Britons ignorant of UK history
- Thread starter The Master™
- Start date
Lacedaemonian
A Plume of Smoke
Natural stigmas. All they are doing is adding more ammo to shoot them down. West coast American Dykes have a lot to answer for!
Tsujigiri
Waiting at the Crossroads
Ah....I occasionally teach children....
Fantastic...
Yet further proof that we are sliding inexorably into barbarism......
Will the last person vacating education please turn off the light...yes....that's right....it's the big glowing thing...no...not that....that's the sun you can't turn that out....ah...also no...that's the moon....
Fantastic...
Yet further proof that we are sliding inexorably into barbarism......
Will the last person vacating education please turn off the light...yes....that's right....it's the big glowing thing...no...not that....that's the sun you can't turn that out....ah...also no...that's the moon....
Lacedaemonian
A Plume of Smoke
Funny. 
Alexa
traveller space dreamer
I believe a teacher has the power to make you love or hate his class. My history teacher was in love with history, especially the antiquity period. So, she made me love this period, too. On the contrary, all my maths profs were there without really knowing to explain their lessons and they gave us very difficult exercices in the exam periods. The result was I always hated maths.
A teacher into a class where his only purpose is the salary at the end of the month or to have a job of any kind, should be directed to another domain of activity.
A teacher into a class where his only purpose is the salary at the end of the month or to have a job of any kind, should be directed to another domain of activity.
Tsujigiri
Waiting at the Crossroads
A good teacher is important, unfortunately they are few and far between and with the rise in moronic classroom behavious amongst children it is very easy for that passion to become lost in an apathy of being unable to control a class.
All my students are private so I have much more control over the situation that a school teacher.
As for a salary at the end of the month, I think that is what the government are trying to encourage int he UK at the moment due toa shortfall of teachers.
All my students are private so I have much more control over the situation that a school teacher.
As for a salary at the end of the month, I think that is what the government are trying to encourage int he UK at the moment due toa shortfall of teachers.
polymorphikos
Scrofulous Fig-Merchant
I'm going to be a teacher. I'm signed-up for courses and everything.
The landscape of the future is a bleak and rainswept place.
The landscape of the future is a bleak and rainswept place.
Winters_Sorrow
Well-Known Member
Cambridge is a nice place (lived there for a few years) but it has it's fair share of idiots too.
There's a "performance artist" who walks (or did when I was there) up and down Mill Road with various objects tied to his head - my favourite was a loaf of bread.
I'm not making this up!!
But there's plenty of chav's (not sure if that will translate to the yanks) in all major cities in the Uk I'm sad to say, and that's where the majority of the ignorance lies.
Whenever you get children more interested in what band's on top of the pops or which "celebrity" from Big Brother has an eating disorder, you're not going to be able to interest them in much else - because they don't care!!
The gradual decline (and it has been gradual) in our education standards has been going on for some time and it just seems that these days, it's children who run the classrooms not teachers.
My heart goes out to all you would-be teachers, because if you work in a state-run high school you have got a serious challenge in front of you!
In my school (and I'm 28! I can only imagine it's gotten worse) we had a 14 yr old student punch a teacher, get expelled and was back in 3 weeks!
Another student had his hair set on fire with a aerosol & a lighter (during french class)
Good luck!
p.s. Lacey - Sundeland! LOL - ~"where everybody knows your name.......because you're related"~
There's a "performance artist" who walks (or did when I was there) up and down Mill Road with various objects tied to his head - my favourite was a loaf of bread.
I'm not making this up!!
But there's plenty of chav's (not sure if that will translate to the yanks) in all major cities in the Uk I'm sad to say, and that's where the majority of the ignorance lies.
Whenever you get children more interested in what band's on top of the pops or which "celebrity" from Big Brother has an eating disorder, you're not going to be able to interest them in much else - because they don't care!!
The gradual decline (and it has been gradual) in our education standards has been going on for some time and it just seems that these days, it's children who run the classrooms not teachers.
My heart goes out to all you would-be teachers, because if you work in a state-run high school you have got a serious challenge in front of you!
In my school (and I'm 28! I can only imagine it's gotten worse) we had a 14 yr old student punch a teacher, get expelled and was back in 3 weeks!
Another student had his hair set on fire with a aerosol & a lighter (during french class)
Good luck!
p.s. Lacey - Sundeland! LOL - ~"where everybody knows your name.......because you're related"~
Tsujigiri
Waiting at the Crossroads
State run school has become quite a joke. I know a lot of educated people who don't have the resources for private schooling who have opted to educate their children at home!
On a separate note....what exactly is a Chav?
I don't watch TV, but I'm guessing that it refers to the great ignorant masses....a little clearer definition would be nice though...
On a separate note....what exactly is a Chav?
I don't watch TV, but I'm guessing that it refers to the great ignorant masses....a little clearer definition would be nice though...
