Teaching History

Every so often we hear stories about how only 20% of people have heard of the Civil War or one is three doesn’t know what a Nazi is or nearly nine out of ten children think Henry the Eighth’s surname was Theeighth. There are also the slightly snobby stories too – about how only six percent of people under forty can name a single battle in the aforementioned Civil War (I can name one but only because the date of the battle was the combination of a safe in one of the Jeeves and Wooster novels). All made up statistics of course but they ring true. We also get glimpses of how our history is being deliberately obscured by politically correct officials who insist that battles were fought between "The Red Team" and "The Blue Team" rather than between the English and the French. And don’t get me started on how the Second World War is increasingly fought against the short lived alien race "The Nazis" who have no connection what so ever with the Germans we know and love.

So with apathy, ignorance and political correctness run mad, what can be done about history? What (if anything) should be taught in schools?

I was always fond of history and could well have ended up doing a history degree had my projected A-Level grades not been so good I was advised to aim higher (immodest but true). We did some bits of history which didn’t seem to serve much purpose. Peter the Great, for example, was a solitary bit of Russian history stuck in amongst Tudors, Stuarts and glorious revolutia. I wouldn’t advocate an entirely Anglo-centric syllabus – far from it – but there was no overall point to Peter the Great’s story. Yes, he did some things which were considered radical by his comrades but that’s their problem not ours.

A relevant history syllabus needs to ask why it is including any period or theme. There is no point including Kings and battles for the sake of it. But equally, empathetic history – which seemed popular when I was smaller – is pointless. What is to gain by presenting us with a fictional peasant and telling us what he did in his fields? Life was hard. End of story.

My history course would begin in the ancient world. For reasons lost in the mists of time (irony) ancient Greece and Rome aren’t taught in history, they are taught in Classical Studies which is tied in with Latin and all that nonsense. Which is a shame as the first theme of the syllabus is the ancient civilisations which came up with the concepts and contraptions which we still use today. Democracy, irrigation, mathematics, organised warfare, codes of law and so on. Don’t just limit it to Greece and Rome – China, India and the Middle East saw great discoveries made long before they reached Europe. But don’t turn it into a politically correct exercise in seeing the good in every civilisation. And don’t hide the bad in those societies either. Their great achievements lived alongside slavery, torture, murder-for-pleasure and all manner of other inequalities and tortures just as ours do.

From there we retreat to our own history and the centuries which saw Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Vikings, Danes, French and Normans (Frenchmen of Norse descent, hence Norman is a corruption of Norsemen) coming to live here by invitation, conquest or just for fun. There is nothing new about migrants coming over here and history should teach young people that the British (or English) are a mongrel race, while also giving them lots of hot Viking action and arrows flying about the place.

The next significant event to cover is the signing (or rather the entire story and significance of) Magna Carta. Digressing for a moment, people bang on about getting us hard working folk a couple of extra bank holidays but discussions always get bogged down with the fact that every suggestion always gets shouted down by some vested interest group or other. Why not create two new bank holidays – one in June to commemorate Magna Carta and one in November for Armistice Day? Even the most petty of salaried-objectors must accept that democracy and freedom are worth celebrating. Except, obviously, those who are paid to be offended are well paid to be offended because they really are awfully good at finding things to be offended by. Anyway, back to Magna Carta.

The significance of Magna Carta is often disputed and it is generally accepted that its provisions did little to improve the lives of ordinary folk. But it gives history teachers a chance to go off on a tangent about the influence it had on the constitutions governing many of the great countries of the world. Magna Carta probably has more impact on our lives today than it did on the presents of thirteenth century England.

We can safely skip forward a few hundred years to the reign of Henry VIII and his three children. Much as I like Henry VII (a much underrated monarch even if he was Welsh) I concede he has little significance in our modern and relevant history course. Henry VIII is generally taught in relation to his many and various wives. But it is his religious dabblings which are the important parts of his reign. The break with Rome was a major part of the schism which tore the Church apart in Europe and lead to ongoing hostility between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland and Scotland. The two children which followed him – an ardent Protestant and a rabid Catholic – demonstrate how religious fanaticism can have terrible consequences which ever side of the fence you worship on. His final child – the peerless Elizabeth – shows how countries should be run and how seemingly irreconcilable differences can be smoothed over if one believes that strength and determination don’t have to be used on the field of battle.

Next we look at the Civil War and its origins. It is obvious to us that Elizabeth II’s relationship with Parliament is very different to Elizabeth I’s and it is the Civil War which is responsible for that. The battles are largely irrelevant – it is the ideas which were being fought for which make it a good story. And history needs to be a good story for it to stand any chance of survival. The Civil War (and no British person should ever be allowed to get away with calling it "The English Civil War". The Second Civil War I can accept if one includes the Wars of the Roses but if we start retconning wars we’ll have had three World Wars and that will cost a fortune in printing new text books) was a war about whether Kings had a divine right to rule – whether God decides who governs us or whether we can decide for ourselves. Plus there are some wacky hair cuts for the boys who insist on sitting at the back to laugh at.

Having executed Charles I, tried ruthless republicanism, found it was quite us and restored Charles II like reinstalling Windows XP, we jump forward again. All those Germans who hated Britain are not terribly interesting. We might make a brief stop off at Queen Anne (a) because she is probably our only lesbian monarch and (b) because of the whole Act of Union thing. Though that might be a can of worms best left at the back of history’s cupboard. If the Scots haven’t got over it after three hundred years I doubt they ever will.

We have to cover the Industrial Revolution which changed our world for better and worse. The sheer ingenuity and genius of the great inventers is breathtaking – the journey from burning things and heating water to the wifi iPod is an astonishing one and could teach today’s Pop Idol infected children who want everything NOW a lesson about taking one step at a time.

The Victorian age is a tricky one – the British Empire was a tremendous force for good and bad around the world and if I thought for one moment that it would be taught as such I would include it. But I know they would emphasise the bad side, ignore the good side and turn lessons into forty-five minute apologies to any ethnic minority pupils in the classroom.

The twentieth century speaks for itself really. Start with the origins of the first world war, the horror of the conflict, the aftermath, how it lead to the rise of Hitler, the second world war, the austere post-war world, the cold war, the space race, the microchip, the middle east oil crisis, the fall of the Berlin wall and here we are today.

History shouldn’t be about when things happened and who wore a crown at any given point. It shouldn’t be about battles and conquest. It should tell stories of people and events which made us what we are today. Two thousand years ago some people in togas had some good ideas about voting and stuff. Eight hundred years ago the barons forced the king to stop being such a bastard and to listen to them. Four hundred years ago half the country fought the other half of the country about whether God or man should pick our leaders. Eighteen years ago a wall was knocked down and two halves of a continent saw how oppression and freedom work out if you try them one at a time.

History isn’t about courtly intrigue and bed hopping – it is about science, ideas, beliefs, migration, success, failure, bravery, stupidity, genius, art, beauty, stories and human beings. It is the most beautiful of all subjects and it is in danger of being suffocated by an urge not to offend anyone by mentioning anything which might offend anyone. History doesn’t need to glorify war or celebrate imperialism to be something of which we can be proud. It just needs to be taught properly.