Is History Important?

[mushroom25]

history should be compulsory at GCSE, says Antony Beevor

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11116561/Antony-Beevor-history-should-be-compulsory-at-GCSE.html

is it relevant to today's students?

(btw how many of you didn't get 100% in the quiz?)

[Zacs-Master]

A lot of which were incorrect because of a naff quiz.

[jourdain2]

I was wonky on Italy changing sides, they didn't in essence but, in practice, OK - got me. As I told my students; 'If a set of circumstances arises today, the best guide to the outcomes of any actions taken is to look for what happened when the same set of circumstances arose in the past'. There are no crystal balls, History is the best guide we can get. History is vital to society as a whole.

[-Talbot-]

My 16 year old got 9 the Eisenhower question got him.
(He did ww1 at school)


October 13, 1943 (Wednesday)
Thirty-five days after it had been fighting as a member of the Axis powers against the Allies, Italy declared war on Germany, with a broadcast by Prime Minister Badoglio at 3:00 pm local time. Italy had entered the war on June 10, 1940, with a declaration of war against France and the United Kingdom

[Prudie]

Going back a couple of pages about the Italy one, I got that question 'correct' because I was taught that Italy changed sides.

[jourdain2]

Thanks Talbot.

[Peter Pedant]

Why is everyone saying the cheese eating surrender monkeys didnt change sides during the war ?

My father who had a very German sense of History for reasons I wont go into here, seemed sure they had.

and yeah I got 100 just to show how shaky my grasp of modern theory is.


Jourdain I am fascinated you teach History repeats itself.

Either Maurois or Mauriac ( it could have been either apparently ) said:
the only lesson from history is that there are no lessons from history.

if you can find the exact quote I would be grateful.

I will await meanwhile the inevitable flood of whaaaaa? and mehs.

[Peter Pedant]

It is a fun Quiz Zac - stop taking life so seriously

[jourdain2]

I didn't say that history repeats itself, I said that it was the best guide we could get.

[Peter Pedant]

erm - Jourdain - is that different ?

[Prudie]

I thought cheese eating surrender monkeys were the French.

[pixie373]

I hope it isn't important. I got 55% and hated history. I listened to my walkman (in those days) in every lesson. Still got a B somehow, but luckily it's never been needed in real life.

[Peter Pedant]

well good point
I had spotted Jourdain whilst I was musing....

After the fall of France the govt was led by Petain and Laval who werent exactly pro-English - but we wouldnt say France changed sides....

and I mean Jeez which side were the Romanians on for chrissakes ?

[ummmm]

Prudie...they are.

[Prudie]

Oh well, it's PP, he lost me at hello
:-)

[seadogg]

My school History ended when King Charles lost his head but WW2 was a real experience as a child and we got bombed by the Luftwaffe several times. The most poignant experience was watching a liner full of crying kids packed off to Canada.

[jourdain2]

PP yes, it's different. 'night

[Hypognosis]

I got caught out by the 'trick' question about Italy switching sides.

Were they effectual? Did they merit more than a sentence or two in the relevant episode of "The World at War"? It somehow escaped my attention, that one and I dropped history for O levels, gence my 91%.

We all get a lifetime to learn history and we get to do it with adult levels of comprehension. The mid-teenage mind is, reputedly, re-wiring itself so as to develop a personality, as well as more hormone-driven distractions… give 'em a break.

If employers demand them to have history quals then that message will percolate down and pupils will choose it. No need to make it compulsory.

[Peter Pedant]

Hy Hypo

I liked the idea of : " my mum says my hormones are up so I dont have to learn history ...."

I always found history the most interestingly taught of all the subjects at any age. Didnt make me want to study history tho'.

We did an incredibly amount of Latin and I wondered at the time why they didnt teach us something more useful like Math or French

I am surprised no one has come out with:

" those who dont study history are condemned to repeat it, "

I thought Jourdain might but he wandered off in a huff instead

[Hypognosis]

@Peter

what I learn about history is that the minutiae of daily life, due to being common experience, is never thought worthy of being committed to permanent record, so it dissolves away as the generations progress.

All that remains and is a matter of record is all the kings and queens and wars and stuff. Many can't relate to things at that level, disengage from the subject and would just get a duff grade to scar their CV for life.

If the objective is, actually, to make it easier for universities to pick who gets into an over-subscribed course (veterinary science, say), we would be justifiably dubious about such a scheme.

Make it history for history's sake, not just something to help make HR staff's lives easier.

[mushroom25]

PP, the quote you thinking of is by George Santayana, and is
"those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"