The president had plans drafted for the nuclear option and non-nuclear invasion option. He went with the former because it'd simultaneously minimize American, Japanese, and Russian casulties. About 200,000 perished in the atomic bombings, while 5 - 10 million Japanese were expected to perish if an invasion of the islands happened -- the geography meant there was only really one way to do it and that's where Japan allocated its remaining forces. So, yeah, our schools cover the rationale for the bombings.

Sure, there were probably other factors the president considered. (E.g. competition with Russia and the division of Japanese technology, like their submarine aircraft carriers.) But, it'd be difficult to choose the non-nuclear option based on expected casulty counts alone. What do they teach in your schools? That Americans just wanted to kill Japanese for no real reason?