'Auschwitz, what was that?'

My history education was just endless repetition of the Romans. There was a little of the Tudors and a few others thrown in but I'd guess 75% of my lesson hours were spent on the Romans. Interesting as they are in many ways, there's a hell of a lot more to history than just them! That's probably why as soon is I got to year 9 and could make my GCSE choices it was one of the first subjects to be dropped.

History was always one of my least favourite subjects at school in part because of the repetition and also because of the type of teachers the subject seemed to attract. For such a fascinating field of study it doesn't half attract some boring people who seem content to reel off dates and events without any passion! That was my experience of it 10 years ago anyway.
 
I remember doing the Romans. We had a school trip to Wall. What a boring place that was! I was expecting something amazing and it was a few stones high in most places. Such a disappointment.

Most of my history teachers were excitable even about boring stuff like strip farming and corn laws.
 
My high school history syllabus (c1970) included - amongst other things - the causes of WW1, the Versailles Treaty, Weimar Germany, the Nazis and the run up to WW2. We didn't study the military history of the wars, or the holocaust, although we did cover the background to it in the 30s. I didn't learn any more about it at university either, it just wasn't part of any of any undergraduate courses, but I suppose most of us knew a fair amount about it by then anyway.

I do wonder how many people are aware of the Soviet and Chinese genocides committed - mainly - under Stalin and Mao? Did the the holocaust have a greater shock effect because a 'civilised' Western nation committed this horror? Was it the greater visibility (survivors' testimonies, witnesses, photographs, film and original source documents)? Was it the industrial approach to mass murder and the economic exploitation of the victims?
 
Johnd2000 said:
My Son's doing WW2 history at school at the moment. Presumably its part of whatever passes for a national curriculum these days, under Gove. He's 10.
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Going back 33 years to when I was 10, we also studied the second world war at some length at primary school. I can remember writing loads about various land battles.
 
would love to visit.......

would love to do it as a road trip - would be awesome..

may have to wait a few years now though.....
 
srichards said:
I'm amazed anyone can get to 18 and not have that in their schooling. There's some seriously deficient education out there!
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They don't have the time, my teenage kids are back in the house at 2:35

It was 3:35 2 days a week until the school asked a selected group of parents if they thought it would be better for the children if they finished school at the same time each day

Patents said yes thinking it'd be 3:35 every day but no, it was cleverly worded
 
wack61 said:
They don't have the time, my teenage kids are back in the house at 2:35

It was 3:35 2 days a week until the school asked a selected group of parents if they thought it would be better for the children if they finished school at the same time each day

Patents said yes thinking it'd be 3:35 every day but no, it was cleverly worded
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2:35? Jeez no wonder education is slipping.

:puke:
 
Daryl makes a very good point, I'm sure many of us have been to Berlin and seen the very large monument to the fallen Jews, but what about the others, the homosexual one is a very tiny easy missed affair, and as of last year there were still problems over the gypsy one not even being started/finished and that too is is going to be very small.

I would imagine a lot has to do with each groups willingness to either forget/forgive the past and or wish to stump up the cash to fund memorials.
 
akr said:
This has just started on BBC2 now.
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Yes, saw it and have seen countless others about the holocaust. Never ceases to shock me.

Given all that I have read and watched about this subject I am still at a total loss to even begin to understand how people could have been so evil as to perpetrate such horrendous attrocities.
Horrible and cruel things happen in wars. It is in the nature of armed conflict for that to occur, but what the nazis inflicted on a variety of people is immeasurably extreme.
 
Have been teaching The Holocaust in school during RE lessons over the last three weeks. Will use the interview in lesson, thank you for the link.
 
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