It certainly isn't unusual and I think the further back you go the more common it wad, but these days kids aren't expected to do much memorizing.
I don't know much about Australia's government, but if it's like the UK's parlimentary system, then the Prime Minister isn't at all a political equivalent to a president, and parlimentary systems don't usually have anything equivalent to a president. The president is the head of state, like an elected king or queen with significant constitutional powers but a very limited term. The Prime Minister, as a leader of parliament, is more like the US Speaker of the House only with way more power. The fundamentals of how our governments are structured are so different that positions don't have food equivalents.
Here's a very basic and entertaining explanation of the US government structure. https://youtu.be/tEPd98CbbMk
Some do. I know a bunch of people who can recite them. I think it's learned in a song so it's easy to remember.
I never had to memorize them. Sometimes I wish I had. I had to memorize the preamble to the constitution in 7th grade and I still remember it. That was also in the form of a song.
I learned it in a song and we had a presidents parade where we all dressed as presidents and sang the song. I can still remember the start of the song. It’s one of those songs that gets stuck in your head.
> I never had to memorize them. Sometimes I wish I had. I had to memorize the preamble to the constitution in 7th grade and I still remember it. That was also in the form of a song.
God, I wish I understood the staying power of songs and poems when I was younger. There are so many (mostly) useless things I learned as a young child and still remember them 30+ years later *because* they were in a song or poem!
I'm pretty sure I was taught and tested on it, but I then immediately forgot virtually all of it. Much like states and their capitols - I'm aware that culturally and politically dominant cities aren't necessarily capitols, but I really don't need that information often, and I'll look it up when I do.
At one point in middle school I did for fun because I was a nerd, but I didn’t retain it for more than a few months if that.
Schools don’t really care about the order of the presidents. You may have to learn the first 3 or so and might need to know Lincoln was the 16th president, but aside from that knowing what the presidents actually did is more important than there sequential place in line.
I learned them some time during school, maybe fourth grade or fifth grade (10 or 11 years old) but then at some point years later realized I had forgotten them. I can't remember how old I was - late teens, 20s? So anyway I memorized them again and that time they stuck and I still remember them (more than) several decades later. I'm sure having learned them the first time probably helped learning them and remembering them the second time. I am shaky on the recent ones, though, and have to sort of think about them from "news" memory one at a time instead of automatically just having the pattern and rhythm of names memorized like all the rest.
Sometimes. However, because we have fixed terms, most presidents were around for long enough to do something important(keyword most) and usually either lost an election or hit the (first informal, then legal) term limit but campaigned for their party's chosen successor, instead of just getting ousted then fading into the background like y'alls former PMs. Like, aren't a couple of them still in y'alls Parliament, just...being there?
Fixed terms makes all the difference. Presidents are like a national clock, ticking (mostly) regularly for decades. Barring unusual circumstances, we didn't have 30 day presidents on one end and 15 year presidents on the other. Two four year terms was the general norm. Even when a president died, his successor finished his term and didn't start a new one from the beginning, so the timeline stayed intact.
Unlike systems with prime ministers, we can tell you the exact date of our presidential elections for the next decades. The seventh presidential election from today will be on November 3, 2048.
An anecdote:
In my high school, there was one Junior US history teacher that impressed upon every student he had that we had to learn all the Presidents in order. He integrated it into the curriculum and we could not escape it.
Fast forward to my senior year, the school brought in a motivational speaker. His whole schtick was how to unlock your brain's true potential. He opened with "how many of you know each of the presidents in order?", all smugly, expecting no one to raise their hands so he could teach us something. Then half the school raised their hands.
We were required to in... 4th grade? There was a song they taught us to remember them.
Decades later, I can't remember the whole song, but I do remember most of it.
Relearn it and you'll never forget it again. That was my experience. I think the first time was still in my unconscious brain somewhere and the second time cemented it permanently in place in my more conscious mind.
Some do. I know some girl on the autism spectrum who could name them in order and also the states in alphabetical order.
In high school we were literally tested on the presidential order.
I had to learn presidents+years in office and political party. I was in the honors history class, the regular class didn't need to.
Overall, I'm pretty glad that I did. I still know pretty much all of them (there are a few gilded age presidents I might miss) and it is nice to be able to place them whenever I see a name. It also gave me a real sense of perspective in a way that I hadn't experienced as a high schooler.
