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AIBU?

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Original poster

to let DS do school project on Jack the Ripper?

379 replies

soupforbrains · 15/08/2017 14:25

DS is 10. he is bright, loves reading and is a huge history buff.

Summer homework project is "Choose a famous Victorian to learn about and present what you learn in a creative way".

DS wants to do Jack the Ripper, DS is already aware of Jack the Ripper from the Horrible Histories books and some other kids books/shows which have discussed great unsolved mysteries.

I think this is a fun idea, and together we have discussed presenting the finding on a big board like and investigation/crime board. Obviously there will be some glossing over of the details and clearly we're not about to stick crime scene photos up. We've also discussed looking into the living conditions in the east end of london at the time to give more social history learning to it than just the crimes.

I'm not an idiot and I know that this idea is perhaps a bit risky but so long as we do it in an age appropriate and not over gory manner would IBU to let son do this. Additionally would any teachers out there consider it to be interesting and a bit different from the no doubt countless Isambard Kingdom Brunels which turn up, or a step too far?

OP posts:
GinIsIn · 15/08/2017 20:57

Melville McNachten?

KeiraTwiceKnightley · 15/08/2017 20:59

Id recommend Ned Kelly if he wants infamous. Good family background stuff (poverty and crime link), lots of bad behaviour and a great death. Australian but still British by the standards of the day.

KeiraTwiceKnightley · 15/08/2017 21:00

For Ned Id suggest presenting the info written on a model of his figure in his tin man guise.

starsorwater · 15/08/2017 21:00

Sam Plimsoll would be superb. He could make model boats and paint in the Plimsoll line, and show what happens when it is ignored, also the social history is fascinating.

SuperBeagle · 15/08/2017 21:02

Ned's a good one, although I may be biased as I'm Australian. 😁

zwellers · 15/08/2017 21:10

No issues here. I certainly knew about jack the ripper at ten. In fact we were taught about him when we did crime and punishment and topics (mid eighties). Am actually struggling to think of another victorion I would have found interesting at that age. Isn't this exactly why horrible histories is so popular

spinassienne · 15/08/2017 21:11

The explorer Richard Burton. Someone suggested Mary Shelley, but she's pre-Victorian.

zwellers · 15/08/2017 21:13

All the alternatives sound boring Way to turn your ds of his school project.

FlaviaAlbia · 15/08/2017 21:18

What about Alfred Russel Wallace?

Naturalist, explorer, discovered the Wallace Line, came up with the theory of survival of the fittest or natural selection.

Its even better if your DS doesn't fancy Darwin as Darwin nicked Wallace's theories and got all the credit for them as he was posh and in England and Wallace was not.

Icantreachthepretzels · 15/08/2017 21:20

With children accessing porn at shockingly early ages, and with the news being real life and on at 6, and sex workers getting murdered sometimes making the news - how many 10/11 year olds already have an idea of what a prostitute is?

I found out what a prostitute was around that age because I saw an advert for the TV show 'Band of Gold' and so asked my sister -you can't protect your children from all the seedy aspects of life because they crop up everywhere - but you can talk and explain about them in an age appropriate way.

It would be up to the OP to decide if she thought her son was ready to know about sex workers (or if he already does... because, the real world!), but they could certainly talk about how JtR targeted women, presumably because he really hated them (as he was never caught the his motivation is always going to be best guess).

I imagine any curious ten year old would ask why he hated them and this would be a way into discussing the prevalence of VAWG today - and how its a sliding scale - it starts with boys refusing pink and not wanting a toy because its a 'girls toy' Has he ever done that? why did he do that? has he ever used 'girl' as an insult? Lots of boys do and some of those boys grow up to think women are less and so enjoy hurting them. Lots of men kill women every single week. JtR is an extreme case of something that goes on to this day.

There's absolutely no reason to have to fudge the truth, but you can still get loads of discussion about ongoing social issues - and the beauty is they have the summer holiday to look over it and think about it, then Op's DS completes his creative presentation on the facts of JtR which no other children are exposed to but he's learned about social issues and dynamics and has a greater understanding of how the world is for vulnerable people.

Do we teach children about the terrible epidemic of VAWG? or do we hide it from them until their 18? Might be a bit late by then. If a child is old enough to ask, then they are old enough to be given select facts.

