Lets skip Middle Ages!

[Aiden of Oreland]

A major Problem in my school district is that they hardly teach about the Middle Ages. It Literally teaches the Fall of Rome and goes traight to the settling of America. What happened to that 1000 years in between? My brothers class only made it to the vikings and my class tought that castles keep people out and knights wore suits of armor and rode horses. Thats it. I don't know how involved all of your schools got into that subject.(I put this under this section of the forum because I find this to be a major issue, it can be moved if wished). Do you find this to be a big deal? Do you think it isn't necessary for children to be educated about it? What are your thoughts on the matter?

[Sir Edward]

Yeah, I think it varies a lot by school, and has probably changed a bit since I was in school. I remember us very lightly hitting upon it in middle school. We covered Charlemagne, and a few other things, but mostly skipped our period of interest. In high school, it was mostly U.S. history.

[Sir James A]

I don't remember anything specific about the middle ages from when I was in school. I like to think I would have remembered, since I was into swords / armor / knights since I was little.

Much as I would like to say "teach ALL the medieval history!", I think it would be more prudent that they give equal time and consideration to all periods of history. It seems biased that they make such a huge leap in time.

[Sir Patrick]

We pretty much skipped it as well. The narrative went like this:

Rome fell. The Crusades happened. People liked the spices the crusaders brought back. Italians set up trade with east. The renaissance occurred. Fast forward to Columbus and the American Revolution.

No wonder people have trouble understanding the root causes of a lot if world problems!

[Sir Douglas]

Wait...they still teach history in school!?

I remember when I was in public school, we didn't even have history. Like...at all. We had a form of something they claimed was "social studies", but it wasn't even that. I don't know what it was. It wasn't until I was pulled out of public school and started homeschooling (yeah, I'm one of...them), that I had a proper history course.

[Aiden of Oreland]

We learned a bit about Charlemagne. My brother knows kids in his class that don't know what "medieval" is. Its like telling a story like this "the knight heard that the princess was kidnaped. The knight married her and moved to Virginia". Where is that in between?

[Sir Nate]

We didn't brush the subject in 7th grade. We learned about Christianity and the fall of Rome to end the year. I had been mad because I had already been a medieval nut, and knew I would have gotten good grades.
I till got good grades but I was diss appointed.
There also used to be a 7th grade p.a. Renfaire field trip.
But they got to do it due to us not learning about the rennasciance (I much at all) until later years.

[Aiden of Oreland]

Do you guys believe that this period should be taught in more depth? Why or why not? Is it important? Why is learning the life of a gladiator more important that that of a knight?

[Ian]

My experience was similar in high school and in college.  The middle ages happened.. that was about it.

Should they be taught?  It would be nice, but the consideration is then what doesn't get in taught in its place.  I dunno...

[Sir Douglas]

I think there are a lot of important socio-policital aspects of the Middle Ages that would definitely help people understand how the world came to be where it is now. I know I've come to a much better understanding of human nature in general just from studying medieval history.

But things like what a groom of the stool is, how a trebuchet differs from a catapult, or the English longbowman's role in the Battle of Crecy is probably best left to more focused studies. I see elementary/middle/high school more as an "introduction to life". You learn to read, write, do math, and for the average student, that's about it. I certainly don't remember everything I learned from my school days. The real learning starts after school.

[Sir Wolf]

seeing that they are taking American figure heads like Thomas Jefferson out of the school systems, i highly doubt they will put in medieval or middle ages

[Sir Nate]

seeing that they are taking American figure heads like Thomas Jefferson out of the school systems, i highly doubt they will put in medieval or middle ages

That doesn't make sense, How dare they!
Both Thomas Jefferson and America spelled backwards spells freedom...Fact.

[Mike W.]

I went to a private Catholic school, so we had a medieval history and a Church history class that covered the era. The medieval history class was mostly a list of dates and events, memorization of maps, and several short essays to make sense of it all. However, it tended to be biased in favor of Catholicism and a bit anti-Islamic. The Church history class touched on the Church's hegemony during the Dark Ages and the power struggle between secular rulers and the Pope. That was about it. I left high school with a general, but biased knowledge of the politics of the age, but practically no knowledge of Medieval arms, armor, warfare, way of life, etc. It wasn't until a few months ago I had even heard of the Oakeschott typology.

[Sir Rodney]

The public high school where my wife teaches used to have an in-depth medieval history curriculum across several disciplines.

The science teachers would teach about communicable diseases and estimate the rate of spread.
The history teachers would really dig into the subject matter.
The shop classes would teach woodworking skills and make shields.
The art classes would paint period banners.
The music classes would learn period music.
I would bring in my equipment and do the “How a Knight shall be armed” show.
At the end, 2,000 kids would have a medieval fair and fill the halls with booths displaying their knowledge, skills, crafts, and sell foods to raise money for various student organizations.  It was completely awesome.  Kids were running around in period(ish) garb everywhere.  Then it ended after a few years and they haven’t done it since.   

Two other members of my local SCA group are 4th grade teachers at charter schools.  They are afforded the latitude to teach medieval history in great detail.

[Aiden of Oreland]

The public high school where my wife teaches used to have an in-depth medieval history curriculum across several disciplines.

The science teachers would teach about communicable diseases and estimate the rate of spread.
The history teachers would really dig into the subject matter.
The shop classes would teach woodworking skills and make shields.
The art classes would paint period banners.
The music classes would learn period music.
I would bring in my equipment and do the “How a Knight shall be armed” show.
At the end, 2,000 kids would have a medieval fair and fill the halls with booths displaying their knowledge, skills, crafts, and sell foods to raise money for various student organizations.  It was completely awesome.  Kids were running around in period(ish) garb everywhere.  Then it ended after a few years and they haven’t done it since.   

Two other members of my local SCA group are 4th grade teachers at charter schools.  They are afforded the latitude to teach medieval history in great detail.

I wish i was there to witness that  that legit sounds like the coolest thing ever. If I only i could change things.