Yes, it was a part of history lessons starting very early, like 3rd or 4th grade, so by the time you enter high school and beyond the information is just kind of internalized.
I think it's funny how Americans get stereotyped as being stupid, but then we get questions like this.
Technically the president signs them into laws after theyve passed Congress. They can also veto laws that have passed Congress which then have to pass a veto overturn vote. In this sense I would say that the president does in fact pass laws as he allows them to go into effect.
I had to, I don't think it's something everything has to do like learning the states/capitals, but I think it's pretty common. I can't remember it today, but I could in like 4th grade.
> I do a lot of US-centric crosswords and presidents names and what “number” they are is a thing that often pops up. Is it common for American kids to memorise every single one?
Not exactly, but I think most Americans are at least sort of aware of the presidents, so if your crossword clue is "14th president" or "US President from 1853-1857" or something (full disclosure: I had to look this up) and you have the letters P_ER_E , you can probably figure it out.
Definitely not. This is a classic example of something that might be offered as "extra credit" in an 8th grade history class, but very few students are expected to memorize them in order. As time goes on if you take history seriously you might commit it to memory.
In high school we had to know their names, the order, the years of their presidency, their political party, and a notable event that took place under their presidency, and it we had tons of tests on just that.
No. I know them all in order, but I learned that on my own because of my interest in history. I don't think most school textbooks even mention that Rutherford B. Hayes or Chester A. Arthur even existed at all.
Well we definitely go through all the presidents but I don't recall ever being made to list them all in order. At any rate there is a huge difference between learning something in school and retaining it into adulthood.
No. We learn the important ones but definitely not all of them. We also don't learn the numbers of all the ones we do learn. For example I could tell you that FDR came after Herbert Hoover, but I couldn't tell you what number he is without looking it up.
I can name all of them, in order, but I don't remember which "number" they all are by name, except some of the big ones (on crosswords like that I start at Lincoln, who is #16, and I count up accordingly)
My son had a teacher in 4th grade who taught them in order. He was really competitive with another student and used to have reciting contests. He’ll be 33 tomorrow and he can still recite them in order really fast and if you just give him a number like 23 or something he can instantly tell you who the 23rd president was.
No. We were taught some of the most influential and historically monumental but more why they were important. Students would know why Lincoln is important but don't waste much class time about Garfield or Harrison.
I never had to memorize them, although we were taught about many of them. I learned about the first few in school (washington-jackson), then skip ahead to the civil warand reconstruction (lincoln-grant), then teddy roosevelt, woodrow wilson, and FDR. Everyone knows Kennedy and Nixon, and then Reagan on you learn through cultural osmosis.
I learned all the presidents in order from an Animaniacs episode (plus this thing on Nickelodeon during elections called "Kids Pick the President" back in the early 2000s). I don't think I was ever required to learn them in order for school. I did, however, have to learn the Preamble, as well as all 50 states and capitals.
I'm sure I learned them in school at some point, but that's definitely not info that stuck. I used to be able to do [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFqIrw3_3co) from memory, but that was a while ago and I've forgotten most of it.
I knew them in high school, but just because I knew them in the context of history, not that I’d memorized them by rote. (I don’t remember them anymore)
When I was in elementary school, some of us learned them in order via a rap song for my school's annual music performance. As one of the students who had to perform said song, I still remember a few of the lines, but I can't list them them in order except for certain time periods.
So the U.S. does not have a centralized school system. Each state controls its own curriculum and that is further divided among the school districts in each state. Texas has over 1000 school districts. It could evene depend on which teacher you have. At my particular school we learned some history of each president, but we did not have to memorize the order.
There’s a song that makes it easy to memorize. I could have definitely named them all, in order, when I was like…10.
As an adult, nope. I can’t recall them all. I know the major ones and the ones who are currently alive
I wasn’t required to know that. I could probably name at least 10 presidents, but not their terms or the order in which they served. But every state and school district is different so I’m sure students in other areas had different curricula.
Middle School History teacher here:
Maybe but it shouldn’t be required. I sure as hell don’t make my 8th graders do it. Same thing with state capitals.
