The State of State World History Standards 2006 Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
This is rather hefty reading for a gorgeous June Friday, but if you do punt, remember to come back!

Frankly, the analysis and conclusions don't really match with our approach here. Example: In Ohio,

Students are first exposed to world history in sixth grade with an introduction to Regions and People of the World, which is followed in seventh grade by "World Studies from 1000 B.C.E. to 1750: Ancient Civilizations Through the First Global Age." By the end of middle school, students are expected to describe the development of the earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, in addition to understanding the “enduring impact of early civilizations in China,Egypt,Greece and Rome
after 1000 BC.” Supporting detail is in short supply, however,and what exists remains vague. Specific references to aspects of Athenian democracy and the Roman republic, as well as the influence both cultures had on late forms of representative government, would be more useful.

Now, c'mon Doctors. Do you really think that the average sixth grader is learning anything this way? For that matter, do you think their teachers get this gibberish? Personally, that class had about as much meaning to me as memorizing Moscow train schedules.

The A in the class represented about 3 facts worth of retained learning. One of them was not "the influence of the culture on late forms of Representative government." Maybe, ...because we had no understanding at all of government.