maybe Jazzo can give us some info..
Well, I can say I was very surprised when you said conflict was glazed over in NY. We covered everything. Perhaps my school was very liberal about what could be taught. I've thought about that quite a bit recently. It's apparently one of the most conservative parts in the US outside the Bible Belt, but I know we talked about evolution extensively in both my Earth Science and Biology classes, no mention of creation. But you want to know about history.
Let's see. In AP English last year we had a detailed account of British History. Conflicts: Thomas A'Becket, Norman Conquest, War of the Roses, Bloody Mary, Plague, Potato Famine, Imperialism, Protestant/Catholic arguments. We The Plague, A Doll's House and Heart of Darkness. For group reports we had to read either 1984, Lord of the Flies, Hard Times, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, or Brave New World.
The year before that I had American History and American Literature. I don't know of anything we didn't cover. We watched The Crucible, 1776 and Glory and clips of Amistad and Saving Private Ryan. We also watched a series called Eyes on the Prize about Civil Rights in the 60s. We discussed the controversial issues like Vietnam, Sacco and Vanzeti [sp?], McCarthyism Japanese-American Concentration Camps and of course Slavery and Reconstruction. As far as I know is was all very objective and two-sided. The summer before the class we had to read The Scarlet Letter, The Jungle and Uncle Tom's Cabin and we had to watch The Front.
Sophomore year I took a world history course that went up to the Renaissance. I can't remember too much specific that would have been controversial, but I don't recall discussing slavery in Greece or gladiator battles in Rome. The teacher was a bit of a kook though.
