One should always study one's own history, if for no other reason than to know where one came from. Wasn't it Paul Gauaghin who asked the three questions: Who am I?, Where did I come from? and Where am I going? You can't know any one of the answers without knowledge of the others. I teach history in Canada. The curriculum isn't terribly interesting, not because history isn't interesting, but because we make the kids learn so many irrelevant 'facts' rather than teaching them to be critical thinkers. It is much more important to understand the 'why' of where we are rather than just the 'how' we got here. The how is important too, but most History courses still focus too much on names and dates.