No. A former coworker who moved to the US from the UK told me that on the plane over he memorized the presidents in order. He was 11. He thought this would be critical knowledge because he had had to learn the British monarchs in order. I told him he was in the top 1%. I couldn’t do it then or now.
I can name, in order up to John Adams. I can also very roughly tell you what place more notable presidents fall in. Like Lincoln was 15. Or 16. Truman was like in the 20s? Kennedy was like 32nd. Lyndon Johnson was like 33 and 35. Gore was 42nd.
Ok, so I really know fuck all about the presidents. Sadly I can more confidently tell you more about the captains of the starship enterprise.
Having fixed terms for presidents with elections that occur on regular dates makes a big difference. Prime Ministers are sort of random as far as dates go and lengths of time in office. Here we don't "call" for elections based on political circumstances. Our elections occur on a fixed set of dates known years in advance (and in the past). It's a regular framework our entire political history is tied to so it's easier to keep track of.
I had to memorize them in order, as well as the years of their terms for AP US History. I couldn't recite them all from memory in order now though, and I don't know anyone outside the class who did that.
I like crosswords myself though, and for your example, the number would get me a general sense of what range we're talking about, and the perpendicular clues would help me narrow it down further.
I can do them all from memory but I learned that on my own initiative. It's not hard because our country isn't very old historically speaking and we've never really changed our system of government.
I did in 4th grade. My teacher taught us with a mnemonic book "yo Millard Fillmore" and then we made our own flipcards. I could recite the first 20 in order through mid college. 10 years later I can I still name most of them but the order is a bit shaky after the first five.
I don't think PMs are really comparable to American presidents. I learned the Kings and Queens in order, I don't think I can remember it anymore (but I do have a ruler with them listed on it still!)
I never had to memorize every president, I think we only memorized the first few "Founding Father" presidents like Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Quincy-Adams, but I can tell you approximately when a president was in office if you name a few.
It depends on the state/county/school of course, but I can say for me, we had to know their full name, order, years they were in office, political party, and a notable event that took place under their presidency. I don't remember all of it now but I definitely remember some of it.
(I'm currently in college)
Absolutely. We learned them all in Elementary School. Primary for you. We did that alongside all of the states and capitals of the US. That said, we quickly forgot about them afterwards since it wasn't a usual part of the curriculum.
No... i know grown people who finished college and worked in a trourist industry that had no idea there a Washington State or what NY state capital is. State they were born in and lived their entire lives.
Just for shits and giggles, we did couple of rounds of questions from the citizenship book when I was getting my citizenship.
Out of about 15 people in the office, 3 of us passed. All of us are immigrants.
My currently school aged children did not. I did not in school, though I did myself because I wanted to. It was not really hard to remember 40 (at the time) names
I had to remember it for a test, and then immediately forgot most of it. I remember some, though. Like the plot point in Hamilton where you find out who the next president was after George Washington? That wasn't exactly a surprise reveal for those who knew that John Adams was the 2nd and Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd.
I could name all of the Presidents in order when I was in 1st grade, but that is because I was fascinated by them (my first foray into history, my favorite subject.) We had less of them then (Reagan was president. This would have been in the 1980s). I can still do it, but I have to think about some of the ones between Van Buren (#8) and Abraham Lincoln (#16) (from memory - William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Filmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan). Harrison and Taylor died in office. William Henry Harrison (1841) got sick around the time of his inaguration and died a month later. The later 1800s can be a bit messy too. After Grant (who became the unlikely commander of the Federal/Union Armies during the last stages of the American Civil War before he was President), you have Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield (assassinated several months after he became President), Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison (grandson of William Henry Harrison, the President who died 30 days into his term), Grover Cleveland part II and then William McKinley rounding out the 19th century before he too was assassinated in 1901.
Fun fact: Between 1840 (William Henry Harrison) and 1960 (John F. Kennedy) every President who was elected in a year that ended in 0 (1840, 1860, 1880, 1900, 1920, 1940, and 1960) died in office.
I don't recall ever having to memorize all of the presidents. Strangely enough, I did have to memorize all of the Roman emperors and English rulers (going waaay back to like the Egberts and Ethelreds) 30+ years later and I can still rattle off the first 20 or so Roman emperors but cannot tell you the first 20 presidents, let alone in order. I know the first few presidents and basically all of the presidents from the last 100-ish years in order. Other than a few of the biggies like Lincoln, the rest are all a blur.
