When Will We Ever Learn
History is under attack from apathy. Cast into relative obscurity within the National Curriculum this largely misunderstood subject area possibly holds the greatest impact in the future destiny of countries of tomorrow.
A bold statement coming from one who took little personal interest whilst at school. Slightly misquoted as one damn thing after another in Alan Bennett’s film and stage play “The History Boys” it is a crucial area of knowledge that requires careful handling to stimulate interest and provide reason in the developing mind. My own experience comprised of reading endless dull text books at school would have benefited immensely from the modern history games format which increases interest immeasurably.
The entire Government of tomorrow is currently in our schools and their grounding in History is vital if we are to benefit from learning from the mistakes and successes of the past. History which is the manifestation of the one true virtue of hindsight could have resolved many surmises of the modern world. But it needs to be handled with care entrusted to teachers able to put a modern slant on the subject to present facts in an enlightening manner to stimulate interest.
Modern teaching resources such as Ancient Egypt, Roman , Victorian, Viking , and World War 2 games all present the facts in an entertaining way for the enquiring mind.
My enemies’ enemy is my friend maintains stability in many countries of the modern world, with predictable results if the status quo is interrupted. The possibly repressive Tito regime in the then Yugoslavia held the country under control for decades. His ultimate demise saw the burst into a blood bath between the warring factions previously held in check. So why didn’t we anticipate that the removal of Saddam Hussein in Iraq would suffer the same consequence. History should have taught us.
Culture, religion, natural resources, environment, land, access routes conspire as key elements in the modern world yet all stem from a basis in history. Economic situations track with modern dynamics but the glue holding the machine together comes from the past. Let us hope that History can be elevated to the status it rightly deserves and avoid the irony of going down in the history books with an epitaph of why on earth did we never learn from the past.
Alistair Owens
educational games from www.keen2learn.co.uk
