Dancing in supposed celebration of the death of Baroness Thatcher is in bad taste but to watch young people doing so or to read their online posts either lamenting her time in power or remembering it with apparent fondness is, in many cases, also remarkable; they are obviously considerably younger than me, yet I myself was only thirteen years of age when she left office in 1990 and, despite being something of a geek, I remember almost nothing of her eleven years as Prime Minister.
Personally, I have no opinion of Lady Thatcher’s time in office; it did not affect me directly and I do not know enough about it – I don’t suppose I should opine only on the basis of having seen the film The Iron Lady! The most I can acknowledge is that she was a towering political figure who had a massive impact in her time, that she obviously continues to have an impact and that she rightly has a place in history as Britain’s first female Prime Minister. To me, she is historically interesting and that is all.
As a teacher, the reaction of the past few days to Lady Thatcher’s death – particularly from those younger people than me - emphasises one of the greatest long-term failings of our education system: it does not empower people to think for themselves. Instead, far too many people too easily believe the limited amount they read in newspapers or on online social networks, see and hear on television or the radio or absorb from their parents, relatives and friends and they blindly follow one crowd or another. They do not distinguish fact from opinion, they do not question and they do not analyse. This is not only true of young people; it is tragically true of many of my parents’ generation too. I have had discussions with both eleven year old children and fifty-odd year old grown-ups on issues ranging from immigration to welfare to school nativities in which they have vehemently espoused an argument, which – it has emerged – is based on nothing more than a newspaper headline.
This is especially relevant in the week in which consultation on the new National Curriculum draws to a close. The proposed curriculum for History is of particular concern. If adopted, children in key stage two (aged between seven and eleven) will learn some Roman, Greek and local history, as they always have, together with fourteen aspects of British history in sequence from the stone, bronze and iron ages to the Glorious Revolution (handily broken into over fifty bullet-points for teachers). It is widely believed that this represents a particular agenda of the Secretary of State’s: his anachronistic and irrelevant belief that people do not know enough about the specific dates and basic facts of supposedly key events in British History (the Heptarchy and the plantation of Ireland among them). Such a curriculum would do little more than prepare young people to win a pub quiz.
Moreover, it disregards the capacity of children to delve far more deeply into History. History provides opportunities for children to explore decision-making and responsibility (you would think Mr Gove would like that!) and - more than in any other subject - to develop the skills to question and analyse and ultimately to think for themselves that too many people lack - which leads to their misguided reactions to current affairs. Gove might claim his curriculum does not rule out that possibility, but the reality of such a content-heavy History curriculum alongside the other ten subjects of the National Curriculum is that there would be little time for children to learn any more than basic facts and dates.
As a country, we have long held the correct belief that education empowers individuals and communities and has the power to change society and the world. This revision of the National Curriculum is an opportunity either to equip young people with the knowledge they need to win a pub quiz or with the skills and power they need to rationally and reasonably react to the events of their time and even to change the world. Perhaps Mr Gove should reflect on what the late Baroness Thatcher would want for the young people of Great Britain.