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Robert John
Joined: 31 Aug 2005 |
Posts: 205 |
Location: The Netherlands |
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 11:41 am |
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Diagralex,
You are absolutely right.
Not so long ago I was reading a book about Wilson Winereh,s [ I hope I,ve spelt his surname correctly, Dawn!] all conquering All Blacks of the 1960,s.
I asked my son if he knew who he was and he said " Oh yes, he was a President of the U.S.A." Suitably impressed I thought I,d give it another go and asked "Have you ever heard of, probably the greatest foofballer of all time, George Best" and sat back to wait for the correct answer.
"Of course I have" he said sarcastically "he was one of The Beatles"
I couldn,t even be bothered to explain to him!!
Robert
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_________________ R J Jones
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tony.ashford.@ntlworld,co
Joined: 02 Sep 2005 |
Posts: 41 |
Location: Lenton, Nottingham |
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:34 pm |
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Hi all,
I'm a retired teacher, of primary children, and I taught history, mostly Tudor and Victorian, though often I included history in other topics (eg, a topic on National Days included Nelson.) I did in fact mention the sainted Durnford in my topic on Victorian wars- am I the only one who has?? Of course, as one who has always had a deep interest in all peroids of history, I always tried to give as full and rounded a picture as possible, but I have to say that in my experience history now is not looked on as of major importance in schools and it is true that many are not taught what we older generation might consider the essentials in our history which should include all political, military and social events of significance, as well as major individuals who contributed. I do agree also that few children are not now aware of the chronology of our history as topics are not necessarily taught in chronological order. There is also the modern spectre of political correctness to be taken into account - but that's another question!
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Dawn
Joined: 31 Aug 2005 |
Posts: 610 |
Location: Auckland, New Zealand |
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 3:15 am |
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However, what is encouraging is that historical fiction for children is trendy at the moment, the next big thing after wizards, apparently. Scholastic in particular have a "My Story" series that appears to be popular with the kids. Subjects so far have included Agincourt, Crimea, Trafalgar and Zulu War, amongst others. This, it seems, is a way to generate interest and educate at the same time. So all is not lost...yet!
Dawn
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Peter Ewart
Joined: 31 Aug 2005 |
Posts: 1797 |
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England. |
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 6:52 pm |
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Crikey - my little (or not so little) cri de coeur appears to have struck a chord. It is reassuring that there are others who worry about the state of our history curriculum, especially the place of British history in the whole picture. In the space of a couple of generations, it seems to me that we have suddenly lost a 2,000 old history which has somehow gone missing.
There may be a mixture of reasons but underlying everything is the feeling that if the powers-that-be had their way, no British history at all would be taught. I believe it is because we live in "anti-imperialist" times (a good thing for this day and age, obviously) and that the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater as far as the approach to our own history is concerned. I am 100% in favour of studying, at last, how it really felt for those on the other side of the fence, as it were - Bantu, Indian, Burmese, Maori or whoever - but not to ignore the whole picture from the British side. With this, has come the idea that all British history must therefore have been taught "inappropriately" in the past and should therefore be left alone.
Today, plenty of time is spent on both world wars (which were once never touched, so I suppose something has to give tomake room) and in the last year or so my sons have completed projects on the Western Front (including the obligatory Tyne Cot visit), the Home Front in the last war (primary school, including a visit to the IWM) and I must admit both schools were full of encouragment for these. My elder son is writing an essay on Journey's End at this very moment. But, other than the world wars, which are quite prominent in the curriculum these days, and the primary school Roman, Tudor and Victorian "projects", I still despair of the huge gap that will be left in the chronological framework from, say, 1066 to 1914 by the time they leave school. There were certainly gaps in my day but it seem like one big gap today!
I suppose new subjects (IT etc) have crowded out some of the history taught; "social" history has completely taken over from "political" history. Hence the big projects about how people lived, which are praisworthy in themselves, but surely we should still know, at the very least, about the importance of Gladstone's and Disraeli's tussles; the many wars of expansion against the French (let alone 1794-1815!); the Glorious Revolution; the Civil War & Interregnum; Qn Elizabeth's action-packed reign; the interminable intrigues of the Wars of the Roses; the 100 Years War and the Crusades, as well as a certain Norman duke? Not to mention an empire on which the sun never set? Perhaps there's simply too much? It must be so easy for the Yanks, Rich, although such a brief and recent period can only ever be regarded as current affairs over here!!!
When I was 8 to 9, my primary school teacher was a dangerously violent psychopath - how he didn't kill any of us I'll never know, as he left many a mark on head, face & backside and certainly drew blood - but once a week he calmly sat us down and told us a story, mostly from British history. This thread has now begun to remind me how many topics he covered in a simple way for us: Caractacus; Alfred & the cakes; the oath which the Normans extracted from Edward the Confessor; Harold & the arrow; the Princes in the Tower; Columbus' voyages; Drake & the Armada; Raleigh, tobacco & spuds; Clive of India's three suicide attempts; the Black Hole of Calcutta; Wolfe at Quebec & his dying words; the Boston Tea Party; Nelson & Trafalgar (those glinting medals & more dying words!) & Florence Nightingale.
Simple stuff for 8 & 9 year olds which wouldn't pass muster in many ways today, but why can't these stories or ones like them be taught today? To 8 and 9 year olds, I mean. Looking back, I now suspect a love of history was sparked in these simple stories - and it was also a brief respite from the cane, the yard ruler & the palm of his hand!!!
Have been too long again - and the Stade de France beckons!
Peter
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