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.

And now she knows. There has been at least 12 more years of events since you were last taught history. More Prime Ministers. More wars. School can't cover everything.

JudgeJ,

It would indeed be a fatuous comment if made about apartheid.

Apartheid was more brutal, affected more people, the struggle to overcome it was much bigger, there could have been a civil war that would have killed millions, both black and white. It was the last defeat of colonialism in Africa.

I'm not suggesting the American civil rights movement wasn't very important, but if you had to pick one of the two to teach, the struggle against apartheid is the more obvious pick. The cynic in me says that the American civil rights movement is better known because the English-speaking world is US-centric.

Late 30s, never taught about it in school. I know the word but honestly couldn't tell you anything about it. I did hate history though, so it'd never have been something I'd have researched myself.

I am mid 30s and apartheid was not on the curriculum when I was at school.

I have Chinese friends my age (30s) that have never heard of the Tiananmen Square protests/massacre.

History belongs to those that get to teach it.

There is a 7 up south Africa series available on YouTube which is a brilliant watch for learning about apartheid as it was lived iyswim. The first episodes are filmed when the kids are 7 just as apartheid was coming to an end. Listening to them speak very matter of factly about it is quite shocking.
I'm in my late 40s and grew up with apartheid on the news all the time. 'Free nelson Mandela ' was a hit song in the charts, the common room at uni was the Mandela room, there were eegular protests outside Barclays bank etc

Apartheid didn't officially end until 1994 so it's highly unlikely anyone in their 30s or 40s would have been taught about it in History at school as it would have been current. I am 50 and don't remember hearing about apartheid until it became apparent that Nelson Mandela would be released from prison in the late 80s.

It is not possible to teach everything that has happened in the entirety of History to children at school. Young children won't necessarily remember everything- look at the posters here who say they only learnt about the world wars at school when Ancient Egypt, Rome etc have been on the curriculum since 1988. Young children also don't understand the nuances and reasons for lots of complex issues either. The history of South Africa is hugely important if you are South African but not so much in other parts of the world.

@SamMil

I am mid 30s and apartheid was not on the curriculum when I was at school.

But it would have been big news/current events then. Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, so you would have been a teenager.

I'm 37 and if you told me it was a music festival I'd believe you

Sorry, scrap that. You would have been at primary school.

@DivorceAdvicePlease123

I'm 37 and if you told me it was a music festival I'd believe you

Yup exactly the same as this!

there were regular protests outside Barclays bank etc

Boerclays, as they were called.

I think it is important to learn about apartheid as lots of British people lived in South Africa during it. There were lots of links between the two countries.

I was 12 when de Klerk became state president of South Africa, so I grew up with current affairs knowledge of anti-apartheid marches, the abolishment, and Mandela.

But I don't know if it is taught in schools here (Denmark). When I was in school, it was mainly the Vikings, the Industrial Revolution, WW1 and WW2, and the Holocaust.

I teach 20-21 year olds and no longer shocked at what they don't know. General knowledge is very poor. The majority (and I'm talking 90% of a 300 person class) won't know when the second world war was, let alone other wars, who ex US presidents like Bill Clinton or George Bush are, who the current UK prime minister is and the most shocking, have never seen star wars. They also no longer know key celebrities on TV because they don't watch TV at all, only social media content. So BBC presenters or news readers etc they will maybe say "oh yeah my mum said something about him/her" but won't really know who you are talking about.

But then I have no idea how to engage with tiktok or tweet so I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

What I am shocked about is the constant references to apartheid on this thread as history.

It was only 30 years ago. It is contemporary and the repercussions are current.

Or I am getting old?

@mustlovegin

You should also bear in mind that the history curriculum is heavily skewed towards British history and then the World Wars

It makes sense that we teach primarily British history here

I’d argue that it isn’t skewed towards British history, it’s skewed towards the history of the British isles. By that I mean that the British empire is clearly British history, but I didn’t learn anything about it. It was mentioned when we did the slave trade, but from the curriculum you’d never have known we ever went East of Africa. Our history curriculum from years 7-9 followed “domestic” British history from 1066 to the end of WW2, only venturing abroad for the slave trade, and the world wars. You’d never have known we really had an empire, let alone any of the details.

If schools taught history every single lesson they would never cover everything

@CinnamonJellyBeans

This kind of thing is the sort of knowledge parents should be imparting to their own children. How on earth can a child get to 16 and NEVER have been made aware of the manifestations of inequality by his own parents? What the bloody hell do people talk about with their kids?

Just how much time do you actually think school have to teach history? You should also bear in mind that the history curriculum is heavily skewed towards British history and then the World Wars.

It's a lack of social and intellectual rigour within your own family. Not the school.

You must live in quite a bubble. Intellectual rigour is not available to everyone, nor within everyone's capabilities. It's quite a luxury to have the time and space (and have had the education oneself) to discuss intellectual subjects with your kids.

I have Chinese friends my age (30s) that have never heard of the Tiananmen Square protests/massacre.

Were they educated in China? Because if so that’s not that surprising.

I try to not be visibly shocked at basic history that people are not aware of. I do not know absolutely everything yet. I’m very inquisitive and have loved reading since childhood. I’ve studied an ‘…ology’ subject within Higher Education and have a personal interest.

You cannot expect the school curriculum to cover everything or to extensively cover what is included. This is where parents come in. It is also the job of a parent to educate their children. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many. Some parents’ are unable to do so due to their own limitations.

My Year 2 DC came home talking about Mandela a few weeks ago. I was impressed as we had not yet broached apartheid at home yet. Assuming the school did as it’s Black History Month. IMO, all history, including Black History (which is linked to all history) should be taught all year round. Maybe there would not be so much ignorance and hatred in this World if certain parts of our history are not ignored/white-washed away.

I'm in my 30's. When I was at school it was only touched on once and that was as part of English around context to a poem, and not in much depth.

I wouldn't be surprised if a 16 year old didn't know about it.

To those saying you should also learn things outside of school, children can only do this if their parents are inclined to introduce things to them, and also if the kids are receptive.

I think it should be on the national curriculum as compulsory learning along with slavery. I also think History should be a compulsory GCSE.

Intellectual rigour is not available to everyone, nor within everyone's capabilities.

Ironic to read a comment like that on a discussion about apartheid ...

I also think History should be a compulsory GCSE.

But which history ?

People seem to think that schools are like some kind of factory turning out "units" of pupils that come ready-equipped with whatever that person thinks "makes" a wage slave for the rest of their (currently decreasing) lifespan..

The reality should be schools turn out people who are capable of picking through the facts of their environment in a critical manner, knowing how to assess assertions and arguments. You know - the first people to be put against a wall when the ignorati gain power.

I think history curriculums have been limited for a long time, partly by time available, but some mostly by choice in education. I’m in my early 50s and studied history to a level. I covered the romans, Tudor, French Revolution (on what seemed like a real time basis), WWI, rise of nazism, Cold War, Vietnam, Russian revolution. That was it. No mention of slavery, empire, holocaust, Ireland, etc that all had far more impact than much of what I studied.

And things move from current affairs to history quickly. I went to see The Ferryman in the west end a few years back, which was a brilliant play about the IRA. To set it in time they used a lot of radio news reports about Bobby Sands. At the interval, the 25 ish woman in front of us asked who he was. Initially I was shocked that she didn’t know, particularly when she’d paid a lot of money to see the play, but when I thought about it I realised he died long before she was born in a situation that hasn’t really moved into history yet.