If one doesn’t understand some aspects of American and world history, once is at a serious disadvantage in functioning outside of the frum community (including having to talk to goyim, or do business with goyim). You will often make decisions and say things that make you appear foolish, and perhaps hostile. Consider: Knowing that the American economy has had frequent rises and collapses so that just since the economy is a mess (or not) it won’t stay that way; ability to do basic math in order to shop and pay bills, or calculate how much carpet you need to cover a room; knowing African Americans tend to have a “chip on their shoulder” (for similar reasons as most of us do, it has to do with history). A good argument could be made that we need a “frum” curriculum for secular studies focusing on what frum Jews need to know to function in the goyim’s world, but that’s a different issue.