Op's Ds wants to know about JtR, he clearly already knows about death and murder - there's no reason not to introduce the idea that violence is gendered and that a lot of it is aimed at women. Explaining that through something that happened over 100 years ago actually puts it a safe distance for him. Its probably a lot less traumatic for a child to process the JtR murders as an introduction to violence against women then it is for them to process a family annihilation appearing on the local news.

histinyhandsarefrozen · 15/08/2017 21:29

James Barry would be interesting too (and a far better way to introduce societal issues and discrimination against women imo)

Icantreachthepretzels · 15/08/2017 21:32

It would only be a better way to do it if Op's Ds shows any interest in James Barry. This isn't actually a presentation on social issues, my point was that there's no reason to shy away from JtR because he brings up uncomfortable social issues.

Unicornsandrainbows3 · 15/08/2017 21:46

Ned's a good suggestion but again you'd have to censor some of the graphic description about the death of his victims.

SuperBeagle · 15/08/2017 21:48

Ned's not known for his murders though. You can very easily gloss over them without losing the rest of the legend.

histinyhandsarefrozen · 15/08/2017 21:50

Yeah Jack the Ripper was kind of a one trick pony.

I genuinely can't understand why people find him so fascinating. I know it's different strokes etc, but c'mon....

CanadaMoose91 · 15/08/2017 21:58

Seriously at all of the Confused faces? It's in horrible histories. It's fine!

nomorebabiesyet · 15/08/2017 22:01

I did exactly that 15 years ago! Got an A!
Let him do it!

HelenaDove · 15/08/2017 22:11

I was 15 when this was broadcast.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper_(1988_TV_series)

It was made for broadcast on the 100th anniversary of the murders.

I remember the big features to coincide in the Sunday papers at the time.

Its a long time since ive seen it though Drama have shown it a couple of times. Michael Caine plays Inspector Abbeline. Its not as "dark" as From Hell but like i say its been a long time.

Ive also read the James Maybrick diary and a book which i think was just called The Whitechapel Murders where they kind of pulled a Life on Mars in reverse and discussed whether Jack could have been caught with modern forensic techniques if he had commited the murders in the then present day (the 1990s) because thats when this book came out.

A PP mentioned Spring Heeled Jack. Someone leant me a book in the early 2000s with different urban legends and folklore in it and that was one of them.

toconclude · 15/08/2017 22:18

"Teachers can tell when the work was mainly done by parents"

They think they can. Ds 1 was told he'd got his painstakingly book-researched project (on trains, so we are clear) wholesale off the internet. Never tried with that teacher again.

saoirse31 · 15/08/2017 22:20

You're fooling yourself if you genuinely think that you can avoid him knowing they were prostitutes, seeing crime scene photos etc. But by the way you use the word 'we' to describe how the project will be done, it sounds as if you'll be doing most of work anyway.

Original poster
soupforbrains · 15/08/2017 22:20

Thanks everyone. Lots of good suggestions.

Ned Kelly is super interesting I agree but DS has done him before (my DB lives in AUS and we went to visit which gave perfect opportunity because Ned is actually v distant relative)

OP posts:
Original poster
soupforbrains · 15/08/2017 22:27

saoirse I never said I would avoid him knowing they were prostitutes. Simply that we wouldn't dwell on it in his work. He already knows they are prostitutes. He has known about the existence of that 'career' since we visited Pompeii a few years ago plus it gets mentioned in a lot more areas of history than you might imagine. Additionally there is only one crime scene which was photographed (2 photos) they are awful but I am aware of them. he doesn't get unsupervised access to the internet and I've pre-checked the books we got from the library so actually it's quite easy to avoid him seeing them.

He will be doing the work himself but that doesn't mean I turn him loose and allow him to dredge up whatever things he can find for heavens sake. I've responded about the 'we' thing before. If you can't be bothered to actually read the thread then don't weigh in.

But it's a moot point seeing as I've already said several times that he won't be doing he Ripper for his subject anymore.

OP posts:
ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 15/08/2017 22:54

Cecil Rhodes or David Livingston are both interesting (if flawed characters).

martiniwini · 15/08/2017 23:01

It's part of history, let him do it! Doesn't mean he's going to turn out to be a serial killer.

martiniwini · 15/08/2017 23:05

You're all overthinking this way too much. Kids learn about battles and wars... why should this be any different?
You don't have to go into such graphic detail.