Why are the same periods of history always taught in school?
Jillstar
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I was watching "A History of Britain: By Simon Sharma" earlier and I found the details of the conflicts between England and Scotland,Ireland and Wales really interesting and also the other parts of medieval British history that have been mentioned.
It has made me think, why are the same periods of British history always taught in schools? I remember being taught about the Tudors (from Henry VII to Elizabeth I - mainly Henry VIII and Elizabeth I) countless times and of course the First and Second World War, but why are things like the creation of parliament and the history of our laws never taught?
I can completely understand why we are taught about the 2 world wars as they are still relatively modern history, terrible atrocities and there is a lot of primary sources (e.g. film footage, interviews with veterans and survivors etc...) to back it up and create interest.
But with the Tudors, apart from the creation of the Church of England, the issues around heirs and with Elizabeth I being one of the most formidable queens in British history, what else is there of major importance when compared with other points in history?
Why don't we learn more about things like the Magna Carta, the Unification of Great Britain, the history of Parliament, the Civil War and the re-establishment of the monarchy?
Why aren't we given a broader view of history and taught about the changes in our laws and customs?
It has made me think, why are the same periods of British history always taught in schools? I remember being taught about the Tudors (from Henry VII to Elizabeth I - mainly Henry VIII and Elizabeth I) countless times and of course the First and Second World War, but why are things like the creation of parliament and the history of our laws never taught?
I can completely understand why we are taught about the 2 world wars as they are still relatively modern history, terrible atrocities and there is a lot of primary sources (e.g. film footage, interviews with veterans and survivors etc...) to back it up and create interest.
But with the Tudors, apart from the creation of the Church of England, the issues around heirs and with Elizabeth I being one of the most formidable queens in British history, what else is there of major importance when compared with other points in history?
Why don't we learn more about things like the Magna Carta, the Unification of Great Britain, the history of Parliament, the Civil War and the re-establishment of the monarchy?
Why aren't we given a broader view of history and taught about the changes in our laws and customs?
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Comments
If you're interested in reading about the Wars of the Roses, Philippa Gregory has written several excellent books which are based on the historical facts. I would think that many history teachers hope that their students will continue to study in their own time which is now much easier.
We were force fed endless boring facts about Robert Walpole.
Probably because it would be spread too thinly to make it a useful academic subject? Students need to learn how to study and answer exam questions in some depth on a limited number of topics, the aim isn't really to give them good general knowledge.
History at school was all about:
Romans (central heating)
Saxons (mainly how they farmed and left fields lying fallow)
Victorians (Workshop of the World and Empire Was Bad, mmm'kay, We Enslaved Black People!),
Tudors (wives, beheadings, Protestants)
Nazis and the Blitz and Evacuee Children
And very little sense of how the UK as it is today came about. History is so much more interesting than this. It's sad.
Mine was a bit different.
Roman Britain
Norman Conquest
Wars of the Roses
English Civil Wars
Acts of Union
Industrial Revolution
(It ended here in the final term of my fourth year as I was transferred to a school overseas, but my former school friends said they were taught from thereon: )
British Empire
Ages of Technology
WWI
Vikings
Victorians
Egyptians
Wars of independence and the act of union
Agricultural revolution
Industrial revolution
First and Second World War
It was 25 - 30 years ago though, there must be more that I've forgotton.
Industrial Revolution
Tudors
Then Modern, wars etc.
We did:
Junior School:
Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome
The Tudors
The Victorians
Senior School (Pre-GCSE):
Ancient Rome
(and then a massive timeline jump to -)
The Norman Conquest
The English Civil War
Industrial Revolution
World War I
World War II
Irish War of Independence
GCSE:
The Liberal Reforms
The Suffragette Movement
The War Effort
The Treaty of Versailles
The League of Nations
The Rise of Hitler
Prohibition
The Great Depression
Roosevelt's New Deal
Nazi Germany
So pretty much the usual topics (apart from I've never heard of anyone else learning about the Irish War of Independence).
And in regards to the recent discovery of Richard III, we never did anything on the War Of The Roses, or anything on many monarchs in general really; if you weren't Edward the Confessor, Harold II, William I, a Tudor, Charles II, Cromwell or Victoria we weren't taught about you.
'During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14 were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England. In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women and children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to the highest bidder. In 1656, Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be taken to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers.'
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-irish-slave-trade-the-forgotten-white-slaves/31076
I wish we were taught real historical facts at school.
The Horrible Histories're nothing compared some of the history books I've got from Waterstones and The Works, llike what they used during the mummification process in Ancient Egypt, the books of Torture and execution methods, books on the Roman gladiators (don't ask about how a woman was executed involving a wooden cow and a rampant bull.
I like the darker side of history and what they didn't teach us in history lessons at school:eek::eek::eek::eek:
Actually, the actors in The Royal Armies do good reenactments and demonstrations.
Learning History seems more of a leisurely thing - dates and events. It just doesn't seem important.
Being a writer of fantasy fiction I find history/mythology books a good source of inspirartion, basic ideas like some of the torture sequences in my stories (and the people torturing the guards're supposed to be the good guys!!):eek::eek::eek:
Just think how effecti grenade launchers could be during a medieval seige style battle and pressurised steel beer gegs from pubs set to explode after being launched from giant catapults....
Doesn't really answer my question, with respect.
The Battle of Hastings in 1066 (first ever thing taught)
The Vikings and Romans
The Tudors
The Victorians
World War 1 and 2... peace treaties, Hitler, Stalin, New Deals, Prohibition, Flappers and Propaganda.
That's it.
I did all that at school but then Mummy and Daddy paid for those lessons.
I don't recall being taught liues,
Did you go to the same school as me?! I've often wondered why we're spoonfed these things, and of course the rewriting of history and all that springs to mind. Maybe it's all just what they want us to know, blur stuff out that doesn't matter to the agenda. Who knows lol.
History teaches you critical thinking. Part of the GCSE syllabus at least is learning to analyse the reliability of sources and to understand them in the wider context.
Plus, many of the biggest mistakes politicians make today are repeats of mistakes made years ago. If they paid attention to history they could avoid that.
I was never taught critical thinking within history, must be a new thing. If so I applaud it.
For example the same old subject of black slavery is always taught. But kids are never taught about the rampant white slavery that went on.
I think it has much more to do with the national curiculum than the subjects, the exams (gcse/A levels) must be worked toward throughout the child's school life, so teh subjects are more 'fixed' than 'flexable' this creates a rather narrow history study. I think teh ther factor is that the overall hope is that studying history in this way will stir the interest in teh student who will then go onto look at other parts of world history.
I would prefer that students learned more about subjects that created the Britian we 'have' today. industrial revolution, the two wars, prime ministers, law and rulers (kings queens) this kind of history shaped our country so I tend to think it helps us to understand why people feel and behave the way they do.