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.

Regarding the comment above that there are major events that 'we' don't know about, this is very true. There are many major acts of genocide in history that are not taught standard UK school education.

Have a look at this page and have a think about how many of these (the historic examples) you knew about when you were 16 - some of which are so appalling in their magnitude (60% to 100% of populations) , you might be forgiven for thinking that they would be essential teaching so that we all learn from history.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_of_indigenous_peoples

I am mid 30's and am off to google what the word APARTHEID means

@Angelil values are not universal, they vary from place to place and through time. So "British Values" most certainly exist, although there is plenty of discussion to be had in whether they are superior to, or in some cases distinct from, the values of other cultures.

@Porcupineintherough quite. But the jingoistic implication (as advocated by HM Government and évident in other areas of curriculum reform) is that they are superior.

16 is still young. Now she is a 16 year old who DOES know about apartheid isn’t she?

Schools can’t teach everything. Some things you learn from being out in the world and talking to people. Like she has done.

@biddlybop
You might find the film "World War II through Russian Eyes" interesting.
I saw a museum exhibit as an adult on the topic and was dumbfounded that I'd never learned about this atrocity of WWII...27,000,000 Russians killed😭
I suppose there were so many horrible events going on during this time in history that this bit got lost in the Scrabble.
I was educated in the US in the 60s and 70s....other than a small lesson on MLK, we were never taught about Black history...it was if it didn't exist. Hopefully with a required entire month of BlackHistory being included in the curriculum now, Apartheid, etc will come to light for future generations.