Do children learn about Erasto Mpemba at school?

[MayIDestroyYou]

I feel slightly mortified at never having heard of him before.

And overjoyed that this article was written in the way it was in today's Times. (Screen shot of Times headline. Google.)

(Obviously I mean children in the U.K.)

I showed this to my neice just now and she said duh doesn’t everyone know about him. So there is at least one lol.

That's encouraging!

I've never heard of him either, but I didn't pay attention in physics or chemistry lessons. However, after reading this article I will be refilling my ice cube tray with hot water instead of cold water.

But I'm sure you also comprehend my wider point, NurseButtercup? There is a certain, criminally narrow narrative around the way 'black' history and knowledge is addressed in the U.K.

That is why I found the way the article was written so wondrously singular.

Wow, I'd never heard of him before. Thank you! I'll show my 6 year old tomorrow.

Splendid story, isn't it?

I never heard about him either. And I did chemistry, physics, maths and further maths at a-level and I elected to do mechanics modules for maths instead of stats so in all three subjects could’ve had a Mpemba lesson.

It’s quite a shame that I didn’t and not just because he was black but because he was a child at the time of his scientific discovery. It’s a very inspiring story for any young mind that you don’t need to be rich and old to do great things in science.

14 yo Dd told me that friends at school were chatting about learning about contributions of black people and that this should not be relegated to black history month.

I agreed with her and told her that they could learn about black people's achievements in all areas of the curriculum all the time if the teachers would commit to incorporating such valuable knowledge.

One might almost imagine a conspiracy to deprive humanity of certain areas of knowledge ...

Older members of my family - growing up in 'Commonwealth' countries pre-Independence - recall being thoroughly educated in British history while learning nothing at all about their own countries in school.

According to my own (highly academic, 1970's, Home Counties' independent school) education, black people appeared nowhere in History - except for the one thing. Nor in Science, Geography, Literature, Religion, Philosophy, Mathematics, Art ...

The Benin Bronzes were entirely absent from my Oxbridge degree in the Arts /Social Sciences - had it not been for what I learned at home and stumbling around Blackwell's, I would have graduated entirely ignorant of their existence.

I am not sure how much, if at all, things have changed since then.

I have never heard of him but my kids have. If anything the schools go out of their way to ensure different groups are represented on the curriculum in science and history, I only learned about Ava Lovelace from my kids and Mary secole.

From my schooling you would think there were no women apart from queens and no non white before Gandhi and then martin Luther king except as the supporting cast in India and Africa for white peoples adventures. Glad it's changed!