To think this was an inappropriate school task

[Lalalabrador]

My year 8 daughter was asked to write an essay today on the question How did India benefit from colonialism and how was it harmed by it? I’m pretty gobsmacked. I’m a professional historian and sad that something so intellectually bankrupt is being taught to young people.

@Rosehip10 -surely the answer is obvious though. She is a civil servant by day and a watcher of Dan Jones documentaries at night sitting on the sofa with her knickers worn on top of her tights. Has a glass of wine and rants on social media about history on social media, presses the post button and voila -published historian. Perfectly obvious surely.

@Lalalabrador

India did not benefit from colonialism. There is no for or against colonialism. There ‘weren’t good people on both sides’. I want my daughter to learn the truth about the British Empire not a skewed, jingoistic myth of a Britain generously bestowing ‘civility’ on the poor ‘savages’ of the colonies.

Exactly.

"I'd be surprised if there was anyone on here who isn't from a colonised country

Aren't 95% of people here British? In which case.....

@Lalalabrador

There was a positive legacy of colonialism though eg the railway network, ask an Indian rather than the typical western academic approach of a presuming they know what others think due to guilt over the negative parts of colonialism. Nobody with hindsight thinks it's permissible now to take over another country, but that's not what's being asked, it's what aspects of life today were established under the Raj that are positive on the lives of people now. The head of Indian history where my dd attends is Indian (from kerela) and he's got very different views to white colleagues, I've been to several public lectures he's given

I would have seen it as a starting point for future education on the subject. She's 8 years old, a question about advantages and disadvantages of something is teaching her to assess both sides of an argument and is pretty standard at that age.

Its not as if she's going to be able to critically analyse and evaluate nuanced historical cultural impacts in her first venture into the subject at the age of 8.

Little article here about how India has colonised Britain... mainly through acquisition of British businesses in recent years. You think Tetley tea is British? Nope. It’s Indian. Etc
content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1730172,00.html

@GreenlandTheMovie
She is not 8!

Year 8 is ? 12 to 13

There was a positive legacy of colonialism though eg the railway network, ask an Indian rather than the typical western academic approach of a presuming they know what others think due to guilt over the negative parts of colonialism.

I have "asked an Indian", in that I have had lots of conversations about British colonial rule with my Indian DH over the last 25 years, and with many of his friends and family. They do not have a rosy view of what happened.

While few would argue that there weren't any unintended positive consequences of colonial rule (like the railways or the English language), I know that my DH would consider the essay title in the OP to be inappropriate because of the leading nature of the question. It should have been phrased differently.

@OwMyNeck

"I'd be surprised if there was anyone on here who isn't from a colonised country

Aren't 95% of people here British? In which case.....

Ever heard of the Romans? Norman conquest? You do realise the British empire is just one of hundreds? They rise and fall in the continuous cycle of history.

The reading comprehension of posters on this thread is a bit worrying. The OP clearly states it's her year 8 daughter, not her 8 year old daughter.

Has anyone actually said how the question could have been better phrased?

It's just so silly anyway. You don't need to be colonised to access new technologies because trade. Japan has excellent railways, for example.

[quote SomersetHamlyn]@Benjispruce2

Surprised an 8 year old has been given an essay question. Year 4? I work in primary school in the U.K. and this wouldn’t even be a question for year 6.

The fictional child is in Year 8. Not 8 years old.[/quote]

However, I don't want it to be taught with a complete absence of moral judgement either.

You're talking as though the girl has been given this essay title in a vaccuum, and it will never be referred to again.
Of course subject this will have been discussed before the task was set, and will be discussed again afterwards. And it will be part of a wider curriculum topic which will no doubt make it clear what our present attitude to colonialism is.

It's ok for adults to consider the question OPs daughter was set, but how can twelve year olds adequately do this? They are dealing with set phrases, 'colonialism' being one of them, which have been assigned by an historian to describe many decades in the life of a country. I say give them some smaller items to consider: some letters; some diaries which show the first-hand experience, and let them use their minds fully to toss over a question they can appreciate in its entirety. Or use a novel. Haven't read it but I think the boy in the striped pyjamas novel attempts to show two perspectives. Aren't you just asking pupils to accept what others have said about a system? 'It gave efficient government'; 'It brought technology'. How could you explain what most people in India thought in the 1940 . How can they explore the significance of each initiative and what would have happened without the British.
We know what the politicians in India said they wanted, but they aren't every citizen, and perhaps they had a vested interest in wanting leadership for themselves. Such a big question set for homework when you really get to the bottom of all the movements and ideas. Then you have the British historians' point of view which might differ from that of an historian in another part of the world. Then camps for historians - left-wing, right-wing, etc.

