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.

My DM used to say you go to school to learn how to learn. But clearly not everyone wants to learn. It's just a shame how they tend to weigh down those that do.

Anyone who was in high school throughout the 2000s and did Aqa for English, would have probably studied Nothing's Changed.

"Small mean O of small mean mouth" - everyone I still know from secondary school can recite Nothing's Changed

@daisypond

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.

I think there's a big difference between WW2 which is still very much in your face and by definition was the whole world involved, and apartheid which was only one country.

People always like to come onto MN and parade their superior knowledge - I remember the thread a year or so ago about the Freddie Mercury film and someone didn't know he was dead. Well why would you if you were a youngster and weren't into his music? MNers seem to see it as a badge of honour to know about anything and everything. In reality we watch and read about things we are interested in. I know nothing about gardening. I do know quite a lot about history and geography because they interest me.

@ErickBroch

I am late 20s, south-east of England, never taught anything in history other than WW1 and WW2 basically. At GCSE I did medicine throughout time, JFK, American West.

Yes. My lot didnt know about the NI/ROI troubles.

My fault obviously. But I didnt know they didnt know.
Parents are not always on top of everything that is or is not taught in schools.
So dont always know what important things have been missed.

And am I right in thinking that history and some other things like Eng Lit still get taught in 4 year cycles?
So 1 Year group knows things different from another Year Group?

Not singling you out @ErickBroch. Just that it was easier to link to your post to say what I wanted to say.

Dont know if it still happens. but History, Geography and Music have always been undertaught in UK schools in my opinion.

We did it for GCSE but it was on my radar anyway - I'm slightly too young for apartheid itself to have been current events but Nelson Mandela was still alive and a prominent public figure and I was a nerdy child who read the papers.

I think it should be on the compulsory part of the curriculum because it's such an important example of how any human society can go to shit, not just the ones a long time ago with people who aren't like us. The apartheid regime didn't come with a warning about how wrong it was, people had to use their own critical thinking to work that out and a shameful proportion of the population of the UK didn't, which is a lesson I think everyone needs to learn. But then I think history should be compulsory up to the age of 65 18 anyway so my plan leaves plenty of room for this extra bit of the curriculum.

apartheid which was only one country.

Apartheid was only one country, but segregation went much further, in some ways it's still an issue today (obviously not to the extent but racial segregation definitely still exists). I just think as part of understanding black history, it's something people should have some sort of understanding of, because sadly some of the ideologies are very present today whether people like to admit that or not.

Well into my 40s - never taught about it but knew about it through discussion with my family. My 11 and 9 year olds know all about it. This is just one example of things that can be missed in history depending on school, teacher, syllabus. The responsibility should also lie with parents to have conversations about important historical events with their kids I think.

My sister in law went to Ann Frank’s house a couple of years ago and said “yeah it was fine but I didn’t know who she was so it was a bit boring” and she was 28 at the time! I was shocked but it shows a gap in knowledge and education.

My DS is year 9 and hasn't covered it. Their modern history elements have been the holocaust and suffragettes. They covered British involvement in 18/19th century slavery last year.

They can't cover everything.

I don't remember learning it at school, but I was an avid reader so I think I read some books set in SA during that time, so I was aware of it from that. Same as a lot of things. There is loads that we don't learn at school. For instance, how many 16 year olds would be aware of the Irish or Bengal famine or the many revolts against British rule? They don't teach that either (I suspect deliberately).

I'm 50 and remember John Craven being banned from South Africa for his coverage of apartheid, I didn't learn about it at school, it was on the news every day. I remember watching Nelson Mandela walking free, there was loads of us crowded into my friend's room in our Halls of Residence watching it live on her tiny B&W TV. Saw Nelson Mandela speak a year or so later in Glasgow.

Just asked DD1 (13) if she knew what apartheid was and she didn't know the word but knew about segregation and about Nelson Mandela.

Has anyone else noticed how error-riddled the Twinkl printouts they get given at primary school? Not just talking about government propaganda (e.g. completely downplaying the role of the USSR and the Commonwealth in defeating Nazism) but just really stupid mistakes, like maps and dates completely wrong?

I'm 29, I don't know what that is.

@mustlovegin it indirectly involved the UK, in that there were strong cultural, historical and economic links with South Africa and we could have made a difference if we'd told them to knock it off. Instead a lot of people in this country supported the regime - some of whom are now government ministers.

I'm late 20s and studied it as part of GCSE History in Y11, but at my school History wasn't compulsory so there will have been loads of people that weren't taught about it at school.

@biddlybop

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.

This is perfect. Thank you! Will watch it on iPlayer 👍🏻

I'm 29, I don't know what that is.

Do you know who Nelson Mandela is? Not asking to be critical, I'm genuinely curious, as he only died in recent years (2013 - just googled).

Apartheid was very much discussed when I was growing up. I don't know if my kids learned about it in school.

But I'm pretty sure that I didn't know about other important events like the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the Armenian genocide, and other events when I was 16. Just as I'm sure there are many things I don't know about in adulthood.

I wasn’t taught about it at school (I’m in my mid-30s), we learnt about the American civil rights movement but nothing about South Africa. I don’t find it shocking that a 16 year old doesn’t know about it, they’re still young and there will be lots of important historical events they don’t know about yet. Now you’ve talked about it with them they know about it, to the next person who brings it up they’ll be a 16-year-old who knows about it. We can’t learn about everything in school, some things have to be learnt through things we’ve conversed about, read or watched in other situations and at 16 your family member is only at the beginning of that stage considering younger children will often be shielded from such topics.

It’s like saying you haven’t heard of concentration camps in the war.

I think there's a big difference between WW2 which is still very much in your face and by definition was the whole world involved, and apartheid which was only one country.

Concentration camps were used by the British during the Boer War in South Africa so there is a link to apartheid.

They probably have learnt about it, briefly, and then forgotten.

My 11 year old learnt about it last year. If it wasn't something that came up fairly often in our household (we're a mixed family to race issues are talked about frequently) I reckon he'd probably forget too.

People always like to come onto MN and parade their superior knowledge

I disagree. It’s not parading superior knowledge. It’s just general cultural knowledge the same as any other. I didn’t do history at school but I would know all about apartheid. Apartheid and South Africa and Nelson Mandela was on the news all the time. It was on Newsround for children. It affected everything, even in the UK, even on the level of should sports events take place in South Africa. Families were divided over the rights and wrongs of it.

I'm 40, I don't think we were taught it in school. It was on the news though.

We didn't study anything in history after WW2 so apartheid was just one of many many things we didn't cover. History teaching has to be selective, you can't possibly teach everything. Personally I would make the Reformation, the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution compulsory as I don't think you can understand how Britain works without those things, but those aren't fashionable at the moment. I also have no issue with the history being taught in British schools being focussed on the British Isles - it is, for example, scandalous that English schools teach so little Scottish and Irish history.

This is probably why so many parents need to talk ,discuss and fill in gaps in Knowledge! Maybe get some books or visit a Museum ? There will be lots of Info on it ATM .Its Black History Month as well .