Hi Feltwad,
I grew up in Iowa. Back then American History was still a required subject in High School for one semester. (They stopped requiring that some time ago, though.)
Looking back, we were taught a fairly neutral look at the Mason/Dixon line and the UnCivil War, though from the Northern perspective.
However, at the same time here in Virginia and other Southron States, they were teaching the UnCivil War in greater detail and of course from the Southron Viewpoint.
This leads me to a story from my American History Class.
It was not required, but for extra credit, we could do a 20 minute talk on anything in American History. So I decided to do mine on the UnCivil War and on what a "generic battle" would entail and I did it from a SOUTHRON viewpoint. This because my ancestor had fought for the South and moved to Iowa after the War.
OK, so before school day officially began; I hauled into the classroom an original musket, our family sword, the huge scale drawing I had made of a 12 lb Napoleon gun, some other large drawings and books. Took me two trips from the car as I got help on the second trip.
My History Teacher was so impressed, he asked me if I would give my presentation to all three American History Classes that day. I said I would be glad to, but had to be excused from Band and a couple other classes. Imagine the History Teacher and I going up to the Band Director and asking to miss Band Practice that day, along with the teachers from the other classes? They all agreed.
I had not timed my presentation down to the minute, but I knew I had more than enough material for 20 minutes. As it turned out, the Teacher said to use as much time as I wanted. I was surprised my presentation took most of the period and the question/answer period took the rest of the period. After the first presentation, he congratulated me and thought of more questions for the Q/A part of the last two presentations.
I got so much extra credit from that single day, it elevated my grade from a B Plus to a straight A for the entire semester. Considering how it took me only a couple weekends to do it all, that was very nice for the grade point average.
Gus