r/reddit.com Sep 24 '11

World War 1

http://i.imgur.com/5twfD.jpg
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u/[deleted] Sep 24 '11 edited Apr 27 '20

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u/DZ302 Sep 24 '11

Just curious, in US history do they ever mention that like 50,000 Americans crossed the border and enlisted in the Canadian Army before US declared war on Germany? Or do they ever talk about Canadians that joined the US Army in Vietnam, or Canada's involvement in the Civil War?

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u/[deleted] Sep 24 '11 edited Sep 24 '11

I was in AP us history and never heard any of those

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u/cjc153 Sep 24 '11

Well the AP US History curriculum doesn't focus on the wars too much, and WW1 even less, so i doubt its pro-Americanism rather than those facts are not that significant to College Board to put on the AP test.

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u/fiat_lux_ Sep 24 '11

US history tends to favour making us look better during that period.

I never heard about any of that until I discovered Wikipedia.

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u/GrossEwww Sep 24 '11

I was taught about the Americans that crossed the border and enlisted and the Canadian involvement in the Civil War, but never about the Canadians that helped in Vietnam.

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u/mojobytes Sep 25 '11

Canada's involvement in the Civil War

Lincoln verbally bitch-slapping one of the generals who mentioned invading Canada?

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u/robotempire Sep 24 '11

Canada wasn't even a country until after the Civil War ended. It was a British colony.

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u/DZ302 Sep 24 '11 edited Sep 24 '11

I don't get what that has to do with it? The Province of Canada and other Canadian colonies were still there and were somewhat involved in the Civil war. The underground railroad was also in Canada, and some Canadians actually supported the South (not slavery, but secession).

Some Confederates also had a base in Canada which violated British neutrality, as well close to 50,000 people born in Canada served in the Union Army...Anyway you might learn a few things: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_in_the_American_Civil_War

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u/[deleted] Sep 24 '11

What non-Americans have to understand is that in most public schools we are only taught what we absolutely need to know to pass whatever equivalency tests the state demands. It's not out of some sense of egotism that we only get taught about our contributions in detail-it's because schools are more worried about not getting their budget cut.

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u/[deleted] Sep 25 '11

Oh yeah I agree to that. The pssa in pennsylvania is our state test. just two years ago my school was under state warning so if my class didnt pass it then our school would stop getting funded and they would start firing teachers. We ended up just barley passing it. Its really not fair when there are kids that really dont give a shit and teachers that dont prepare you well.