so what would lessons in "Core British Values" be and how far should the curriculum bend towards multi culturalism?

[zippitippitoes]

Britishness or core British values are to become a school subject in some way..what would a Britishness curriculum or lesson plan have in it?

\link{http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,1774972,00.html\And according to this article Muslims will not be getting as much as they are asking for in the new curriculum}

(made a hash of this in the in the news topic so trying again here!)

No, but Appenzell only gave women the vote in 1971 (I think it was)
But they get to - have to - vote very regualrly on all sorts of local and national things

no, national voting for women was only brought in in 1971.....even more

On a canton level it was even later.

This from a website

,While the majority of cantons introduced women's right to vote shortly before or shortly after the confederation did in 1971, two conservative half-cantons in eastern Switzerland, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden refused to do so for a long time. During the 1980's pressure of public opinion increased. The men of Appenzell Ausserrhoden thought it might be better to change their laws themselves and they did so in 1989. But in Appenzell Innerrhoden nothing changed.

Neither the first written constitution (Helvetic Republic (1798)) nor the 1848 Federal Constitution had been really explicit about the question whether the word "citizen" was to be interpreted only concerning men or whether it would include women too (as it obviously did in other fields). For a long time it was generally accepted, that the tradition should be changed only after an explicit referendum. But when the men of Appenzell Innerrhoden gave signs that they would still not accept what was long overdue some women filed suit for their right to vote and they succeeded.

The Federal Supreme Court decided on November, 27th, 1990 that the introduction of women's right to vote in Appenzell Innerroden would not need a change of the cantonal constitution. The judges declared that it would be sufficient to interpret the existing constitution in a way that the women were included in the term citizens. The Federal Supreme Court refered in its argumentation to article 8 of the Federal Constitution that had been altered in a 1981 national referendum so that it now grants equal rights not only to all citizens (as in the 1848 original version), but expressly to men and women. '

OMG My Appenzell contacts have been dissembling I got that straight from some Real Live Swiss

Mind you that's just one of the many reasons I wouldn't live in Switzerland if you paid me...

Their chocolate is lush though

core british values are queuing, complaining, stripping off at the faintest glimpse of sun, making pregnant ladies stand on the bus/train/tube, tolerance and benevolence towards difference (but not in my backyard),curtain twitching and the egg and spoon race but not an exhaustive list and in no particular order.

Morris dancing....we even accept that

can I just say grrr at "historically christian society". ok so christianity was and maybe is the majority religious belief, but "society" was never christian and people have been skiving off church for hundreds of years.

sorry - not sure why I get so wound up by that.

anyway, things that should be on a "core british values" curriculum:

1. endless debates over posh v chav
2. a healthy sense of skepticism which leads core british people not to take things like core british vaues too seriously.

core british values are

1. how to form an orderly queue. anywhere. even if it's just you. a nice ordely queue of one. 2)emmm - learn how to make a proper roast on a sunday....

getting a bit stuck now

Actually I do adore the brits dry sense of humour.

Can I add to the list the desire to have nice neighbours but to not want to know them well enough to invite them in for a cup of tea as that would be rather encroaching

plummymummy

"Nobody likes a smartarse."
"Oh no, I'm a very ordinary neurosurgeon, I only work on the bits of the brain that control gross motor function"
No nation that has been overcast since records began and whose customary facial expression is of necessity one best described as "screwed up against the drizzle because it wasn't quite worth bothering with the umbrella" can develop a natural optimism.
a recent Gallup poll found that 104% of us still think that a nice cup of tea and a sit down should be all that's necessary to pull someone out of clinical depression.

From that Guardian piece.

Someone told me once that there is no such word as "overachiever" in any other language.

My DP just returned from residential course with young, mostly Eastern European, participants. On the first day mealtimes were a scrum with people just grabbing plates and food, pushing in etc.

By day 2 core British values were in place and an orderly queue formed for their 3 course meals!
There was a Welsh 'Mam' in charge of catering, so nothing less would have been tolerated.

Edam

It was Harriet Tubman who organised and ran the Underground Railway to free the slaves in the USA.

I would like to see History lessons acknowledge the contribution that non-whites made to British Society. For example, Mary Seacole, a black nurse, went to the Crimean War and worked tirelessly to help the injured but only Florence Nightingale is acknowledged in the history books. Mary Seacole was the embodiement of compassion, selflessness, charity and love. Surely these form part of core British values but they also transcend nationality. Therefore, that begs the question, is there such a thing as British values or are we really talking about British culture?

Speedymama, my five year old did Mary Seacole as part of last term's project, along with the person DD1 refers to as Florence Dressing-Gown.

lots of nurses went to the crimea, but florence is famous because she introduced the first nods towards hygiene etc in such hospitals. or at least that's what i thought - could be wrong.

God, Mary Seacole. My kids know more about her than Florence bloody Nightingale. And black history month is the only history they seem to do (if you discount ancient greeks, romans and egyptians). They want to name a school building after Rosa Parks who is a black American! Has nothing to do with inner city London, black or white. My kids know everything about Buddha and Sikhism, but don t know the Easter story. It is all PC bollocks.

I imagine you'll find they don't know everything about Bhudda and sikhism. and they know about christmas don't they? don't see anything wrong with naming a building after Rosa Parks either. lots of Mandela Halls around

Core British values
Lesson 1 to include:
How to talk about the weather
How to ignore the fact that someone in the street is being beaten up/mugged/harassed
How to ignore all your neighbours
How to drink copiously
How to value the welfare of dogs/donkeys/hamsters over humans
How to appreciate the healing value of a 'nice cup of tea.' Perhaps with a biscuit if it's an emergency - but not too exotic a biscuit; after all we didn't get where we are today by spoiling ourselves with uneccessary trifles

sorry for the flippancy, I have read the rest of this thread but this was my knee-jerk reaction to the title :)

:o

oh yes biscuits are rich tea only

ha! the Spanish can talk about the weather just as much as the british (they just have fewer things to say - "isn't it hot?" and "what heat!" )

Speadymama, my 6 year old is doing the victorians as a project in school. He has been told about both Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. I think that is quite the norm nowerdays, quite rightly.