This is frankly, quite scary...

[PvtPyle]

Not at all. How about the rise and fall of the British Empire for instance? Or the formation of the German state - it is impossible to fully understand WWI without a basic appreciation of how the various Germanic states were unified under Bismarck.

A little bit of 18th and 19th century British political history is essential to understanding the modern political parties. Disraeli and Gladstone anyone?

How about the abolition of slavery in the United States?

The Russian Revolution in 1918 was mentioned - the entire Communist/socialist movement is irrelevant outside of the context of Tsarism (pre-1900).

Why not go right back though? Do kids these days understand why there are fundamental differences between the Catholic and Protestant churches? They might not impact life in England, but they certainly do in Ireland.

Another key factor in British history that I am sure most young people haven't got the first idea about is the English Civil War. In fact, I wager many of them don't even know there was one!

Just a few thoughts...

[Garp]

Originally Posted by George Santayana

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it

Pretty much sums it up. Problem is there is just way too much history to try and remember, so we end up going in circles, repeating past mistakes because the particulars of those previous mistakes are unknown, and by the time we realise the similarities its too late; or we swear its different this time.

[Justsomebloke]

^^ Agreed but it comes to something when kids in this Country don't even know why they are Church of England or why they now live the Free lives they have.
I've said before that somebody once told me the Moon was the Sun & actually believed it, that particluar womans kids were a Disgrace when it came to knowledge. Fantastic kids don't get me wrong i really clicked with them but ask them anything about the Planet or the World or History & they just looked at you with Blank faces

[Justsomebloke]

On a side note my History teacher was David Ackfield who was a Spin bowler for Essex when they won the league around the end of the 70's.
He was a complete **** & a useless teacher who i would like to batter to be quite ****** honest. I have a Personal passion for history given to me by my Grandad & Ackfield killed it. I got back into History after leaving school & it is without doubt one of my favourite subjects. For me if it isn't/wasn't real then i don't want to know about it.
History to me is Everything.

This is the Destroyer of young minds here.
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/engl...ayer/8484.html

[Justsomebloke]

He never taught anything though the complete *******.
We would be lining up outside the classroom, He would walk past us & into the classroom leaving the door open saying Nothing. then he would just walk up to the blackboard & start writing on it super fast from a text book he held in his other hand. He used to write really fast & if you hadn't copied it before he rolled the blackboard round it was Tuff & you were expected to get it off somebody else. He never interacted with us or told us verbally anything at all apart form Shut the **** up & write.
Complete & utter waste of space & a waste of all the young minds he had influence over.
Even the Boffs in our class used to struggle & i cannot think of one person even the quiet girl who never spoke liking him.
Death to Ackfield the ****

[Justsomebloke]

Malc Never forgets an Enemy

[Pheebs]

Eyes nose about the peoples on the moon!

(I also know that it's actually made of cheese.)



I am slightly shocked at that... it's quite a well known general knowledge kind of thing!

Equally, I know sometimes I do lack in the general knowledge area at the best of times, so maybe it's just one of those things?

ie. On the Phone to NHS Direct about my wooziness:

Nurse: "Have you suffered a bang to your head?"

Me: "Nup"

Nurse: "Have you suffered any tingling sensations in your arms or elsewhere?"

Me: "Nup"

Nurse: "Have you suffered any palpitations?"

Me: "Not as of late. Though I did have this weird eczema thing over my hand last week. Drove me mad - very itchy and sore. Like Blisters they were. So I kinda had a rash, but it's definitely not related."

Nurse: "Erm. Okay. But palpitations means irregular heart beats."

Me: "Oh" *silent* "Oops"


I also don't know much about Mister Churchill (unless you're speaking of the telephone on wheels). Picky did an impression of him when playing Cranium and I didn't have a clue. Thought he was pretending to be that cigar smoking dude from quantum leap or something.

So yeh. Poor girl. Maybe she got confused with all this nonsense about it being staged?

*shrugs*

[Justsomebloke]

Laughs at Pheebs then Hugz her in a cute kind of softy girly way

[semi-pro waster]

I'm surprised to hear that your sister didn't know about the moon landings (or judging by the internet wasn't going "OMFG it's a conspiracy, man never landed on the moon") but a gap like that suggests there could be other equally large holes in her knowledge of the subject. However while there are certain things I would generally expect everyone to know not everyone finds history interesting - I do, although I only studied it to Standard Grade level, yet I got my lowest mark for the whole lot in it (a 3), I'm still not convinced they didn't just lose my paper for the credit section because it is a heck of a lot easier to get a lower credit pass than a high general one - not that I'm bitter or nuffink.

[Justsomebloke]

Same as me. I didn't really take Geography in unless it related to a History situation in my head. Like i wanted to know where certain places in the world was sort of thing.
The only thing that kept me interested in Geography was Miss Tillitson
On the other hand i had many long discussion about history with older people & most of the time there own history knowledge was slotted into a time/period/situation that was personal to them rather than them be interested in general history.
For me i am so much into history i can stand in an old building just staring at the architecture, once that has passed i have to move on to the individual history of the place & then the personal accounts of people from that building/area/country.
My thirst for Accurate historical knowledge is unquenchable.