Out of interest, which bits of british history should kids be taught? i left school 20years ago, i seem to remember not being taught anything about modern history. It was taught chronologically starting with romans, maybe earlier and if you didn’t do GCSEs/A levels you didn’t do more modern history. What i know is through reading and talking about it.
So on the basis of time available, what matters? the Romans, Angles, William the Conqueror/Bastard, Magna Carta,Tudors/Bloody Mary, Lady Jane, the Cromwellian civil war, William and Mary, the Stuarts, georgians, victoria, the rise and fall of empire the commonwealth, the 50’s and 60’s? WW1 and WW2, it is fair to say the UK has a vast history, but should we limit history to merely ours? should it be extended to included those countries that have suffered/benefitted, or even further? Do we need to know why there are Ghurkas in the british army and why they are treated differently to those in the Indian Army?
Just seems to me that in some ways whilst kids should know about the second world war, is it the most crucial point in our history, how do you give it context, WW2 is in part the result of WW1 which is the result of the alliances set up through treaties and marriages between royal families.
How many people are taught about the slave trade, the reason why so many Caribbean’s came to the UK after the war, why Indians came over in the ’70’s etc.