Why do they teach history in school instead of current events?

My own personal opinion is the reason schools don't teach current events is because it would be hard if not impossible to find a teacher who would not put his own personal spin on what is happening in the U.S. and the world today. If he were a republican, he would present the facts with his own slant and the same with a democrat. Even teachers are human beings and the temptation would be too great not to use the classroom to further their personal agenda.

Let's think about this for a moment. I'm 59 and grew up in the deep south during a very uncomfortable time in our history - civil rights and all. The information that I depended upon to learn history was encyclopedias, and the history books that were sent to use from other schools. History is comprised of so many events on top of events. Some have been found to be true, and some not. People who are interested and want to know more - seek more to satisfy their minds about the truth. Now, you can probably understand that when you get into middle school, you will study Social Studies which will cover a certain portion of a time line. Most of the time, if your teacher is using a 'textbook', you will not cover all the material before the end of your school year. When you return, you will find yourself studying some other portion of history - World History, etc. In your lifetime, I believe that you will never learn or gain all the knowledge needed in those classes with the use of those textbooks. Each day you live - history is being made - and the writers of history have can hardly keep up with all the information that is being presented every day. SO - when I taught history, I made sure that every Friday - my students had to present CURRENT events - some news that covered the world and economics. Students had to write about issues, and we spent a lot of time discussing, debating, and writing arguments about the current state of the world in which we live.

There is no way that any student will be able to cover the news that happens throughout the world. There is just too much. All a teacher can do is cover the material in the textbook, ensure that students can provide current material, debate and discuss how it all fits.

Teachers are over worked and under paid. They dont care anymore. Read the paper watch CNN and the History channel. Also PBS

Perhaps because you have infinite resources at your disposal to learn about current events. Most kids are just too lazy or uninterested to use them.

Because school is stupid and want us to go through hell