Schools are told to teach history properly

[Still Waters]

Winston Churchill will be restored to the national curriculum as schools are ordered to teach children about Britain’s history.

The national curriculum for history, to be published by Education Secretary Michael Gove next week, will give all children aged seven to 14 a clear narrative of the major events between the Bronze Age and the present day.

http://www.dailymail...y-properly.html

[stevewinn]

Winston Churchill will be restored to the national curriculum as schools are ordered to teach children about Britain’s history.

The national curriculum for history, to be published by Education Secretary Michael Gove next week, will give all children aged seven to 14 a clear narrative of the major events between the Bronze Age and the present day.

http://www.dailymail...y-properly.html

i myself learnt very little about British history in school. i can remember being told about the romans and the second world war. including the industrial revolution but it was dominated by American History for some strange reason, in our GCSE' exams we had two choices. one was the Vietnam war and the other was prohibition in the US in the 1920's/30's plus the wall street crash. very little or no mention of the Empire days.

i bet most of the children today dont have a clue who, Sir Francis Drake was or Horatio Nelson, i bet most think the battle of Trafalgar was played out in the fountain in Trafalgar square. kids should be learning everything about he United Kingdom. lightly touch on the Iron age bronze age etc.... but the real history should be taught from about the 1200's onwards. covering every single thing. which would include some great school trips out. and experience all the living history. stand where Isambard Kingdom Brunel stood. sit in the war rooms where Winston Churchill surveyed the war, see the specimens Charles Darwin brought back, feel the quill William Shakespeare wrote with and it goes on and on, Issac Newton. Alfred the Great, King Aurthur, Alexander Graham Bell, Boudicca, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Dickens, King Edward I, Edward Elgar, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Alexander Fleming, Owain Glyndwr, Stephen Hawking, King Henry II, King Henry V, King Henry VIII, Edward Jenner, T E Lawrence, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Paine, sir Walter Raleigh, King Richard III, Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Marie Stopes, Queen Victoria tim Bernres-Lee, William Wallace, Barnes Wallis, james Watt, Duke of Wellington, Frank Whittle, William Wilberforce, R.J Michell. these are the sort of people we should be learning about in schools.

Edited July 6, 2013 by stevewinn

[SolarPlexus]

You Brits have a rich history, and you ought to do more and more to teach the young about it. I hope my country was more like that ...

[Zaphod222]

Winston Churchill will be restored to the national curriculum as schools are ordered to teach children about Britain’s history.

The national curriculum for history, to be published by Education Secretary Michael Gove next week, will give all children aged seven to 14 a clear narrative of the major events between the Bronze Age and the present day.

http://www.dailymail...y-properly.html

I hope that is true, but I am not holding my breath. Will correct history be taught about the Ottoman Empire, about the Moorish occupation of Spain, about the reconquista, about the Barbary Pirates, about the Greek fight for independence, about eh founding of Israel?

Teaching objective history will inflame certain clerics, and we all know that the government will avoid that at all costs.

[Commander CMG]

i myself learnt very little about British history in school. i can remember being told about the romans and the second world war. including the industrial revolution but it was dominated by American History for some strange reason, in our GCSE' exams we had two choices. one was the Vietnam war and the other was prohibition in the US in the 1920's/30's plus the wall street crash. very little or no mention of the Empire days.

i bet most of the children today dont have a clue who, Sir Francis Drake was or Horatio Nelson, i bet most think the battle of Trafalgar was played out in the fountain in Trafalgar square. kids should be learning everything about he United Kingdom. lightly touch on the Iron age bronze age etc.... but the real history should be taught from about the 1200's onwards. covering every single thing. which would include some great school trips out. and experience all the living history. stand where Isambard Kingdom Brunel stood. sit in the war rooms where Winston Churchill surveyed the war, see the specimens Charles Darwin brought back, feel the quill William Shakespeare wrote with and it goes on and on, Issac Newton. Alfred the Great, King Aurthur, Alexander Graham Bell, Boudicca, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Dickens, King Edward I, Edward Elgar, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Alexander Fleming, Owain Glyndwr, Stephen Hawking, King Henry II, King Henry V, King Henry VIII, Edward Jenner, T E Lawrence, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Paine, sir Walter Raleigh, King Richard III, Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Marie Stopes, Queen Victoria tim Bernres-Lee, William Wallace, Barnes Wallis, james Watt, Duke of Wellington, Frank Whittle, William Wilberforce, R.J Michell. these are the sort of people we should be learning about in schools.

I also was never taught anything about English history.. The spinning Jenny, The steam engine and the industrial revolution.. it bored me stupid. I wanted to learn about our Country and also other things like the Pyramids, etc.