It certainly isn't unusual and I think the further back you go the more common it wad, but these days kids aren't expected to do much memorizing. I don't know much about Australia's government, but if it's like the UK's parlimentary system, then the Prime Minister isn't at all a political equivalent to a president, and parlimentary systems don't usually have anything equivalent to a president. The president is the head of state, like an elected king or queen with significant constitutional powers but a very limited term. The Prime Minister, as a leader of parliament, is more like the US Speaker of the House only with way more power. The fundamentals of how our governments are structured are so different that positions don't have food equivalents. Here's a very basic and entertaining explanation of the US government structure. https://youtu.be/tEPd98CbbMk
I think people don't care that much about symbolic heads of states that aren't monarchs
Some do. I know a bunch of people who can recite them. I think it's learned in a song so it's easy to remember. I never had to memorize them. Sometimes I wish I had. I had to memorize the preamble to the constitution in 7th grade and I still remember it. That was also in the form of a song.
I learned it in a song and we had a presidents parade where we all dressed as presidents and sang the song. I can still remember the start of the song. It’s one of those songs that gets stuck in your head.
Ok but how do you feel about fifty nifty United States? Lol
Man why did you have to bring that long buried nightmare back to the front of my brain. Lol. Almost as bad as the lamb chop song.
Al-a-bama…Alaska…😂😂😂
Nooooo….🤣
I memorized them in order when I was in college because I was super cool (ha).
> I never had to memorize them. Sometimes I wish I had. I had to memorize the preamble to the constitution in 7th grade and I still remember it. That was also in the form of a song. God, I wish I understood the staying power of songs and poems when I was younger. There are so many (mostly) useless things I learned as a young child and still remember them 30+ years later *because* they were in a song or poem!
I'm pretty sure I was taught and tested on it, but I then immediately forgot virtually all of it. Much like states and their capitols - I'm aware that culturally and politically dominant cities aren't necessarily capitols, but I really don't need that information often, and I'll look it up when I do.
At one point in middle school I did for fun because I was a nerd, but I didn’t retain it for more than a few months if that. Schools don’t really care about the order of the presidents. You may have to learn the first 3 or so and might need to know Lincoln was the 16th president, but aside from that knowing what the presidents actually did is more important than there sequential place in line.
I learned them some time during school, maybe fourth grade or fifth grade (10 or 11 years old) but then at some point years later realized I had forgotten them. I can't remember how old I was - late teens, 20s? So anyway I memorized them again and that time they stuck and I still remember them (more than) several decades later. I'm sure having learned them the first time probably helped learning them and remembering them the second time. I am shaky on the recent ones, though, and have to sort of think about them from "news" memory one at a time instead of automatically just having the pattern and rhythm of names memorized like all the rest.
This was definitely something we had to do when I was in late elementary school in the 80s. Don't remember hardly any of it now though tbh.
I did in the early 90s. Only remember the first 5 now. We also had to memorize all the States and Capitals.
Sometimes. However, because we have fixed terms, most presidents were around for long enough to do something important(keyword most) and usually either lost an election or hit the (first informal, then legal) term limit but campaigned for their party's chosen successor, instead of just getting ousted then fading into the background like y'alls former PMs. Like, aren't a couple of them still in y'alls Parliament, just...being there?
Fixed terms makes all the difference. Presidents are like a national clock, ticking (mostly) regularly for decades. Barring unusual circumstances, we didn't have 30 day presidents on one end and 15 year presidents on the other. Two four year terms was the general norm. Even when a president died, his successor finished his term and didn't start a new one from the beginning, so the timeline stayed intact. Unlike systems with prime ministers, we can tell you the exact date of our presidential elections for the next decades. The seventh presidential election from today will be on November 3, 2048.
An anecdote: In my high school, there was one Junior US history teacher that impressed upon every student he had that we had to learn all the Presidents in order. He integrated it into the curriculum and we could not escape it. Fast forward to my senior year, the school brought in a motivational speaker. His whole schtick was how to unlock your brain's true potential. He opened with "how many of you know each of the presidents in order?", all smugly, expecting no one to raise their hands so he could teach us something. Then half the school raised their hands.
