was, based my entire presentation around Janie Lane of Warrant, who hails from Cleveland. Soooo embarassing.

Being a military brat for awhile(before gettin the call to "home") i went to elementary schools in Virginia and Colorado. While the age it was studied varied, i did take Colorado history i think in 5th grade. My sister, who was 2 years behind me got history at all 3 stops.

Texas history is not *required* at A&M, but a Texas government class is. You can use the Texas history class to satisfy one of your 2 required history classes.

KS 361

Yup had to do it in 11th grade
ETA: I grew up in Virginia

Florida.

We had a Florida history class in 4th grade, and then it was integrated in 11th grade US History.

In Nevada, we studied state history and had to prepare an intensive report on it in 7th grade.

According to the State Standards for Social Studies, California history is taught primarily in the 4th grade. Students receive some early California history in the 8th grade, because it's US history up until 1865.

yeah im pretty sure we did California history in 4th grade, I remember learning a lot about the Gold Rush

Wisconsin.

We studied it in elementary school, I know, but I don't recall it being a major part of the curriculum after that.

Yup Cali history is 4th grade.... did anyone else from Cali build a mission ?? :D

California.

We spend all of 4th grade on California History, like is mentioned above.

I went to private school, but the requirements apply to all schools, not just public.

My favorite activities: I built a mission and went to Sacramento on a field trip and met the governor. It was really cool. We also built these huge replicas of the state out of plaster of paris and marked the different regions of the state, where all the missions were located and where the different tribes lived.

I guess I didnt ask the right question...
 

This is interesting, but I should have been more clear. I am not asking if you touched on it in school. What I am asking is if you had a year of history (or a semester) solely dedicated to the historical study of your state. The class was known as Oregon History, etc. As in, "8th grade history is only Wyoming History."

I imagine everyone touched on their state history, regardless of where you grew up. Knowing you studied it dosent really answer the question. Was there a year or semester of a class called (Fill in the blank with your state name here) History?

This helps answer the question, which is what states require their students to take a class just on the state history. I wonder this because as you all know, Texans are in love with themselves. I knwo there are numerous reasons, but can one factor be the marketing we do to our own kids growing up in 7th grade with the compulsary class? So do states with somewhat less exciting history require a class in their history? Is there enough content to have a whole class?

Michigan

4th grade. The entire 4th grade social studies curriculum is Michigan. Half the year is history, half the year is current/government structure/economy/symbols, etc.

The history/social studies curriculum is very organized.. 2nd grade is their own community, 3rd grade is the region/county, 4th grade is the state, 5th grade is the early govt, US through the Revolutionary War, 6th grade is the Western World, 7th is the Eastern World, 8th is 19th century American history, 9th is Civics, 10th is 20th century American, 11th is World History. So, they start with what is familiar to them and work their way outward.

I think each state probably has enough history to fill an entire year.

I never had to take a course entitled "New York History". I learned a good deal of state history through my US History courses (you can't discuss the Revolutionary War without mentioning NY), but I never had a dedicated semester or year of state history.

It is possible that students in the public elementary schools get a semester or year dedicated to state history. I attended Catholic school through 5th grade... they didn't care how much history (or anything else) you knew as long as you could recite the Lord's Prayer correctly. :rolleyes: (Not knocking Catholic schools in general, some of them are excellent... mine just happened to suck.)

I hear ya there! I went to Catholic school up until grade 6 and I can remember only having math once or maybe twice a week if the teacher felt like teaching it.

As for Lifesaver's question; I grew up in Pennsylvania and I have no recollection of learning about my state's history.

We had some units on CT state history throughout school, but we never really had a requirement to learn it. There were just times when teachers would go over bits and pieces of the history.

Virginia History was 4th grade..

the entire year was dedicated to Virginia history, I think it was just called Virginia History too..

we did the whole Jamestown, early settlement history, Williamsburg, Richmond, etc.

we even had a big production where we had to dress up as "Virginians" and do the virginia reel..

Yup. My 4th grade social studies lessons were devoted to Florida history. In 11th grade, we spent the last month of school discussing Florida history but the class in general was American History. I haven't taken an in-depth class on Florida history since 4th grade!

I had an awful Texas History teacher in 7th grade (a coach who used to throw a wad of dirty socks at anyone he thought was behaving badly), and hate that I didn't get much out of it. Hope my son gets a better foundation than I did....

Yup, Texas history in 7th grade..........then I took it in college at my "not a real school":rolleyes:

i don't remember a year dedicated to Massachusetts history, but it's kind of hard to study US history without dedicating a large portion to Mass. i remember always taking field trips to Plimouth Plantation and the Mayflower, Old Sturbridge Village, the Freedom Trail, etc all throughout elementary school.

