# I hate my American history class and want to drop it. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041 "2003-09-16T23:07:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/1 "2003-09-16T23:07:43Z")
I am so fucking sick of my history class and virtually all others!!! The class has been going on for four weeks and all we have talked about is 1.Evil white people wiped out the noble Indians 2.Evil white people enslaved the Africans. I have looked through the text book and it continues like this, just the story of how different people have been oppresed by evil white men. God I am so fucking sick of it!!! We don’t actually learn about the Declaration of Independence, instead we spend **THREE DAYS** talking about whether or not Jefferson knocked up Sally Hemmings! We don’t talk about the pilgrims (they are not even mentioned in the book) we talk about, and have to write a paper about, the Pueblo revolt of 1680 (the Pueblo Indian killed all of the Spaniards and destroyed then burned anything to do with Christianity). Yes, nasty stuff happened to good oppressed people way back when but that is not all of American history! I don’t care, I just don’t fucking care anymore. Why the hell must this stupid class be a requirement. Not a damned thing worthwhile is taught or done. I knew that this would be a joke when the teacher showed the cartoon of American history from _Bowling for Colombine_ on the first day. I think that I should drop the class and see if I can find a better one next semester. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/2 "2003-09-16T23:41:40Z")
But those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it! Do you really want to spend the next several decades of your life repressing indigenous populations and impregnating the help? DO YOU!?!? I thought not. Heed the warnings well, my son. (Actually, I hear you. That was my least favorite class of my entire education.) ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/3 "2003-09-16T23:44:35Z")
So what textbook are you using? ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/4 "2003-09-16T23:48:39Z")
I’m not surprised. My World History professor told us that World War II wasn’t important(!) to world history. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/5 "2003-09-17T01:06:22Z")
**Muad’Dib** is this a college course? I’m guessing it’s 100 or 200 level - help me out. Just reading about your frustration pisses me off. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/6 "2003-09-17T01:21:25Z")
Yes, it is a first year college course. ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/7 "2003-09-17T01:28:53Z")
_laughs softly_ I have a friend who wanted a history/teaching degree badly enough to sit through two years of Evil White Man classes, as a white man. His fits over them amuse me to this day. I say, stick it out, and write many entertaining Pit rants. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/8 "2003-09-17T01:40:14Z")
Actually, **Dijon** , I think the complete aphorism is, “those who do not learn from History 101 are doomed to repeat it… the following semester.” ---
**Author:** ![Muldoon\_s\_Squishiness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Muldoon\_s\_Squishiness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muldoon_s_Squishiness)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/9 "2003-09-17T02:08:25Z")
Awww, you don’t like one of your college classes and you’re pissed off that you have to take it because it’s required. Pity party for you.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: Grow the fuck up. If it’s a 100 level college history class, unless you have some **serious** learning problems then you should be able to skip all of the lectures and just show up for the exams and very easily pull an 85-90 out of the class. Welcome to what real life is like. Get used to it. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/10 "2003-09-17T02:35:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muldoon’s Squishiness \* > \*\*Awww, you don’t like one of your college classes and you’re pissed off that you have to take it because it’s required. > > \*\* No, he’s pissed off because the professor is a fucking tool. I don’t blame him a bit. **Maud** , suck it up, regurgitate the bull shit they want to hear and move on. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Muldoon\_s\_Squishiness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Muldoon\_s\_Squishiness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muldoon_s_Squishiness)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/11 "2003-09-17T02:43:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hajario \* > \*\*No, he’s pissed off because the professor is a fucking tool. I don’t blame him a bit. > Haj \*\* If you had bothered to actually read **Muad’dib** ’s post instead of listening to the sound of your own voice, you would know that the class in fact \*\*is \*\*a requirement. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/12 "2003-09-17T02:46:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muldoon’s Squishiness \* > \*\*Awww, you don’t like one of your college classes and you’re pissed off that you have to take it because it’s required. > > Pity party for you.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: > > Grow the fuck up. > > If it’s a 100 level college history class, unless you have some **serious** learning problems then you should be able to skip all of the lectures and just show up for the exams and very easily pull an 85-90 out of the class. > > Welcome to what real life is like. > > Get used to it. \*\* > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Muldoon’s Squishiness in Cafe Society_\*\* > And unclviny and KGS finish in a tie for first place for Most Useless And Pointless Response To A Thread. > > And a mighty cheer went up. > [sub]Yea.[/sub]\*\* Looks like **unclviny** and **KGS** have some tough competition. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/13 "2003-09-17T02:52:52Z")
