16th November 2005, 01:20 PM
I recall that my kids spent a whole term on Native Americans in GCSE History - then did it again in Geography! They also seemed to spend the rest of their time doing Nazis.
Given the level and length of the course and the age of the pupils and so on, you can't do the whole history of the whole world. It may be unfashionable but to me it seems perfectly reasonable to cover the basics of your own history in a basic introductiory course like GCSE, and certainly in the pre-GCSE compulsory bit - KS3. Before you start, by "your own history" I mean the history of this country, the one in which you live and are a citizen of, as other countries do. Of course this doesn't have to, and shouldn't, be like the old lists of Kings and Queens, they should cover the one or two other people that were around at the time! I would expect GCSE kids to have a vague idea of what and when Trafalgar and Hastings were though.
We owe the dead nothing but the truth.
Given the level and length of the course and the age of the pupils and so on, you can't do the whole history of the whole world. It may be unfashionable but to me it seems perfectly reasonable to cover the basics of your own history in a basic introductiory course like GCSE, and certainly in the pre-GCSE compulsory bit - KS3. Before you start, by "your own history" I mean the history of this country, the one in which you live and are a citizen of, as other countries do. Of course this doesn't have to, and shouldn't, be like the old lists of Kings and Queens, they should cover the one or two other people that were around at the time! I would expect GCSE kids to have a vague idea of what and when Trafalgar and Hastings were though.
We owe the dead nothing but the truth.