[Space Commander Travis]

Winston Churchill will be restored to the national curriculum as schools are ordered to teach children about Britain’s history.

The national curriculum for history, to be published by Education Secretary Michael Gove next week, will give all children aged seven to 14 a clear narrative of the major events between the Bronze Age and the present day.

http://www.dailymail...y-properly.html

...but it sounds, as British history invariably is, very heavily slanted towards the 20th c. I suppose that historu teaching will primarily consist of going on & on about the Nazis interminably once again, as usual.

Edited July 8, 2013 by Colonel Rhuairidh

[TSS]

I consider myself really lucky, because I had a fantastic history teacher, really enthusiastic and he made every lesson like a real boys-own adventure. For example, my interest in explorers came from one of his lessons when he started off talking about how difficult the moon landings were in the 60's, then said we are now going to plan to do the Edwardian equivilant - Shackletons Nimrod expedition...and without any knowledge of the expedition we had to plan what we'd take...then the next lesson he would tell us a few details (like the size of the ice shelf etc) and we had to rejig our plans and list of equipment etc....then he got us to write down all we had listed and crossed off anything that wouldn't have been available to them (like crampons etc)...and we had to re-do it again.....every lesson was fun though, but at the end (because we didn't know the story) he's put some moral spin on it, so in the Nimrod case it was to choose whether to go on with only 91 miles to go to make history, or turn back to save your men (as Shackleton did)..

He did this with pretty much every subject we touched on.....brilliant teacher, best I ever had in any subject.

[keithisco]

...but it sounds, as British history invariably is, very heavily slanted towards the 20th c. I suppose that historu teaching will primarily consist of going on & on about the Nazis interminably once again, as usual.

No idea what you are talking about... the History (written) of Britain is heavily steeped in detail going back 2000 or more years. Whilst not ignoring the 1st and 2nd World Wars (it would be a crime to do so), there are so many events and tribulations, amazing advances in Engineering and Medicine (which the world enjoys today), Literature, Philosophy, 1215 (I will leave it to you to look that reference up - but thank God it happened).

As a child I remember well my parents taking us to Corfe Castle, Kimmeridge, Weymouth (some great stories about Naval Captains dying in conflict being pickled in Brandy and Rum Barrels to preserve them), Offas Dyke (Wales) the ffestiniog railway, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Bristol (IKB), Stonehenge, Avebury, Silbury Hill, Greenwich, The Cutty Sark,.. the list truly is endless.

The History of the UK is so diverse, so rich, that there is no acceptable reason for not making it the most wonderful subject to study.

I have been to many, many countries in the World but (IMO) much of their Historical "Great" moments have not continued into the recent timeline (Italy (Roman), Greece, Spain, France, China, Indonesia, germany, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia etc)

As Stevewinn rightly says, the sites of much of UK History are still apparent today, and School Trips to these would certainly make a "Dry" subject (historically ) a wonderful voyage of discovery... because you can still connect with the peoples that made History

[Space Commander Travis]

No idea what you are talking about... the History (written) of Britain is heavily steeped in detail going back 2000 or more years. Whilst not ignoring the 1st and 2nd World Wars (it would be a crime to do so), there are so many events and tribulations, amazing advances in Engineering and Medicine (which the world enjoys today), Literature, Philosophy, 1215 (I will leave it to you to look that reference up - but thank God it happened).

As a child I remember well my parents taking us to Corfe Castle, Kimmeridge, Weymouth (some great stories about Naval Captains dying in conflict being pickled in Brandy and Rum Barrels to preserve them), Offas Dyke (Wales) the ffestiniog railway, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Bristol (IKB), Stonehenge, Avebury, Silbury Hill, Greenwich, The Cutty Sark,.. the list truly is endless.

The History of the UK is so diverse, so rich, that there is no acceptable reason for not making it the most wonderful subject to study.

I have been to many, many countries in the World but (IMO) much of their Historical "Great" moments have not continued into the recent timeline (Italy (Roman), Greece, Spain, France, China, Indonesia, germany, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia etc)

As Stevewinn rightly says, the sites of much of UK History are still apparent today, and School Trips to these would certainly make a "Dry" subject (historically ) a wonderful voyage of discovery... because you can still connect with the peoples that made History

I'm very sorry you have no idea what I'm, talking about, but if it helps at all, what I'm talking about is exactly what you're talking about, that there is a whole lot more British history than just going about the 20th c. and the Nazis and Churchill.

[spud the mackem]

Brits,French,Spanish,Portuguese,Dutch and other European Countries,changed the world historically.Today will be History tomorrow so let us try and keep on changing for the better.