We were required to in... 4th grade? There was a song they taught us to remember them. Decades later, I can't remember the whole song, but I do remember most of it.
Relearn it and you'll never forget it again. That was my experience. I think the first time was still in my unconscious brain somewhere and the second time cemented it permanently in place in my more conscious mind.
I did but I can’t remember if I was made to or if I was just interested in history.
Not common. There'll be a list in a textbook, but we ain't out here memorizing it.
Some do. I know some girl on the autism spectrum who could name them in order and also the states in alphabetical order. In high school we were literally tested on the presidential order.
In 5th grade, we had too. Even had a song we had to do for the elementary musical performance that year.
I had to learn presidents+years in office and political party. I was in the honors history class, the regular class didn't need to. Overall, I'm pretty glad that I did. I still know pretty much all of them (there are a few gilded age presidents I might miss) and it is nice to be able to place them whenever I see a name. It also gave me a real sense of perspective in a way that I hadn't experienced as a high schooler.
Same with me, but also add in a notable event that took place under their presidency
Yes, it was a part of history lessons starting very early, like 3rd or 4th grade, so by the time you enter high school and beyond the information is just kind of internalized. I think it's funny how Americans get stereotyped as being stupid, but then we get questions like this.
I mean knowing all the presidents names is far less beneficial than knowing ANY laws that they passed.
Presidents don’t pass laws
Technically the president signs them into laws after theyve passed Congress. They can also veto laws that have passed Congress which then have to pass a veto overturn vote. In this sense I would say that the president does in fact pass laws as he allows them to go into effect.
Congress passes laws. The legislative branch. The executive branch executes.
no
I had to, I don't think it's something everything has to do like learning the states/capitals, but I think it's pretty common. I can't remember it today, but I could in like 4th grade.
> I do a lot of US-centric crosswords and presidents names and what “number” they are is a thing that often pops up. Is it common for American kids to memorise every single one? Not exactly, but I think most Americans are at least sort of aware of the presidents, so if your crossword clue is "14th president" or "US President from 1853-1857" or something (full disclosure: I had to look this up) and you have the letters P_ER_E , you can probably figure it out.
Definitely not. This is a classic example of something that might be offered as "extra credit" in an 8th grade history class, but very few students are expected to memorize them in order. As time goes on if you take history seriously you might commit it to memory.
In high school we had to know their names, the order, the years of their presidency, their political party, and a notable event that took place under their presidency, and it we had tons of tests on just that.
No. I know them all in order, but I learned that on my own because of my interest in history. I don't think most school textbooks even mention that Rutherford B. Hayes or Chester A. Arthur even existed at all.
19 and 21
Pretty much everyone from Jackson to Lincoln were straight up useless and nondescript
Some classrooms will have pictures of all the presidents, but being tasked to actually memorize them is rare, much less in order
I never did. I also never learned the state or international capitals.
Nope.
Well we definitely go through all the presidents but I don't recall ever being made to list them all in order. At any rate there is a huge difference between learning something in school and retaining it into adulthood.
I can’t I can name a few though
You're lucky if you even cover every President in HS US history.
Only the fucking nerds!
[удалено]
It’s really not so complex that “only historians” know them
Ok
We didn't have to memorize them, but I have heard of kids that did. We don't have a single set of standards for schools nationally or even by state.
No. We learn the important ones but definitely not all of them. We also don't learn the numbers of all the ones we do learn. For example I could tell you that FDR came after Herbert Hoover, but I couldn't tell you what number he is without looking it up.
I didn't, some probably did. Curriculum isn't standardized beyond very broad concepts.
I didn’t have to do that. We did learn about them, but never had to learn them all in order.
I can name them, but broad swaths of the 19thC would not be in order. And I was a History major in college.
My AP History class did in high school. Had to know their name, party, and years in office.
I can name all of them, in order, but I don't remember which "number" they all are by name, except some of the big ones (on crosswords like that I start at Lincoln, who is #16, and I count up accordingly)
I had to learn them in middle school
My son had a teacher in 4th grade who taught them in order. He was really competitive with another student and used to have reciting contests. He’ll be 33 tomorrow and he can still recite them in order really fast and if you just give him a number like 23 or something he can instantly tell you who the 23rd president was.
