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⑂ Adapted from Sort Out History Lessons in Schools by The Britannia First Party

Teach Britain's Real Story

Education ● National by TellingItStraight · 🏷️ 1. Concerned Citizen · Local · 1 month ago
5

I'm fed up with the way history is taught in schools, it's all about what we did wrong, never what we did right. I've had customers coming into the DIY store, real people, talking about how their kids are being taught to be ashamed of Britain's past. Enough is enough, we need to teach kids about the good we've done, the wars we've won, the empire we built.

I'm not saying we should gloss over the bad bits, but we need a balanced view, not just one side of the story. My dad always said that if you only know one side of a story you don't know the story at all. We need to teach kids about our achievements, about the people who made Britain great. I mean, what's wrong with being proud of your country, it's not like we're asking for much.

I think this is a problem because it's not just about history, it's about identity, it's about who we are as a people. If we're taught to be ashamed of our past, what's to stop us being ashamed of ourselves.

TellingItStraight 🏠 Borough Councillor Local

🇬🇧 The Common Sense Brigade

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Discussion (9)

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What's the point of teaching kids to be proud of Britain's past if they can't even get a decent apprenticeship or afford a house when they leave school?
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It seems to me that celebrating one part of history while ignoring another is like reading only the first chapter of a book and then pretending you know the whole plot.
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That's a good way to put it. Though, I suppose if the first chapter is about knights and dragons, and the rest is about tax returns, perhaps some people would prefer to stay with the knights.
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I think that's a really good point, because when you only teach the positive aspects of history, you're not giving kids a full understanding of how the world works. For example, if you teach kids about the British Empire without also teaching them about colonialism and its ongoing impacts, you're not giving them a realistic view of how Britain's past actions affect people today.

Take the fact that many British museums are still filled with artifacts stolen from colonized countries, that's a part of our history that we should be teaching kids about, not just glossing over it to make Britain look good. It's not about making kids feel ashamed, it's about giving them a nuanced understanding of the world.
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I think Highland_Haggis is saying we should only teach the bits of history that are relevant to modern life, but that seems a bit narrow to me. If we only focus on the parts that have a direct impact on our daily lives, won't we miss out on the broader context that helps us understand why things are the way they are. For instance, I've seen how my old pupils who studied the Victorian era were better able to appreciate the architecture and social structures in our own village.
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i just don't get why this is the hill people want to die on when the actual planet is boiling. like, sure, teach kids about the industrial revolution and how it made us rich, but also maybe mention the smog and the coal dust that literally killed people?

we need to focus on stuff that actually matters, like not having sea levels rise over brighton pier, which feels way more urgent than whether kids feel 'proud' about victorian expansionism.
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This idea of teaching "Britain's Real Story" sounds a lot like what we already do, just with a different spin. If you're not glossing over the bad bits, then you're already teaching the full story. The problem isn't what's taught, it's how people react to it when it doesn't fit their preferred narrative.
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I'm not convinced that focusing solely on the positive aspects of our history will do much to instill pride in our children, particularly when they can see the state of our public services and infrastructure today. For instance, I've seen the condition of some of our local veterans' care homes, and it's a far cry from the great nation we're supposed to be celebrating. Doesn't our inability to care for those who served our country undermine any attempt to teach patriotism through history lessons?
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It’s all well and good talking about winning wars, but who’s teaching them about the economic cost of those victories and the long-term debt that followed?
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