Since when our nuclear ships dirty? Do you have any idea how much diesel fuel it takes to move a conventional aircraft carrier? *foams at mouth*

Yeah, in that scenario I don't blame you. But after the exchange with snoop below, this provides a good example: If Kiwis don't know about the Opium Wars and the Open Door Policy they better learn before dealing with China much more. Ya'll didn't have anything to do with either, but both royally (and justifiably) enraged the Chinese, and they haven't forgotten. Partly because they didn't get Hong Kong back until ten years ago. Since I'm pretty sure you do know about a lot of that I'll assume you see what I mean.

Whether it's us or China though, recent history didn't happen in a vacuum; it's predicated on past history. This thread has me thinking about perspective now, because I suspect that most countrys history classes on OTHER countries focus more on contributions to the world and events in the country that were big AT THE TIME but not necessarily still relevant even with those countries today. Knowing about slavery and the Civil War is as vital to understanding modern America as 1860 America; Eli Whitney and the cotton gin are really only relevant to the latter. If you want to know why slavery managed to endure so long, you need to know that, but otherwise it's a piece of trivia. Taught to every HS student in the country. Turn it around: How much do I REALLY need to know about James Cook to know about modern NZ? Knowing it was once a British colony is kind of important though, seeing as it's still in the Commonwealth.