Teacher showing photos to kids of victorian dead children - slightly disturbing

Mine included a lot of WWII and more recent photos of the horrible things that happen in conflicts. I actually think the trend to protect our precious snowflakes from anything triggering rather than the other direction. I’m 40 so dunno how old you are but it’s pretty weird you didn’t have any WWII photos at least. I’m not sure a fact about 10 million people dying really gets the point across in the same way as a photo does.

DreamTheMoors · Today 01:41

Actually, Dreamy, it was I, Polly, who taught them Latin, and made them love it. DH, though not a trained teacher, but a Royal Navy gunnery expert, was a teacher to his very soul. Adored kids. Got through to young kids in a manner I have rarely seen, with his "reality learning". I wrote a course on teaching Latin through games and kinaesthetic activities...all great, provided the teacher has passion. So many of my ex-pupils went on to Public School, passionate about Classics. Latin should not be fusty and boring - it's fun and fascinating.

You sound victorian yourself. Have you come over with vapours from shock. Teen years are going to be a shock for you.

During the industrial revolution death was much more of a fact of life than today. Death and mourning customs are a part of that and there was a rapid growth in death related industries. For the Victorians death customs expanded to incorporate the new technology of photography. So it was an industry that grew out of death

In the previous Georgian/Regency times mourning jewellery was popular with a whole industry evolving around Whitby to supply the manufacturers of mourning jewellery with jet stones. Many pieces such as rings and brooches etc featured intricate designs that were made with the hair of the deceased.

There were other death related industries that grew up - penny burial policies for example where insurance men came to your house and collected a penny each week on policies to pay for the burial of family members. It was the way for working class people to be able to afford to have a proper burial for family members. My grandparents used such a policy in the 1930s when their son died aged 2 of bronchitis.

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Photography is actually one of the most interesting and world-changing technological inventions of that period, and post mortem photography is a fascinating and relevant part of nineteenth century culture. Through it students can learn all sorts of things about the differences between modern and past cultures, including Victorian mourning culture, the spread of technological innovations like photography (which had the fastest global uptake of any visual technology ever), and so on. It’s a window into past customs that shows how the world was - especially in relation to domestic, children and family cultures of the period, which were often left out of the “great men and their machines” type of traditional history.

It’s also a damn sight more interesting as a lesson than Brunel or Disraeli or whatever. I teach postmortem photography to visual arts degree students studying that period, and I wish my history teachers had done more of that kind of cultural history at school rather than endless Tudor taxation acts, to be honest.

@whyiwonderwhy So its creeped you out, and therefore you dont like it being taught to your teenagers?

I hate this phrase but in this case it works, its a "you" problem.

I am finding this so disturbing I can't sleep! However I might be being oversensitive, who knows. It is the "but - WHY?" bit which is bothering me most.

Yeah, you are being massively over sensitive and need to move into the real world.

@whyiwonderwhy
You and your husband sound like amazing teachers.
My Latin teacher was an ex-priest, who left the church for a woman in another country.
Once they got settled in the US, she left him. All she wanted was US citizenship.
I think he must be the kindest person I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.
And he also made learning fun.
Amo amas amat ❤️

Spinning Jenny and the Industrial Revolution still give me nightmares.

Presumably they have pictures of eg Spinning Jenny in their text books. I find it hard to believe this wouldn’t have already been shown as an image in some form.

The Victorian photographs are interesting and you can’t know what context they were shown in, assuming you weren’t in the classroom.

I would be concerned if these were being shown to young primary school children, but not this age group.

It might help if you explain the backstory and why you can’t simply ask about the photographs. We don’t know the context but I’d be more concerned if my DC was at a school where I didn’t feel able to speak to a teacher, query things or voice concerns.

Learning needs to be memorable. that lesson was memorable

I saw graphic car crash live films as required in driver education class.
I was grossed out and they didn’t make me drive any more defensively.
My dad yelling at me worked like a charm.

whyiwonderwhy · Today 00:02

mmsnet · Today 00:00
its part ot victorian history, get over yourself

right back at you, my lovely

FFS. This response, so nasty and pointless, shocked me far more than any suggestion of ghoulishness on the part of the teacher.

Whyiwonderwhy

You are an unpleasant piece of work. Ever tried to engage kids of that age in history? No? Thought not.
When I was teaching Latin at a prep school and DH (ex-Royal Navy, delightful avuncular figure for the boarders) ran a Roman Legion, he taught them how to kill people with a gladius.(stick it between the ribs, pull it out and listen for the sucking noise) He re-enacted Roman battles, all good boys-own stuff, the kids made armour and functioning ballistae, carried out operations against the barbarians in the woods after dark, camp fires, route marches ... He was adored by the kids, who were inspired to carry on their fascination with Roman culture. The parents thought it was absolutely wonderful, too.
Oh, and we took them to Rome. For the day. Wearing their uniforms which I had had printed for them. Walking down the Via Corso, some carabinieri saw them coming, nudged each other, snapped to attention and presented arms. The little boys were walking half a metre above the pavement.

All this fucking clutching of pearls among these precious, ignorant parents.

Yep - get over yourself.

This IS part of that "broad base" 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️.

But child mortality was a huge issue during the Victorian era. Public health systems were either entirely lacking or woefully inadequate. Children particularly in the industrial towns and cities were being employed in incredibly dangerous jobs: chimney sweeps, clearing fallen cotton from beneath looms in textile factories, down in the coal mines, etc.

They were often living in squalid conditions in overcrowded tenements, malnourished and contending with poor sanitation and often inadequate infrastructure, resulting in awful and deadly events such as cholera outbreaks from contaminated water pumps (the Broad Street Pump outbreak in London killed over 600 people). And that’s assuming they weren’t especially unlucky and were in the workhouse.

It might seem morbid, but I think it’s an important aspect of that era for children to understand. So many children didn’t make it to adulthood, mainly due to the limitations in science and modern medicine (no vaccination programmes for childhood diseases in those days), hence the Victorians taking those commemorative photos. Today’s children will benefit greatly from understanding how very lucky they are to have been born when they have been.

I'm sure the teacher will cover the curriculum. I don't think it's up to parents to dictate the content of one individual lesson. That's rather controlling. You weren't in the lesson to know exactly what was covered. I guess you could submit detailed lesson plans for how you think each topic should be covered if you wanted to share your expertise though.

Bloody goths!

If you make it big deal, it will be a big deal to your kids, so don't.

Says who? Sounds like bollocks to me. The human details can often be a good way in to the broader ideas.

If you can’t sleep because of this, then you need help.