I know Indiana requires a year of Indiana history...I think maybe 5th or 6th grade, I can't remember.

Ohio does it in 7th grade, so I never had to take it...I moved to Dayton as a high school freshman.

We didn't have a year of history, but I went to a very avante garde pilot school. We did a lot of weird things!

North Carolina also does state history for the entire 4th grade year. I also remember most of my 8th grade class being about NC history, but that for whatever reason doesn't seem as standardized as the 4th grade year did.

Indiana does the entire year of Indiana history in fourth grade (I remember when I was doing my observation as an education major all my friends who were assigned to the fourth grade classrooms talking about it....having to know the names of EVERY county in the state would drive me bonkers!)

I think Indiana's social studies curriculum is set up pretty similarly to what AGDee described....very structured.

I don't think California had the definite "CA history class", or if they did, I didn't learn it in my schools! (And I never built a mission, either! :eek: )

I never had to take anything like that while in Illinois, and when I went to Florida for college I didn't have to take any courses on Florida history.

I wish we did take something like that in elementary school. It sure would have beat the monotony of learning the same crap over and over.

Social Studies 10 covered BC history and government.

I guess the simple answer to lifesaver's question is no. I never attended public school after kindergarten so perhaps someone who did is more qualified to answer this.

I went to Catholic school from first through sixth grades. We had math, science, social studies, English language arts, religion, and reading daily and art twice a week. We touched on NYS and NYC history, but not for an entire semester.

In private school one of my social studies teacher spent an entire quarter teaching us about New York City and State government. We had to memorize the names of our elected officials and their jobs. I didn't really learn about the history of New York per se as much as government. It was also a big part of U.S. history.

I never took Michigan history! Matter of fact, my and friend and I both don't remember taking it. Perhaps this rule is only applicable in public schools? Because I know private schools are more flexible with curriculum (sp?). Perhaps this is a newer rule?

On another note, when I went to boarding school in Mississippi, we were required to have a semester of Mississippi studies, usually offered as a first year/freshmen class. It sucked!!!

enigma_AKA

We had Arkansas history in the 8th grade, Civics in the 9th, World History in 10th, and US History in 11th. Somebody must have done something right; I'm a history major now!

I also had Ohio History in 7th grade. One semester was geography and 2nd semester was Ohio History. This was 1987-88 school year. Our 7th grade trip was to Coshocton and Columbus to the old COSI. It was a great trip.

as far as I know Iowa History is optional or else the year varies from schools (k-12). Not required at university level, although, since I'm getting my teaching certificate with one of my content areas being history I wanted to take Iowa History (there is a history class listed for it at Iowa State), but there's no professor to teach it.

Fourth grade in my school had two social studies classes, which this future history major was glad about because it was my favorite class. On Mondays and Wedesdays, social studies was Wisconsin history, and on Tuesdays and Fridays, social studies was U.S. geography.

oh yeah, like most of the other californians said, 4th grade was the california history year.

and yes glitter we had to make missions, too! i made mission san juan capistrano - with the swallows and all! haha

in 5th grade we did the whole u.s. and we had to pick a state to do a report on... i did it on texas. so i learned all about their state history, too.

Haha, I still have my Florida notebook that I did in 4th grade. I got a 109. :D I did all the extra credit.

I don't remember there being so much FL history in 11th grade though. There was quite a bit of FL gov't history in the State & Local Gov't class I took in 12th grade as part of my dual enrollment.

We did Florida history in 4th grade too.

It's required for all students in Hawaii to study Hawaiian History in order to receive a diploma -- regardless of whether you went to private/public/parochial school.

Being that Hawaii was its own kingdom until 1893, we have a rich history that many mainstream history textbooks don't even bother covering. :rolleyes: These books often cover the annexation and Queen Lili`uokalani (the darkest days of Hawaiian history), but they fail to mention how Kamehameha unified the Islands, the missionaries in Hawaii trying to rid the Hawaiians of their culture, when sugar was king and the Big Five, or even the Massie Case that almost sparked a race riot in Honolulu in the 30s (Clarence Darrow was involved).

It was a great course and the best social studies class I've ever taken.

At the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaiian Studies 107 is a core class required for all Arts and Sciences candidates.

Ah- back in the days where the military could defy the president and take over lands for the nation. :rolleyes:

New York
 

Its kind of difficult to teach the history of the U.S. without discussing New York (city and state.) We were taught the history of the city, as well as the history of the state.