Cristopher Colombia in primary school curriculum

What North American obsession? American children are taught that he was a horrible coloniser that spread disease and destruction in his path. In fact for decades now the curriculum in the US has focused on the horrors of colonialism against the indigenous people. My American cousins talked about it when they were in school.

They should teach them about him honestly, a kid friendly level obviously, but they can’t ignore that he existed.

You mean the Normans? The UK didn't exist at that point.

But he was a significant explorer. That doesn't mean he was a good person or wasn't controversial. It also doesn't mean that his exploration and discoveries were all positive.

Edited because I wanted to add that you can ask to see curriculum content and can give your opinion on how it is presented, especially if how it is presented is disrespectful towards your son's heritage.

I read somewhere that when the Beaker people came they bought disease and almost wiped out the Neolithic population of Britain through disease and probably warfare. We are all mainly descended from the Beaker people than populations before that.

We taught about Christopher Columbus in y3 and it actually encouraged some of the best debates I’ve seen in a y3 classroom. We taught about all aspects of Christopher Columbus and ended with a debate of ‘Was he a hero or a villain?’
I think with all aspects of history it’s important to look at everyone’s perspectives!

Yes - I support you saying they should teach about him, warts and all or not at all.

The European conquest of the Americas can be described as one of the biggest genocides in human history and he was instrumental in that. They will likely sanitise it though.

🤣🤣🤣🤣👍

History books are all corrupt. Several countries change and whitewash history to make themselves look better. As they say, history books are usually written by people to hide what happened and make themselves look better

I mean the UK invading Ireland was a HUGE part of recent history, but if I ask people in England about it, most people arent even aware of what happened. Because its been whitewashed out of history classes.

I see a Palestinian youtuber talk to Israelis on tiktok about the conflict there. Every single young Israeli that he talks to has a completely wrong idea of what happened. They are taught at a young age that Israel is completely innocent and Palestinians are the wrong ones. Its a lot more nuances than that

Read your post through again, and blush.

You’re not in the least unreasonable, OP. I was very clear with DS and his teachers that the version of Oliver Cromwell he encountered in the English school system wouldn’t be the one who was responsible for the massacre of thousands of civilians in Drogheda and Wexford, a war criminal who ran a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

But funny 😂

I've taught history for many years. The 'civilising white Europeans' version hasn't been predominant for decades.

And very unlikely they are going to be talking about rape and genocide to Y1s. OP I think you are right to query this.

Same with Muhammad?

Actually they probably weren't wiped out. Various peoples might have suffered from the effects of the climate changes or illness, but some would have probably survived. The Beaker People came from Europe but the British Isles weren't empty. The population was very small in any case and interbreeding would have been quite normal. A dig near Swindon found Neanderthal DNA in bones found there which showed that they weren't wiped out but probably interbred with the new peoples who arrived.

Totally agree, great comment.

Obviously it would have to be age appropriate 🤨🙄. But a wider understanding of the world is always a good thing. Children can learn that bad things happened on the past. You just have to teach it in the right way.

Is there any country that doesn’t have a terrible past? I think humanity is ultimately a power hunting shitshow of greed. Always has been and always will be.

Thank you for posting this. We teach John Cabot as an explorer along a similar narrative. It is possible to talk openly about injustice and colonialism with young children.

When the education department set out the U.K. curriculum, they probably didn’t realise your son would be in a classroom somewhere in England.

do you honestly think your school should change the whole syllabus just because your son attends the school? How entitled.

Don’t forget to mention Human Sacrifice, Slavery, Ritual Cannibalism, Ritual Skinning, Stoning adulterers, and burning people alive.

All practiced by the Aztecs

You could offer to go into school and speak to the class about how he impacted your home country and teach them bait how life in Mexico was before he arrived while your at it. My school would welcome this. It would help present the more nuanced and rounded view that would be much better.

I find the attitude that “other countries had indigenous people but European countries surely never did” odd and I’m really curious to know why people think it.

Is it because we’re used to seeing Europeans as oppressors? Or because we want to emphasise the “our country has always been a melting pot of different immigrant groups” angle?

Of course there were indigenous people in Britain. That doesn’t mean they were in the “original” people. There is no one indigenous group, it just means the group who were here before the next wave of arrivals.

Different waves of people have reached Britain at different times and until the early modern period they mostly tried to massacre large parts of the existing population when they did so. The Saxons were just as oppressed by the Normans as the Maya were by the Spanish (with the possible exception of the smallpox angle).

If you have any British heritage you are almost certainly descended from both oppressors and victims, over multiple waves of invasion and violence. The same is true of just about every country on earth.

Just to pile on - the song Swing Low is a slave song and talks about slave suffering. It is offensive that it is the song for English Rugby. Every time I hear it here I cringe - it works both ways.