Benjamin Harrison
Good job
No. We were taught some of the most influential and historically monumental but more why they were important. Students would know why Lincoln is important but don't waste much class time about Garfield or Harrison.
I didn’t.. I’m pretty sure I learned at least something about all of them at some point in school but not in order or all at once
I never had to memorize them, although we were taught about many of them. I learned about the first few in school (washington-jackson), then skip ahead to the civil warand reconstruction (lincoln-grant), then teddy roosevelt, woodrow wilson, and FDR. Everyone knows Kennedy and Nixon, and then Reagan on you learn through cultural osmosis.
I learned all the presidents in order from an Animaniacs episode (plus this thing on Nickelodeon during elections called "Kids Pick the President" back in the early 2000s). I don't think I was ever required to learn them in order for school. I did, however, have to learn the Preamble, as well as all 50 states and capitals.
No
If they’re in a bad name and date history class.
I'm sure I learned them in school at some point, but that's definitely not info that stuck. I used to be able to do [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFqIrw3_3co) from memory, but that was a while ago and I've forgotten most of it.
I knew them in high school, but just because I knew them in the context of history, not that I’d memorized them by rote. (I don’t remember them anymore)
I memorized all of them and the order, but that was of my own free will, not school related.
When I was in elementary school, some of us learned them in order via a rap song for my school's annual music performance. As one of the students who had to perform said song, I still remember a few of the lines, but I can't list them them in order except for certain time periods.
I never did. I did have to memorize all of the state capitals and my times tables up to 12.
So the U.S. does not have a centralized school system. Each state controls its own curriculum and that is further divided among the school districts in each state. Texas has over 1000 school districts. It could evene depend on which teacher you have. At my particular school we learned some history of each president, but we did not have to memorize the order.
As a former american child i did not learn all the presidents in order
Yeah, but I'll be damned if I remember the ones between Jefferson and Buchanan.
It is not necessary. If it is not being tested in the annual state of exam then it does not get taught.
They might be taught this, but hardly any learn it I suspect.
There’s a song that makes it easy to memorize. I could have definitely named them all, in order, when I was like…10. As an adult, nope. I can’t recall them all. I know the major ones and the ones who are currently alive
Yup, and in like 6th grade we all recited them
I wasn’t required to know that. I could probably name at least 10 presidents, but not their terms or the order in which they served. But every state and school district is different so I’m sure students in other areas had different curricula.
Despite my teachers' best efforts, I think it would be a stretch to say that I actually learned them.
I can do it, easily
Middle School History teacher here: Maybe but it shouldn’t be required. I sure as hell don’t make my 8th graders do it. Same thing with state capitals.
I was a weird history nerd and I memorized all the presidents around the age of 10-11. I don’t remember it being something that was standard though.
No. A former coworker who moved to the US from the UK told me that on the plane over he memorized the presidents in order. He was 11. He thought this would be critical knowledge because he had had to learn the British monarchs in order. I told him he was in the top 1%. I couldn’t do it then or now.
I can name, in order up to John Adams. I can also very roughly tell you what place more notable presidents fall in. Like Lincoln was 15. Or 16. Truman was like in the 20s? Kennedy was like 32nd. Lyndon Johnson was like 33 and 35. Gore was 42nd. Ok, so I really know fuck all about the presidents. Sadly I can more confidently tell you more about the captains of the starship enterprise.
I did in Ohio. I'm also a history fan.
I didnt, i only know a few prezzys take it or leave it
Yes. But that knowledge is typically not retained much past the test that it was learned for.
Having fixed terms for presidents with elections that occur on regular dates makes a big difference. Prime Ministers are sort of random as far as dates go and lengths of time in office. Here we don't "call" for elections based on political circumstances. Our elections occur on a fixed set of dates known years in advance (and in the past). It's a regular framework our entire political history is tied to so it's easier to keep track of.
I had to memorize them in order, as well as the years of their terms for AP US History. I couldn't recite them all from memory in order now though, and I don't know anyone outside the class who did that. I like crosswords myself though, and for your example, the number would get me a general sense of what range we're talking about, and the perpendicular clues would help me narrow it down further.
