To be shocked that 16 year old didn't know about apartheid

[biddlybop]

Recently, I was having a conversation with a teen in the family and mentioned apartheid (think we were talking about films and books based on true events). They asked what apartheid was. I explained, and they had never heard of it.

I was genuinely shocked. We were taught about it in school - in both history, and English. I'm 30, so I wasn't educated decades ago.

Is this not in the curriculum anymore, or is it just her school? I think it's really important that young people are taught about these events, especially as racism is still such a problem.

I’m 26 and we were taught briefly about it in English as context to a poem. Didn’t learn about it in history but I didn’t do history past year 8.

We also did WW1 poetry in English.

It’s not unusual for it to be discussed in yr5/6 as part of English (reading Journey to Jo’burg as a starting point, for example). However, it’s not actually part of the curriculum, so other issues/ texts may be used instead.

However, perhaps also question why her family have never talked to her about this issue. Not everything is on the school curriculum and education should not be limited to 9-3.30 on weekdays!

Apologies if that sounds ratty, but the default position is always “why has school not taught this?”. Pretty certain DS has never been formally taught about apartheid or the holocaust, but we have made sure he is aware of them and their impact.

I'm 47 so I remember the Aparteid, and Nelson Mandela being freed etc ,,I don't think my son's been taught about it ,but his school has Houses ,and he's in Mandela house so we have talked about it .

It's so much easier to repeat history when no one knows it.

I know about it, but we weren't taught it in school.

I probably absorbed it from television, TBH - I was a voracious reader, but I don't recall it being in any of the books I read as a child.

I'm 40 and have never heard of 'apartheid' until I a saw this thread (so thank you - you learn something new everyday). I went to school in a different country so perhaps learned about more 'relevant' historical topics to the country than apartheid. I only learned about the historical situation in SA once I moved to the UK and saw things on the news about it a few years ago. But never knew it was called that.

And I'm actually a person that quite likes history so watch a lot of films and documentary type shows to learn more. Does anyone know if there is a relevant one to learn more about apartheid?

@DeathMetalMum

In my 30's and I don't recall we did it in history. We did WW1 and WW2 a million times the Romans, Egyptians, Slavery in Britain and I remember studying the Titanic for ages. History was never my preferred subject though I think I often completely switched off in class.

WWI, WWII and the Romans here too. Although, very little WWI. It was mostly about WWII and marching along Roman roads to drink some Roman wine.

Although, we didn't even do the Holocaust in history. I was taught about it as part of German.

I dont think we did it in school but to be honest I dont remember a huge amount of the factual content. History was very much approached as a tool for learning how to appraise evidence, balance an argument, win debates on contentious points and formulate decent essays in preparation for uni and the wider world. Things that happened in the past were just tools for the process, what we were focusing on was skills rather than knowledge of the past if that makes sense.

Perhaps it's a topic focused on in countries where it actually happened, so not in the UK

Apologies if that sounds ratty, but the default position is always “why has school not taught this?”. Pretty certain DS has never been formally taught about apartheid or the holocaust, but we have made sure he is aware of them and their impact.

I agree, we used it as a learning opportunity, we talked about it and now she knows (we have mixed race children in our family so I think it's really important that she understands black history, that was part of the reason I was shocked she'd never heard of it but I did assume it was taught in schools). I remember when she was about 10 she didn't know about WW2 either, so I gave her the 10-year-old-friendly version. We covered WW2 when we were 8 (the blitz and war, not the mass genocide).

I wasn’t taught it in school I learned about it from Blue Peter. I can pretty much picture the episode one of the presenters was walking on a beach and said she would t have been allowed before, and explained why.

I am 57 and remember it happening.
DD is 20 and knows about it through her own research and conversations we have had

My 38 year old friend didn't know that there is a Republic of Ireland and a Northern Ireland . She genuinely didn't know that there wasn't just one big island of Ireland. We were out with one of her Irish friends when she said this too.

And I'm actually a person that quite likes history so watch a lot of films and documentary type shows to learn more. Does anyone know if there is a relevant one to learn more about apartheid?

There's one on BBC iPlayer called The Heart of Apartheid which contains interviews, first aired in the 60s.

My y7 dd us learning about apartheid now at school. In philosophy and ethics I think.

Sorry my dd is y8 not 7.

Interesting responses (thanks for the replies), surprised at some schools not teaching about the Holocaust! Also the people that didn't know about stone henge or ROI/NI...encyclopedias for Christmas

Mid 30s.

I couldn't tell you what apartheid is/was.

But ask me in an hour and I'll know. As I'm now feeling it's an awful thing to not know. And will make sure my children don't get to my age without knowing.

School history for me was the British monarchy through various ages, Guy Fawkes, WWI and II. Egyptians. Romans. Greeks. Dinosaurs.

I remember year 7 was the industrial revolution.

Etc etc.

I'm academically very bright. But I'm guilty of studying/reading only within my interests and lots of history doesn't fall within that. Because I did classics at school I didn't have to do history beyond Y9 so perhaps missed a lot there too. I didn't know much about the Holocaust until adulthood when I visited Auschwitz.

So a list of other historical things I ought to know would be very gratefully received!

The history curriculum in the UK is all about studying a few areas in depth, rather than gaining a general knowledge if the subject. So depending on which areas someone's school has focused on, in theory it's completely possible to miss some areas completely.

Having said that, some people are sponges and pick up knowledge very easily, from TV, from news, from 'something I read', and others just don't. I've had friends and colleagues be oblivious to a really basic fact or subject, and I wonder how it's even possible if they'd watched TV, ever.

Schools can’t teach everything under the sun, so it’s disingenuous to say “we weren’t taught it at school”, as if that absolves you of any responsibility of learning about the world. School isn’t the only place you learn things. In fact, school is only a minor part. I find it astonishing that people haven’t heard of apartheid, especially today, when knowledge is is just presented to you at the touch of a button. It’s like saying you haven’t heard of concentration camps in the war.

If you're late 30s/ early 40s then surely you just watched the news? I remember talking about apartheid in school with friends, after watching the news at the time. Think we read Jouney to Jo'Burg too.

Anyone who was in high school throughout the 2000s and did Aqa for English, would have probably studied Nothing's Changed. I remember a lot of students not knowing about apartheid when we did that. But now of course, we have Gove's choices. Anyone for Victorian poets followed by Victorian novelists?

I’m 29 and wasn’t taught about it at school.
In history we did a very British (well, English) centred history, only slavery, WW1 and WW2 involved any other countries, or events not in the UK really.
History GCSE had more non-British stuff but mainly assassination of JFK, and the Vietnam war.

I do think that I was aware of it anyway by the age of 16 though. It’s just one of those things you pick up knowledge on by hearing it mentioned on the news etc.

I knew about it because it was current affairs when I was at school. Although I do remember watching a video about it in what I guess would be PHSE these days.

I guess you'd only learn about it now if you covered it in history these days and it may well not be on the curriculum. I know ds didn't cover it in GCSE history and he did Ancient for A level.

No definitely wasn't taught when I was at school in the 90s. I did have crap history teachers though.

I remember 'learning' about WW1 by copying notes off a whiteboard that the teacher was in turn, copying from a textbook. No discussion, no opportunity to ask questions. Just uninspired, crap teaching.