Schools told to dump Churchill and Hitler from history lessons

 

by LAURA CLARK - More by this author » Last updated at 10:36am on 13th July 2007 Comments (21)

Wartime hero: Winston Churchill

 

Secondary schools will strip back the traditional curriculum in favour of lessons on debt management, the environment and healthy eating, ministers revealed.

Even Winston Churchill no longer merits a mention after a drastic slimming-down of the syllabus to create more space for "modern" issues.

Along with Hitler, Gandhi, Stalin and Martin Luther King, the former prime minister has been dropped from a list of key figures to be mentioned in history teaching.

This means pupils may no longer hear about his stirring speeches during the Second World War, when he told Parliament that defeating Hitler would be Britain's "finest hour".

The only individuals now named in guidance accompanying the curriculum are anti-slavery campaigners Olaudah Equiano and William Wilberforce.

The omission of Churchill added to a growing row over Labour reforms to secondary education - the most radical since the national curriculum was introduced in 1988.

Critics warned traditional subject disciplines were being stripped of key content and used to promote fashionable causes and poorly-defined "life skills".

They said that while the two World Wars remain on the curriculum as broad topics the failure to specify teaching on Churchill - while naming other individuals - downgraded his importance.

The move was called "madness" by his grandson Nicholas Soames, the Tory MP.

"It is absurd. I expect he wasn't New Labour enough for them," he said.

Tory spokesman on children Michael Gove added: "Winston Churchill is the towering figure of twentieth century British history.

 

Read more...

• School place lotteries set to go nationwide after controversial Brighton trial run

 

"His fight against fascism was Britain's finest hour. Our national story can't be told without Churchill at the centre."

Schools are also being told to tear up the timetable of eight lessons a day and introduce classes lasting a few minutes - or several hours - by mixing different subjects together.

Five-minute lessons on spelling, French or German could be "drip-fed" throughout the day.

The architect of the new curriculum, Dr Ken Boston, insisted traditional approaches had been "exhausted".

The slimline regime is being introduced amid concerns that teachers do not have enough time to ensure youngsters master the three Rs.

 

 

Key subjects such as history and science will be cut back to allow teachers to spend a quarter of the day helping pupils who struggle with literacy and numeracy.

At the same time, staff will be expected to introduce topics such as personal finance and Urdu aimed at preparing youngsters for life in the 21st century.

The new curriculum - introduced from September next year - precedes the introduction of "functional skills" tests in English and maths.

These are intended to counter criticism that 16-year-olds can score high grades at GCSE without mastering the three Rs.

The news follows a report from the think-tank Civitas warning that subjects are being hijacked by politicians to promote pet causes.

Deputy director Robert Whelan said: "It is almost as if the Government has taken the damaging trends highlighted in our report and ratcheted them up a notch."

However Schools Minister Lord Adonis said that even if Churchill was no longer named in the curriculum, his contribution to British life would still be covered.

"Nobody with any sense could believe that we could teach the Second World War - a statutory requirement - without covering Winston Churchill and Hitler," he added.

Lotteries to allocate school places could be extended across the country after an official adjudicator backed a pioneering scheme in Brighton.

Canon Richard Lindley ruled that ballots were a "reasonable means" of awarding places at over-subscribed schools.

They could now replace selection by catchment area, which is said to favour middle-class families able to afford homes near good schools.

:huh: No greek mythology? No 2nd world war? What the kids will study then? :huh:

The English education system is whack.

:huh: No greek mythology? No 2nd world war? What the kids will study then? :huh:

 

Vandalism, graffiti, Asbos and chavism??:rolleyes:

well if the two world wars remain topics they will have to speak about hitler. it isnt a good idea to solely concentrate on the world wars either [which was the case at our school]. its about time that the 'new' topics at british schools include slave trade.

i think we shouldn't skip parts of History, even if them weren't good moments, but that's part of History. To learn how the world is now, we need to know it past.

 

Is like if the first time that we watch a film and we skip some of the chapters because the first scenes of them are boring ... Do we can say later that we had watched the film and understood it? I think not.

 

like somebody said "Who forgets its History, will repeat it" :(

 

Policits are planning to do the same in my country. They don't want to teach kids about Don Quixote... :o They don't want to teach about Egypt and Mesopotamia. :o That's incredible.

that's ridiculous.

i don't even know where to begin to explain how terrible that is. i feel sorry for the next generation who won't even know why it was such a loss in the first place.

.

The point of studying history is so that we don't make the mistakes of the past, e.g the holocaust.

Im sure Cam would love that school. After all there is nothing to learn from the biggest wars in history and the worst dicators...

The point of studying history is so that we don't make the mistakes of the past, e.g the holocaust.

 

Careful with your words. Many here will not agree with that. If you ever bring up history to point out a mistake were making again you get attacked.

^ let's not make this another thread about that.

 

regardless, it's part of our history and from history we learn from our actions, good or bad. cutting down the teaching of such events that have helped shape today's world is a mistake. people should know the historical characters that have influenced the histories of many countries.

to know why and where we are, we must understand where we have been.

^ let's not make this another thread about that.

 

regardless, it's part of our history and from history we learn from our actions, good or bad. cutting down the teaching of such events that have helped shape today's world is a mistake. people should know the historical characters that have influenced the histories of many countries.

to know why and where we are, we must understand where we have been.

 

The sad fact is the majority of people in the world don't pay attention to history and we keep making the same mistakes

The sad fact is the majority of people in the world don't pay attention to history and we keep making the same mistakes

 

 

 

a valid reason to why we should not only continue teaching it, but perhaps emphasis it's importance, anything but cut down the teaching range in schools.

Oh, no - mrfool is back on the scene spreading his propaganda................................ :dozey:

Oh, no - mrfool is back on the scene spreading his propaganda................................ :dozey:

 

As are you. Why do you think your propaganda is any better? You use the word propaganda as if its a bad thing. You're just as guilty of spreading propaganda. Or maybe you dont know what the word means?! Big words were never your strong point.

 

I hate the word propaganda because everyone who debates or has a point of view is guilty of spreading propaganda.

a valid reason to why we should not only continue teaching it, but perhaps emphasis it's importance, anything but cut down the teaching range in schools.

 

I agree.

Most of my arguments are based around past events and their relevance to todays world.

 

I agree. People need to be made aware of things that are dumped into the memory hole.

I agree, they should bring back teaching about the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

 

But reading that article, it appears that the 2 world wars will still be a part of the lessons, but not focusing on the main figure-heads.

Interesting to note that golf is a preferred PE subject, this country is renound for having a full 18 hole links course on every school campus :dozey:

Interesting to note that golf is a preferred PE subject, this country is renound for having a full 18 hole links course on every school campus :dozey:

 

Aren't you getting confused with "drug" holes??:rolleyes:

Interesting to note that golf is a preferred PE subject, this country is renound for having a full 18 hole links course on every school campus :dozey:

 

How can golf be a PE subject?

 

It's not even a sport