Winters_Sorrow
Well-Known Member
well, they're usually spotted by their Burberry clothing (think beige tartan), cheap looking chunky gold jewellery (soverign rings for boys & huge earrings for girls) and usually talk in a non-sensical drawl. I enclose a newcastle derivative:
"De yee knaa who I knaa?" - literal translation "Do you know the type of people I know? They'll cause you extreme pain if you mess with me"
Basically stupid people who strut around drinking cheap lager thinking they are really tough, not realising their error until sadly too late.
Always amusing to watch, though
"De yee knaa who I knaa?" - literal translation "Do you know the type of people I know? They'll cause you extreme pain if you mess with me"
Basically stupid people who strut around drinking cheap lager thinking they are really tough, not realising their error until sadly too late.
Always amusing to watch, though
Princess Ivy
Damsel in this dress
I'm not that worried about the kids in the statistics, but rather that history is in such disfavour. kids are as they have always been. they learn what interests them. And it seems few want to learn history. My daughter hates it, from the stand point that she is a sensitive nine year old and tales of serfs and dungeons and battles upset her.
What worries me is the brevity of the history ciriculum. I can only speak from a south african education standpoint, as i didn't grow up here. but I can say that we were only taught a very sanitised version of the full picture.
EG: egypt was ruled by a phaero (SP), they had gods ra, horis, osiris. they wrapped their dead in shrouds and put them in pyramids. And of course the details of mumification.
WW1 &2 were started by the evil germans. the alies were the good guys. we beat them. ww2 had very evil policies towards jews.
the english were very bad, wouldn't give the irish back their island and wouldn't give the settlers their land. therefore the good settlers went out and fought the british and established a new colony in the free state on their way to natal. where they then made peace with the zulus (yes they had to kill a few hundred thousand of them and start the war before they could make peace but that was niether here nor there)
get the picture? there is so much more to these stories. things i am still learning today! i suppose history is a very wide subject, but they could really do with selecting the incidents that they want to teach and teaching them properly.
I would love to have the time to study history properly. i am genuinely fascinated by it. i read as much as i can (no not historical novels). and one day i will go into it indepth, when i have the time.
What worries me is the brevity of the history ciriculum. I can only speak from a south african education standpoint, as i didn't grow up here. but I can say that we were only taught a very sanitised version of the full picture.
EG: egypt was ruled by a phaero (SP), they had gods ra, horis, osiris. they wrapped their dead in shrouds and put them in pyramids. And of course the details of mumification.
WW1 &2 were started by the evil germans. the alies were the good guys. we beat them. ww2 had very evil policies towards jews.
the english were very bad, wouldn't give the irish back their island and wouldn't give the settlers their land. therefore the good settlers went out and fought the british and established a new colony in the free state on their way to natal. where they then made peace with the zulus (yes they had to kill a few hundred thousand of them and start the war before they could make peace but that was niether here nor there)
get the picture? there is so much more to these stories. things i am still learning today! i suppose history is a very wide subject, but they could really do with selecting the incidents that they want to teach and teaching them properly.
I would love to have the time to study history properly. i am genuinely fascinated by it. i read as much as i can (no not historical novels). and one day i will go into it indepth, when i have the time.
Tsujigiri
Waiting at the Crossroads
Ah, I get it now. We used to call them 'Gippo's but I suppose they have elevated the original 'gippo's simply by coming into existence.
By 'Gippo' I don't mean Gypsy, my lady is half Romany and they are a very different people.
We occasionally get 'Chavs' coming into the martial arts class I teach...they tend not to come back.
By 'Gippo' I don't mean Gypsy, my lady is half Romany and they are a very different people.
We occasionally get 'Chavs' coming into the martial arts class I teach...they tend not to come back.
Winters_Sorrow
Well-Known Member
I always enjoyed history at school (probably for the reasons you daughter didn't like them! ) but you've reminded me of an issue I hadn't considered before - regional/country bias.
I don't remember much about the Irish-English wars led by William of Orange (who was dutch, but our king - weird) but I seem to remember he originally went across as the Irish protestants were being persecuted by the majority catholics and a local 'king' appealed for help. Admittedly once over there, I think the English troops did not behave particularly well to anyone, allies included!
But it is interesting what emphasis is put on events from different countries
) but you've reminded me of an issue I hadn't considered before - regional/country bias.I don't remember much about the Irish-English wars led by William of Orange (who was dutch, but our king - weird) but I seem to remember he originally went across as the Irish protestants were being persecuted by the majority catholics and a local 'king' appealed for help. Admittedly once over there, I think the English troops did not behave particularly well to anyone, allies included!
But it is interesting what emphasis is put on events from different countries
Tsujigiri
Waiting at the Crossroads
I had half of my secondary education in South Africa and half here, and at least they actually taught some form of interesting history in SA. When I arrived here it was all about the European Union and post war Europe...which although interesting was really sociology in disguise.
