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Where does your school emphasize the World Wars most?

Donnetta Elsasser

World War I and World War II obviously have a place in "World" history. But I find that they take up a ton of space in US History as well. Do you think there is too much time spent on these two events at the expense of something else?

What would be your ideal balance between how the World Wars get taught, and how much emphasis they should be given between the two different courses?

  •   For my online courses about 1.5 weeks for WWI and two weeks for WWII. (Three weeks for the Civil War for comparison).  With our semester running roughly 19 weeks, that is a significant amount of time.  They are both seminal events in the country's history to be sure, but there will be "things" left out.  One of my teacher catchphrases is "No time, no time", and I always wish I had more of it to cover some really interesting content.

  • I spend a total of 2-3 weeks on this unit, and definitely feel the pressure to cover everything I want to within this time. 

    Talking about the World War is definitely important during a World History Course, but I agree that this is a topic that will also be studied in other high school history courses (such as US History). 

    My ideal balance is examining the World Wars (and relating units) through a lens that will not be covered in future courses. Highlighting information and ideas that won't be covered in another course (like the Mexican and Russian Revolution) fills in the gaps and teaches them something new.

    I personally also try to supplement other content areas with historical information. For example, I know that students will discuss the Lost Generation when in their English classes. By discussing this in the interwar period, I know students will have a basic historical background to work with future topiccs. 

  • I do the four weeks from the old unit pacing, but I focus on a global perspective that the US History version leaves out. We connect it to imperialism and colonialism and international trends in globalization. We look at all theaters, not just where the US was involved. Finally, we focus on how the increased interconnection of the long 19th century creates the conditions for local wars to spread out.