A top private school will introduce a new course called the Story of Our
Land after the headmaster complained young people were leaving without a
basic grasp of history.
Brighton College will launch the mixed British history, geography and
religious studies course for 11 to 13-year-olds from September 2009.
The innovation will be the latest of a series at the school, where manners
and Mandarin Chinese have both been added to the timetable in the past few
years.
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Headmaster Richard Cairns made the announcement as he spoke at the college's
annual education conference today.
He told the audience of more than 250 headteachers of his soldier brother's
experiences in Afghanistan as he called on them to back the academy schools
programme.
Mr Cairns said every school had a duty to make sure pupils had a strong
enough education to understand conflicts around the world.
He spoke of his own experiences as a young teacher in the Palestinian
territories and the difficulty of having to explain to children that most
young people in the UK did not only not know where the Gaza Strip was but
would also not care.
Posted by: william of orange, Brighton on 9:45pm Thu 8 May 08
Good for him. Well done. I just hope his new course does not carry the left wing bias that riddled my history lessons when I was at school in the early 80's. As a private school I suspect it won't which is a good thing.
As students in early 80's Britain we were indoctrinated to feel ashamed to be English when I was at school. It was only after leaving school and educating myself from a wide variety of sources that I found a renewed interest in history and uncovered what a pack of left wing lies the official course had taught me.
Good for him. Well done. I just hope his new course does not carry the left wing bias that riddled my history lessons when I was at school in the early 80's. As a private school I suspect it won't which is a good thing.
As students in early 80's Britain we were indoctrinated to feel ashamed to be English when I was at school. It was only after leaving school and educating myself from a wide variety of sources that I found a renewed interest in history and uncovered what a pack of left wing lies the official course had taught me.
Posted by: Flat Foot Soozie, Brunswick Square on 11:05am Fri 9 May 08
So the Head "blasts", does he? I should think any Head worthy of the name would also have something to say about Argus headlines. No Head could hope to make a reasonable case for his point of view by "blasting". He would sound a fool best ignored.
So the Head "blasts", does he? I should think any Head worthy of the name would also have something to say about Argus headlines. No Head could hope to make a reasonable case for his point of view by "blasting". He would sound a fool best ignored.
Posted by: william of orange, Brighton on 2:21pm Sat 10 May 08
Yes my point exactly - ...its how you teach the history of "slavery" for example that matters though.
At school we were taught the British were responsible, the British organised it, the British propspered from it..in short be ashamed of your country class because its all the fault of your ancestors.
After school I learnt that other countries participated, the British stopped slavery, the British fought slavery, that the British also SUFFERED slavery of their people along with other Christian European countries at the hands of, for example, the Muslim Barbary Coast Pirates (Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco and Algiers). All this conveniently forgotten by our teacher of "history" who peddled his own version of what really happened to suit I suspect their own political ends.
As for your comment on immigration - what do you mean? - please be more specific - the word on its own means nothing - are you referring to various European nations colonising other countries and overwhelming the indigenous populations or are you referring to post WW2 immigration into the UK overwhelming the indigenous population here? Please explain. One is history the other the present/future. This post is about teaching history so what exactly about immigration are you getting at?
Yes my point exactly - ...its how you teach the history of "slavery" for example that matters though.
At school we were taught the British were responsible, the British organised it, the British propspered from it..in short be ashamed of your country class because its all the fault of your ancestors.
After school I learnt that other countries participated, the British stopped slavery, the British fought slavery, that the British also SUFFERED slavery of their people along with other Christian European countries at the hands of, for example, the Muslim Barbary Coast Pirates (Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco and Algiers). All this conveniently forgotten by our teacher of "history" who peddled his own version of what really happened to suit I suspect their own political ends.
As for your comment on immigration - what do you mean? - please be more specific - the word on its own means nothing - are you referring to various European nations colonising other countries and overwhelming the indigenous populations or are you referring to post WW2 immigration into the UK overwhelming the indigenous population here? Please explain. One is history the other the present/future. This post is about teaching history so what exactly about immigration are you getting at?
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