I literally took my history education in my own hands and read and researched into what I wanted to know. Not the sanitised version taught today.
On a separate note...as this post seems to be more of a gripe than anything else...does anyone else hate the sanitised nursery rhymes?
I don't think kids are as they have always been.
They are quicker to give up now and they seem to have no 'heart', they are pandered to and there is almost no discipline in a average childs life.
It shows in other areas, I teach martial arts (amongst other things) and where I remember having to literally go through 'Sweat, blood and tears' to get anywhere, now if they stub a toe they want to sit down for the rest of the lesson.
It doesn't bode well for the future, and it reeks of a growing decadence within society as a whole.
In the Uk especially we have become very complacent and it shows.
For the last few decades if you can't get a job when you leave school then you simply sign on a dotted line and recieve a government handout.
In terms of knowing our history, decadence and falling standards within a society have almost always been indicators that that society is about to collapse in some fashion.
I literally took my history education in my own hands and read and researched into what I wanted to know. Not the sanitised version taught today.
On a separate note...as this post seems to be more of a gripe than anything else...does anyone else hate the sanitised nursery rhymes?
I don't think kids are as they have always been.
They are quicker to give up now and they seem to have no 'heart', they are pandered to and there is almost no discipline in a average childs life.
It shows in other areas, I teach martial arts (amongst other things) and where I remember having to literally go through 'Sweat, blood and tears' to get anywhere, now if they stub a toe they want to sit down for the rest of the lesson.
It doesn't bode well for the future, and it reeks of a growing decadence within society as a whole.
In the Uk especially we have become very complacent and it shows.
For the last few decades if you can't get a job when you leave school then you simply sign on a dotted line and recieve a government handout.
In terms of knowing our history, decadence and falling standards within a society have almost always been indicators that that society is about to collapse in some fashion.
polymorphikos
Scrofulous Fig-Merchant
Meh.
As to our classes, our history is not at all sanitised, being from Australia as I am. We learned a long and doom-laden tale of our unpleasantness towards Aborigines, a long and doom-laden tale of the idiocy on both sides leading to WW2, and an awful lot about sheep.
As to our classes, our history is not at all sanitised, being from Australia as I am. We learned a long and doom-laden tale of our unpleasantness towards Aborigines, a long and doom-laden tale of the idiocy on both sides leading to WW2, and an awful lot about sheep.
Tsujigiri
Waiting at the Crossroads
polymorphikos said:
I think that older kids should be exposed to far more of the realism of history but it's just not going to happen.
My daughter was chastised for stopping a fellow student from kicking her in the face last week!
Of course the fact that she dumped him on his arse may have had something to do with it, still self defence though!
Seriously tho.....with your expertise about sheep....velcro wellies, cliff edges or sheer strength of bicep
Eh, I always liked history myself- it's one of my GCSE subjects (for Americans a qualification taken at 16.) I always knew more about torture than the teacher which was quite funny, as I discussed it at length.
History always fascinated me, but these days people don't aim to make it interesting. I was planning on studying World War 2 Germany, Russia or possibly the USA. All of these were fascinating courses. They got shut down though and replaced with medicine, Northern ireland and the American West, all exceptionally boring. I've gone from being an avid student with all the details about wars, to a lethargic, bored out of mind slug
But I'd say most UK people knew a fair bit, and in early years teaching is fairly good especially with the Wars as there is huge scope for different projects
History always fascinated me, but these days people don't aim to make it interesting. I was planning on studying World War 2 Germany, Russia or possibly the USA. All of these were fascinating courses. They got shut down though and replaced with medicine, Northern ireland and the American West, all exceptionally boring. I've gone from being an avid student with all the details about wars, to a lethargic, bored out of mind slug
But I'd say most UK people knew a fair bit, and in early years teaching is fairly good especially with the Wars as there is huge scope for different projects
Lacedaemonian
A Plume of Smoke
Such lack of Grace. Schools do not understand the concept 'self defense'.
Tsujigiri
Waiting at the Crossroads
I'm teaching my 6 years old daughter wrist locks, point striking (pressure points) and koppo Jutsu - Bone Destruction techniques aimed at incapacitating an adult.
But then she has been training since she was 2 and I trust her not to use them.
She was being bullied by one specific shil at school, and when I asked her why she hadn't dealt with him she answered:
'It wouldn't be right to hurt him Daddy, he hasn't had any training'
I was incredibly impressed. Buddhist philosophy from a (then) 5 year old!
I helped her get over her inhibitions regarding this particular child when I heard he was known as a bully.
But then she has been training since she was 2 and I trust her not to use them.
She was being bullied by one specific shil at school, and when I asked her why she hadn't dealt with him she answered:
'It wouldn't be right to hurt him Daddy, he hasn't had any training'
I was incredibly impressed. Buddhist philosophy from a (then) 5 year old!
I helped her get over her inhibitions regarding this particular child when I heard he was known as a bully.
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