Cristopher Colombia in primary school curriculum

[Donotfitin]

So the school just sent the curriculum
for my DS year (Y1). They called him a “significant explorer”. I immediately queried it, because as a Latin American he’s seen as a very divisive figure who brought rape, disease, and genocide. In my country (Mexico) we’ve completely removed that date from
our calendar, and the statues, etc… have now been removed.

I‘m not against it, but I just want a nuanced approach. So AIBU?

But funny 😂

Read your post through again, and blush.

You’re not in the least unreasonable, OP. I was very clear with DS and his teachers that the version of Oliver Cromwell he encountered in the English school system wouldn’t be the one who was responsible for the massacre of thousands of civilians in Drogheda and Wexford, a war criminal who ran a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

History books are all corrupt. Several countries change and whitewash history to make themselves look better. As they say, history books are usually written by people to hide what happened and make themselves look better

I mean the UK invading Ireland was a HUGE part of recent history, but if I ask people in England about it, most people arent even aware of what happened. Because its been whitewashed out of history classes.

I see a Palestinian youtuber talk to Israelis on tiktok about the conflict there. Every single young Israeli that he talks to has a completely wrong idea of what happened. They are taught at a young age that Israel is completely innocent and Palestinians are the wrong ones. Its a lot more nuances than that

🤣🤣🤣🤣👍

No I asked to query it and offered to help teach a much more nuanced approach.

Yes - I support you saying they should teach about him, warts and all or not at all.

The European conquest of the Americas can be described as one of the biggest genocides in human history and he was instrumental in that. They will likely sanitise it though.

We taught about Christopher Columbus in y3 and it actually encouraged some of the best debates I’ve seen in a y3 classroom. We taught about all aspects of Christopher Columbus and ended with a debate of ‘Was he a hero or a villain?’
I think with all aspects of history it’s important to look at everyone’s perspectives!

I read somewhere that when the Beaker people came they bought disease and almost wiped out the Neolithic population of Britain through disease and probably warfare. We are all mainly descended from the Beaker people than populations before that.

But he was a significant explorer. That doesn't mean he was a good person or wasn't controversial. It also doesn't mean that his exploration and discoveries were all positive.

Edited because I wanted to add that you can ask to see curriculum content and can give your opinion on how it is presented, especially if how it is presented is disrespectful towards your son's heritage.

You mean the Normans? The UK didn't exist at that point.

They should teach them about him honestly, a kid friendly level obviously, but they can’t ignore that he existed.

What North American obsession? American children are taught that he was a horrible coloniser that spread disease and destruction in his path. In fact for decades now the curriculum in the US has focused on the horrors of colonialism against the indigenous people. My American cousins talked about it when they were in school.

More people in the UK are aware of this than Irish people think. Perhaps we can also teach some Irish kids that it wasn't just the English that participated in what happened in Ireland. It goes both ways.

What? Im talking about last century. Ireland didnt get independence from the UK until last century. The UK refused to give all of Ireland back, they said that the UK wanted to keep Northern Ireland.

This partition of Ireland caused the Irish civil war and later caused the troubles in Northern Ireland which continued on until very recently.

History is an academic subject. The opinions and ‘lived experience’ of the students are not relevant and actually it’s not really appropriate to bring up people’s heritage at school. If you feel they are not teaching accurately, you can raise that with school or just talk to your son yourself but I’d wait to see what they actually teach him before going in all guns blazing.

But you’re not in Mexico. You do realise if you go and live in China, Georgia or Nigeria the curriculum will be completely different and taught from a different perspective?

I wouldn’t preach if I went to live in Mexico and they taught a different curriculum. YABU.

At my school it is used as a way to introduce students to the idea that Histories are plural so this could be the idea here. I do hope so.

Which is why I asked for a copy of the curriculum.

Maybe obsession is too strong, but Since 1971, when Columbus Day became an officially recognized federal holiday in the United States, it has been observed on the second Monday in October, as commemorated by annual Presidential proclamation noting Columbus' achievements (according to a quick search).

Does the POTUS seriously proclaim his achievements? That strikes me as poor, given Columbus was as described in multiple posts, a slave owner and all round incompetent, horrible person.

'Significant' isn't necessarily a positive thing. And they may well cover some of the negative aspects although, for Yr1, it's likely to be a very broad overview.

Do you really think that an Italian man was called Christopher Columbus? Of course that name has been anglicised for UK history books

It's also very weird, considering Columbus never set foot in North America. Is Columbus Day still a thing?

Well it’s your interpretation of ‘wrong’ isn’t it? Obviously the Israeli school system have a different perspective to you and this YouTuber. I expect they would say that the Hamas interpretation taught to Palestinians is a bit dodgy.

History as a subject is increasingly fraught and political, but imo at secondary schools are good at teaching students to consider different sources and then make their own arguments.

Why is teaching proper history “virtue signalling and sanitising”?

What OP is suggesting is the opposite of sanitising.

I wonder how much we were taught in history is actually true. Obviously recording of history was affected by societal norms at the times. For exampe men were seen as more important than women.

Its recently come out that inventions that were originally recorded as being invented by menn - were actually invented by women.