Let the kids learn to look at primary sources and evaluate fact and opinion therein. Teach them about political ideas and structures before you look at individual examples of regimes. Look at how pure democracy would be a plebicite on every law. What most countries have is a workable form of democracy. Look at the Enlightenment ideas. Leave colonialism for when the kids are older and have studied writerly bias. Focus on social history and how individuals see things. Use poems and first hand accounts, but don't expect to master the big political issues when only twelve.

@FunkBus

"Very revealing the responses to your post Op. We've such a long way to go. "

I mean, what does this even mean? I don't see anyone saying 'hurrah for the Empire' but it is ludicrous to suggest that it didn't have some eventual benefits. No one is saying that that therefore justifies it fgs.

It means we have a long way to go in teaching people not think at all and just to regurgitate whatever they are told.

@Diverseopinions

It's ok for adults to consider the question OPs daughter was set, but how can twelve year olds adequately do this? They are dealing with set phrases, 'colonialism' being one of them, which have been assigned by an historian to describe many decades in the life of a country. I say give them some smaller items to consider: some letters; some diaries which show the first-hand experience, and let them use their minds fully to toss over a question they can appreciate in its entirety. Or use a novel. Haven't read it but I think the boy in the striped pyjamas novel attempts to show two perspectives. Aren't you just asking pupils to accept what others have said about a system? 'It gave efficient government'; 'It brought technology'. How could you explain what most people in India thought in the 1940 . How can they explore the significance of each initiative and what would have happened without the British. We know what the politicians in India said they wanted, but they aren't every citizen, and perhaps they had a vested interest in wanting leadership for themselves. Such a big question set for homework when you really get to the bottom of all the movements and ideas. Then you have the British historians' point of view which might differ from that of an historian in another part of the world. Then camps for historians - left-wing, right-wing, etc.

Let the kids learn to look at primary sources and evaluate fact and opinion therein. Teach them about political ideas and structures before you look at individual examples of regimes. Look at how pure democracy would be a plebicite on every law. What most countries have is a workable form of democracy. Look at the Enlightenment ideas. Leave colonialism for when the kids are older and have studied writerly bias. Focus on social history and how individuals see things. Use poems and first hand accounts, but don't expect to master the big political issues when only twelve.

And I suspect the pupils will already have done some of this - as guided by the teacher. The children are learning not just about history, but the study of history, and that gets more complex and nuanced the older they get. A seven-year-old learning about “the Victorians” or “the Tudors” would come up with very different things to an adult PhD student, even with exactly the same essay subject.

I actually thought this had been very successfully taught tbh. Esp given some of the threads on here😂

I think it’s a great question for a history essay, it basically says don’t get caught up in today’s narrative, actually look at all the sides. Every situation has pluses and minuses I’m glad questions like this are being set. I hope it is being taught in the context of Empires generally and how they have shaped the world we live in today.

Sorry my response was meant to quote @HannaYeah but didn’t for some reason

I read "my 8 year old daughter..."
Was wondering what kind of genius primary school she went to

"It means we have a long way to go in teaching people not think at all and just to regurgitate whatever they are told."

Which side is it that you think are doing the regurgitating? Because I see a lot of thoughtful replies, honestly.

"Ever heard of the Romans? Norman conquest? You do realise the British empire is just one of hundreds? They rise and fall in the continuous cycle of history."

Yes, I think everyone realises that, you're not the only one who did primary school level history.

I don't think many modern British people would consider themselves to still be suffering the blight of the Normans/the Romans/the Vikings.

What did the Romans ever do for us, eh?

You're talking as though the girl has been given this essay title in a vaccuum, and it will never be referred to again.

No, I'm responding to the posters who seem to think that we should not apply any moral judgements to past events.

The question is how did India benefit from colonialism, which would suggest the teacher wants the students to look at fairly immediate effects, rather than how has Indian benefitted... which would suggest looking at things in modern India whose origins can be traced back to colonialism.

A better question would be 'what benefits did colonialists believe they were bringing to India and what harm did they do', which focuses on the historical question.

A potential answer to the question posed is that as historians we can look at the outcomes of certain policies but for some things (slavery, colonising, genocide) even if there were considerable 'benefits', those ends are never an adequate justification.

A better question would be 'what benefits did colonialists believe they were bringing to India and what harm did they do',

@Morred That'd be a loaded way of putting it though, as it's already telling kids the 'right way to think' even before they start a consideration of it.