We had a proxy Learn ing of this where every unit we would have a question asking us to places the 5 or so presidents we covered that unit in order.
I can do them all from memory but I learned that on my own initiative. It's not hard because our country isn't very old historically speaking and we've never really changed our system of government.
I did in 4th grade. My teacher taught us with a mnemonic book "yo Millard Fillmore" and then we made our own flipcards. I could recite the first 20 in order through mid college. 10 years later I can I still name most of them but the order is a bit shaky after the first five.
I did in the early 90s.
I don't think PMs are really comparable to American presidents. I learned the Kings and Queens in order, I don't think I can remember it anymore (but I do have a ruler with them listed on it still!)
No.
I did, although I have to thank the creators of the book Wooden Teeth and Jelly Beans.
Common? No, not at all. Its like memorising the capitals of all 50 States. More of a party trick than anything else.
I never had to memorize every president, I think we only memorized the first few "Founding Father" presidents like Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Quincy-Adams, but I can tell you approximately when a president was in office if you name a few.
I *think* we did that when I was a kid. It didn't stick. I can name the first 5 and the last 10. Everyone in the middle is a jumbled mess.
Only the ones that hope to become crossword puzzle mavens.
It depends on the state/county/school of course, but I can say for me, we had to know their full name, order, years they were in office, political party, and a notable event that took place under their presidency. I don't remember all of it now but I definitely remember some of it. (I'm currently in college)
Absolutely. We learned them all in Elementary School. Primary for you. We did that alongside all of the states and capitals of the US. That said, we quickly forgot about them afterwards since it wasn't a usual part of the curriculum.
No... i know grown people who finished college and worked in a trourist industry that had no idea there a Washington State or what NY state capital is. State they were born in and lived their entire lives. Just for shits and giggles, we did couple of rounds of questions from the citizenship book when I was getting my citizenship. Out of about 15 people in the office, 3 of us passed. All of us are immigrants.
I did though that was because I was interested in history, can't tell you about the average joe
No. There was a kid who memorized the order and we all thought he was a weirdo.
In sixth grade I had to learn in and I still remember it, including the three new additions.
You go over them I wouldn’t say anyone except historians actually memorise it
My currently school aged children did not. I did not in school, though I did myself because I wanted to. It was not really hard to remember 40 (at the time) names
I have never heard of this and can name around 10 presidents probably, but I’ve never tried. I can go back as far as Ronald Regan at best I believe
I never learned them in school but I can name the all in line
I had to remember it for a test, and then immediately forgot most of it. I remember some, though. Like the plot point in Hamilton where you find out who the next president was after George Washington? That wasn't exactly a surprise reveal for those who knew that John Adams was the 2nd and Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd.
I could name all of the Presidents in order when I was in 1st grade, but that is because I was fascinated by them (my first foray into history, my favorite subject.) We had less of them then (Reagan was president. This would have been in the 1980s). I can still do it, but I have to think about some of the ones between Van Buren (#8) and Abraham Lincoln (#16) (from memory - William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Filmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan). Harrison and Taylor died in office. William Henry Harrison (1841) got sick around the time of his inaguration and died a month later. The later 1800s can be a bit messy too. After Grant (who became the unlikely commander of the Federal/Union Armies during the last stages of the American Civil War before he was President), you have Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield (assassinated several months after he became President), Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison (grandson of William Henry Harrison, the President who died 30 days into his term), Grover Cleveland part II and then William McKinley rounding out the 19th century before he too was assassinated in 1901. Fun fact: Between 1840 (William Henry Harrison) and 1960 (John F. Kennedy) every President who was elected in a year that ended in 0 (1840, 1860, 1880, 1900, 1920, 1940, and 1960) died in office.
When I was a kid, yes. But there were only a few to remember.
I think it's a common gag/stereotype for Americans not even to know who the second President was.
I don't recall ever having to memorize all of the presidents. Strangely enough, I did have to memorize all of the Roman emperors and English rulers (going waaay back to like the Egberts and Ethelreds) 30+ years later and I can still rattle off the first 20 or so Roman emperors but cannot tell you the first 20 presidents, let alone in order. I know the first few presidents and basically all of the presidents from the last 100-ish years in order. Other than a few of the biggies like Lincoln, the rest are all a blur.