Ironically, my US education was just as bad about modern events. 4th grade we covered the American revolution. 5th was American revolution and civil war. Each year covered the previous material with (a little) more depth, yet I had WW I twice and WW II and Korea once (12th grade). Vietnam wasn't covered at all, much less anything since then. And I went to a GOOD high school. I fear what poor ones teach.
Not that Vietnam or the WW II aftermath is at all relevant to modern politics. /s
It all depends on the State. New York mandates a certain number of hours to cover the Irish Potato Famine, but of course there is little/no context to it.
I had some great high school history teachers who pushed the envelope on diverging from the standard crap. By the time my brother got to high school, those guys retired, and the Global Studies Africa unit consisted of a day about slave hunters and watching Shaka Zulu.
A brief reference to Gandi sufficed as the history of India. One of my brothers' buddies gave a presentation about what they learned that year with a slide that said "Gandi thought that salt cost too much".
Not that Vietnam or the WW II aftermath is at all relevant to modern politics. /s