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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think this was an inappropriate school task

502 replies

Lalalabrador · 20/01/2021 20:59

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.

OP posts:

Original poster

Lalalabrador · 20/01/2021 21:30

@Narniacalling she did write that. Her 3 friends who have Indian heritage did the same but they all told the teacher they felt uncomfortable with the question.

She only told me about it this evening @marshmallowfluffy. It was set yesterday.

OP posts:

chomalungma · 20/01/2021 21:30

@MillieEpple

Because when ever i did a question at school if there were two parts i expected to give them equal weight unless it was clearly stated they werent to be given equal weight.

It shouldn't really be like that.

Discuss the positives and negatives of climate change and decide whether climate change is something that needs to be tackled.

The negatives outweigh the positives.

Enidblyton1 · 20/01/2021 21:31

OP, I don’t understand why you, a historian, would object to a discussion about a part of history? Would it be preferable that your child never learned about it at all? Surely you agree we need to learn about historical mistakes in order to not repeat them?!

Just because a title asks about the positives and negatives, it doesn’t mean you can’t argue that there are only negatives. As long she has the opportunity to examine a wide range of sources and justifies her reasoning, your DD can reach her own conclusions.

21growbags · 20/01/2021 21:31

So arguments for and against apartheid would be ok?

Or Victorian workhouses.

It’s possible to ask how a powerful group justified or excused oppressive behaviour if you want to look at a 3D picture but you don’t have to say there’s moral equivalence.

I’m not a historian just mixed race.

Narniacalling · 20/01/2021 21:31

Though I am a bit shocked about the question as well tbh

Because people will just say railways and democracy, cricket etc etc

And unless you’re a really astute student you won’t be able to see deeper than the common obvious jingoistic crap peddled by most people, including a lot of Indians.

PinkPlantCase · 20/01/2021 21:31

YANBU OP. Surely at aged 8 DCs should be taught that colonialism is and always was wrong and damaging for those on the receiving end. Not research both sides and reach your own conclusion.

Just because you can ask a question in a balanced way doesn’t mean you should.

I can understand them learning about it from the point of view of the coloniser and the colonised using primary sources etc. but always under the guise of ‘this was not okay and was very damaging’

In the same way that we were taught what hitler was trying to achieve with concentration camps but we are always taught that they were very very wrong and you would never expect a balanced question on the subject.

NovemberR · 20/01/2021 21:31

You don't think banning suttee was beneficial, as an example off the top of my head?

No historian I know would ever insist there was only one interpretation and that everything about this was bad. It shows a closed mind and limited thinking. To evaluate anything you need to look at both sides and form an overall conclusion.

LizFlowers · 20/01/2021 21:32

I think it is a good question.

PierreBezukov · 20/01/2021 21:32

I'm also a professional historian.

I think the question is fine.

I'm worried about your intellectual integrity, tbh.

Enidblyton1 · 20/01/2021 21:32

Out of interest, do most 8 year olds learn about colonialism? My 9 year old hasn’t covered this.

Benjispruce2 · 20/01/2021 21:32

So you talk to your daughter and educate her and she can write that in her view, India didn’t benefit. It’s a question, she can answer the question and back up her reasoning surely?

MrsTerryPratchett · 20/01/2021 21:33

Of course there were benefits. The railways, there you go. These were massively and completely shadowed by the harm that was done and that the railways were entirely self serving. And there were 'good' people on both sides. A bit. I was told that Karen in Nairobi still bears that name after all the other districts were renamed. Because Karen Blizten wasn't a complete arsehole. But most colonists were. And it's worth talking about intent, because we actually learn a lot from people thinking they are doing the right thing and actually fucking the world. Frankly, woke intellectuals could learn a lot from this. They don't though, because they fervently believe they are right.

Balance doesn't always mean concluding neutrality. But you start from that part. FFS people in Italy still argue that Mussolini made the trains run on time. He was still a fascist.

Benjispruce2 · 20/01/2021 21:34

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.

GreyWall · 20/01/2021 21:34

@21growbags yes from a skills point of view. These are questions often set by exam boards, basic in language but with hidden and expected depth. These are the "there is a wrong opinion" type of question set by the educator.

MrsWindass · 20/01/2021 21:34

You can't be much of a historian if you only teach things from your own point of view .Is it not possible for you to see that things were different in different eras and that yes there may have been certain characteristics or benefits that India may have adopted during this period that has stood them in good stead ? I used to teach in a previously colonial country and some people felt that yes there were definitely benefits and others definitely not. It's what a balanced view is all about . It's like talking about the pros and cons of multinational companies .

HexWitch · 20/01/2021 21:35

Mine didn't cover this until they were in year 8. My youngest is 10 and most definitely hasn't covered it! Is it only me who thinks 8 is a bit young to be handling a topic like this?

marshmallowfluffy · 20/01/2021 21:35

@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.

Op says the child is year 8

chomalungma · 20/01/2021 21:35

@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.

Year 8

marshmallowfluffy · 20/01/2021 21:35

@Enidblyton1

Out of interest, do most 8 year olds learn about colonialism? My 9 year old hasn’t covered this.

Year 8 is 12-13 year olds

daisypond · 20/01/2021 21:35

@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.

Year 8, not age 8.

Reinventinganna · 20/01/2021 21:36

@Enidblyton1

Out of interest, do most 8 year olds learn about colonialism? My 9 year old hasn’t covered this.

Year 8

CarboMama · 20/01/2021 21:36

@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.

Isn't that what the Romans did for us?

SomersetHamlyn · 20/01/2021 21:37

@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.

lcdododo · 20/01/2021 21:37

Isn't that what the Romans did for us?

Yes, but ssshhh, don't tell OP that otherwise she has no argument

Original poster

Lalalabrador · 20/01/2021 21:38

Crikey @PierreBezukov Collegiate of you.

OP posts:

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