> Now, that got me thinking. Is all this stuff we Canadians are being told about us not knowing our history, we're not proud of ourselves, yak, yak, yak, actually TRUE? I mean, I certainly can't imagine an American eighth grader saying Patrick Henry was the father of their country, but I'm not sure it goes to that extreme in Canada.
>
> So is the Great White North truly lagging in historical awareness, or is that just propaganda being fed to us by the CBC or some such entity? Thoughts?
>
> -Mar"July 1, 1867"kusRTK

Well, I'll speak as a Canadian high school history student on this one (which should be easy because I am). From the material that I've been using over the past few years, I think that the Canadian ciriculum is more interested in external areas of history then internal areas of history. This year, we're covering European history from the Renissance to the first World War. Last year, the focus was on the United States. The year before that, I think that we /might/ have had one unit on Canadian history in terms of government, but that's all. I think that the idea behind the Canadian system of historiography is to look at all the major events in world history -- that is, to look more to events that shaped the world before events that shaped our nation. Compared to events such as the rise and fall of the Ottoman empire, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic era, and the congress of Vienna; events such as the BNA act, Crow Pass agreement, and the Charlottetown accord seem much less important on a global standpoint.

However, is this to say that we don't know our history? Well, I think that this depends on your standpoint on which parts of history are the most important. Perhaps we know less about our own country then we should, but in exchange we tend to know more about the world outside of our borders. I actually like the system -- I prefer to learn about the grand events that shaped the world instead of all the little details that shaped our country.

Of course, all Canadians should know the the first Prime Minister was Sir John A. Macdonald.... or at least know that wasn't Sir Issac Newton.....

-Ka"Can't help but think of what this country would have been like if our first Prime Minister WAS Sir Issac Newton"z!