I think there is too much importance placed on the 'history of great men and nations'/internationalist, and also for some, marxist/socialist history - both of which imo are often dull as ditchwater.
E.g. learning at A level about dictatorships in the inter war period in EUrope - fascinating subject but was bored to tears by it. It's just learning names, dates, treaties, laws etc etc.
Yes you do need some of that to make sense of the whole, but how about making it about people? People and how they thought differently and how they lived differently etc etc. Make it human, not dry and boring.
Also you tend to learn about a small part of history in alot of depth. And repeat it again and again. In my whole school career I did Tudors (briefly), Romans, World War 1, Cowboys and Indians (American West), THe entire history of the IRish conflicts (in one term - yeah, we really understood and retained all of that complicated, incrediably long period), and the history of medicine. And dictators.
We weren't taught how these bits fitted together (to get an overview). And the subjects were made as dull as possible.
And of course there was the fact that most people who take history have to drop geography by GCSE, so at uni we were all lost without a map - which is great when you are studying the exploration of the world by europeans.