Actually **Maub** , it’s “Evil White _Men_” who did all of this because you’ll also learn that women were oppressed as well. That’s why we are paying now for all the past sins of our forefathers…Funny, I don’t feel guilty… ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/14 "2003-09-17T02:56:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muldoon’s Squishiness \* > \*\*If you had bothered to actually read **Muad’dib** ’s post instead of listening to the sound of your own voice, you would know that the class in fact \*\*is \*\*a requirement. \*\* Which, in fact, gives him _more_ reason to bitch, not less. If it weren’t a requirement, he’d have more freedom to drop it. After all, he wouldn’t _have_ to take it. As it is, he either has to suffer through a mandatory class listening to a whacked-out instructor, or drop the class and possibly foul up his schedule. So quitcher bitchin’ bout his bitchin’ and suck it up. ---
**Author:** ![lilbtagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@lilbtagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilbtagna)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/15 "2003-09-17T02:58:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muldoon’s Squishiness \* > \*\*Awww, you don’t like one of your college classes and you’re pissed off that you have to take it because it’s required. > > Pity party for you.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: > > Grow the fuck up. > > If it’s a 100 level college history class, unless you have some **serious** learning problems then you should be able to skip all of the lectures and just show up for the exams and very easily pull an 85-90 out of the class. > > Welcome to what real life is like. > > Get used to it. \*\* The problem isn’t with the class being a requirement. The problem is that the book and the class itself is biased. Perhaps you should grow the fuck up and read the OP before criticizing others. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/16 "2003-09-17T03:04:58Z")
Awww, **Muldoon’s Squishiness** doesn’t like a rant and he’s pissed off that he had to read it because it was required. Pity party for you. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/17 "2003-09-17T03:09:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muldoon’s Squishiness \* > \*\*If you had bothered to actually read **Muad’dib** ’s post instead of listening to the sound of your own voice, you would know that the class in fact \*\*is \*\*a requirement. \*\* Unlike you, I can read without having to move my lips, jerk off. Whether or not the class is a requirement is not a matter of dispute. The reason why he is upset is what I was discussing. I repeat my point but I’ll do it at your level this time. The class is a requirement. **Maud** is angry. **Maud** does not like the professor. With me so far? Here comes the hard part. **Maud** does not mind that the history class is a requirement. **Maud** is upset that the required class is taught by a PC monkey. Got it? Haj ---
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/18 "2003-09-17T03:16:29Z")
Book and class are biased? How do you know that? White men DID spend a lot of history oppressing other people. (Early in history they mainly oppressed other white men, but then decided to branch out.) American white men bravely continued this tradition. Did the Chinese (Tutsi, etc pick alternate ethnic group and insert here) do their fair share of oppressing? Sure, but this is an American History class. You didn’t learn about the Pilgrims and good stuff America did? Well, perhaps the teacher assumed that you learned that in elementary school with the rest of us. And mixed in with almost every good act America did was a bad thing. Many of America’s good things were in fact simply the act of no longer doing the bad thing. Civil rights in the 60’s- truly a good thing. But was only needed because for the past 100 years we had been abusing free men. Fight Fascism in WWII- Truly a good thing. To which we added Japanese internment camps. The list could go on. American history is not a John Wayne movie. What other stuff did you want to learn? Did you want to learn about the black African slavers that assisted in the slave trade? The Native American tribes that sided with the Europeans to carry out tribal vendettas against other tribes? Then read up on those subjects and bring them up in class for discussion. Pissed that you hear all about white men’s bad things? Then be pissed at the white men who lived at that time, not the professor who is telling you about them. Perhaps it gets overplayed in history classes now, but that is only because just a few short years ago it was completely glossed over. (And while the facts behind the _Bowling for Columbine’s_ short are a little soft, it was the only funny part in an otherwise boring movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/19 "2003-09-17T03:17:14Z")
I sort of understand where the professor is coming from; he’s just overcompensating. This probably comes from years of freshmen classes which have only been exposed to the Walt Disney version of American history. He’s trying to shock his students into being interested. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041/20 "2003-09-17T04:14:58Z")
I have to confess I’m wondering why the rant over teaching history from a perspective that (from what I know) isn’t really inaccurate. Ignoring other aspects of history for thr sake of demonizing Evil Dead White Men is a bit much, but > [@](#): > > 1.Evil white people wiped out the noble Indians > 2.Evil white people enslaved the Africans. is fairly accurate IIRC. Incidentally, **Muad** , has your history professor covered the fact that the vast majority of black slaves shipped from Africa never reached mainland America? That was news to me (my source is the history book). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-my-american-history-class-and-want-to-drop-it/202041.md?page=2)