[Piney]

Being both a "Old Line Quaker" from the Salem Colony and a Nanticoke Indian I knew my local history like the back of my hand by the time I was 15 Since my religious denomination and my ethnic group wasn't involved in the American Revolution I have no interest nor have I learned much about it but I learned about the Quakers work during both World Wars and about our involvement in the Underground Railroad.

I learned a lot of English history from my Quaker Grandfather, who was from Yorkshire. I learned about local history from my Quaker Grandmother and my Aunt, whose family had been in New Jersey since 1675. I love pre-1700 U.K. and European history and local history, but I don't care for American history outside of my "sphere".

I actually wish they would start teaching real science here in the States and not let themselves be influenced by all these fringe Evangelical nutjobs.

[TopToffee]

i myself learnt very little about British history in school. i can remember being told about the romans and the second world war. including the industrial revolution but it was dominated by American History for some strange reason, in our GCSE' exams we had two choices. one was the Vietnam war and the other was prohibition in the US in the 1920's/30's plus the wall street crash. very little or no mention of the Empire days.

i bet most of the children today dont have a clue who, Sir Francis Drake was or Horatio Nelson, i bet most think the battle of Trafalgar was played out in the fountain in Trafalgar square. kids should be learning everything about he United Kingdom. lightly touch on the Iron age bronze age etc.... but the real history should be taught from about the 1200's onwards. covering every single thing. which would include some great school trips out. and experience all the living history. stand where Isambard Kingdom Brunel stood. sit in the war rooms where Winston Churchill surveyed the war, see the specimens Charles Darwin brought back, feel the quill William Shakespeare wrote with and it goes on and on, Issac Newton. Alfred the Great, King Aurthur, Alexander Graham Bell, Boudicca, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Dickens, King Edward I, Edward Elgar, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Alexander Fleming, Owain Glyndwr, Stephen Hawking, King Henry II, King Henry V, King Henry VIII, Edward Jenner, T E Lawrence, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Paine, sir Walter Raleigh, King Richard III, Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Marie Stopes, Queen Victoria tim Bernres-Lee, William Wallace, Barnes Wallis, james Watt, Duke of Wellington, Frank Whittle, William Wilberforce, R.J Michell. these are the sort of people we should be learning about in schools.

You didn't mention Fred Dibnah MBE

[questionmark]

Winston Churchill will be restored to the national curriculum as schools are ordered to teach children about Britain’s history.

The national curriculum for history, to be published by Education Secretary Michael Gove next week, will give all children aged seven to 14 a clear narrative of the major events between the Bronze Age and the present day.

http://www.dailymail...y-properly.html

In which version? (Cause what politicians call "history" is not even half of it).

[SilentHunter]

Winston Churchill will be restored to the national curriculum as schools are ordered to teach children about Britain’s history.

The national curriculum for history, to be published by Education Secretary Michael Gove next week, will give all children aged seven to 14 a clear narrative of the major events between the Bronze Age and the present day.

http://www.dailymail...y-properly.html

I find it extrodinary that in Britain you're not allowed to be British or be proud of being British otherwise you've got a problem.

How many empires existed and peoples were enslaved by Indian kingdoms? by Chinese kingdoms? by African kingdoms? by Muslim Kingdoms? By native American Kindgoms? etc, etc.

The answer is 100s. Yet for some reason we're being guilted into thinking we the British are the bad boys of the world. The Labour Party should be made illegal.

Edited November 25, 2013 by SilentHunter

[Space Commander Travis]

I find it extrodinary that in Britain you're not allowed to be British or be proud of being British otherwise you've got a problem.

How many empires existed and peoples were enslaved by Indian kingdoms? by Chinese kingdoms? by African kingdoms? by Muslim Kingdoms? By native American Kindgoms? etc, etc.

The answer is 100s. Yet for some reason we're being guilted into thinking we the British are the bad boys of the world. The Labour Party should be made illegal.

So being a one party state is the way to make Britain great again and reestablish patriotism and pride in being British?

[SilentHunter]

So being a one party state is the way to make Britain great again and reestablish patriotism and pride in being British?

Who said anything about banning the others?

[Space Commander Travis]

Who said anything about banning the others?

Oh, so UKIP and BNP should become the official opposition, then? That would be a really balanced political spectrum. Oh, the Greens as well, perhaps.

[skookum]

I always felt that history was taught to look at UK in a rather negative way. We learnt very little about the good things the UK brought to the world but concentrated on the slave trade and horrible incidents. I remember having to write a paper on the 'black hole of Calcutta'. All very depressing stuff, I didn't learn that the UK was instrumental in ending the slave trade till I left school, that part was left out.

The second world war seemed to concentrate on German technical superiority rather than the real cause and the rise of the Nazi party.

Edited November 28, 2013 by skookum