Just not cricket ... the exclusion of Winston Churchill is likely to leave traditionalists aghast. (File photo) (Reuters: Toby Melville)
Posted on 07/12/2007 11:42:03 PM PDT by Stoat
Posted
Updated
Just not cricket ... the exclusion of Winston Churchill is likely to leave traditionalists aghast. (File photo) (Reuters: Toby Melville)
Britain's World War II prime minister Winston Churchill has been cut from a list of key historical figures recommended for teaching in English secondary schools, a government agency says.
The radical overhaul of the school curriculum for 11- to 14-year-olds is designed to bring secondary education up to date and allow teachers more flexibility in the subjects they teach, the Government said.
But although Adolf Hitler, Mahatma Gandhi, Joseph Stalin and Martin Luther King have also been dropped from the detailed guidance accompanying the curriculum, Sir Winston's exclusion is likely to leave traditionalists aghast.
A spokesman for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said the new curriculum, to be taught from September 2008, does not prescribe to teachers what they must include.
But he added: "Teachers know that they need to mention these pivotal figures. They don't need to be instructed by law to mention them in every history class.
"Of course, good teachers will be teaching the history of Churchill as part of the history of Britain. The two are indivisible."
Sir Winston's grandson Nicholas Soames, also a Conservative Member of Parliament, described the move as "madness."
"It is absurd. I expect he wasn't New Labour enough for them ... this is a Government that is very careless of British history and always has been.
"The teaching of history is incredibly important," he added.
"If you're surprised that people do not seem to care that much about the country in which they live, the reason is that they don't know much about it."
The History Curriculum Association said it was "appalled" by the move, saying the new curriculum would "promote ignorance" and was pandering to a politically-correct agenda.
The Conservatives' schools spokesman Michael Gove added: "Winston Churchill is the towering figure of 20th century British history.
"His fight against fascism was Britain's finest hour. Our national story can't be told without Churchill at the centre."
Schools Secretary Ed Balls defended the move, saying a slimmed-down curriculum was overdue and traditional elements in all subjects had been protected.
Among the few named figures that stay in the new history curriculum are William Wilberforce, the British law maker who was instrumental in efforts to abolish the slave trade.
Sir Winston, who was British prime minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955, was famous for his defiance to the Nazis, stirring oratory and trademark cigar and "V for victory" sign.
In 2002, a BBC poll with more than one million votes saw him voted the Greatest Briton of all time.
As evidenced by some of the comments following the source article.
Gadzooks! The inmates... 
have control of the asylum!
It's definitely sick; or, as Winston Churchill's grandson properly put it "total madness", but it's definitely no joke.
It's not a nightmare that we can wake up from tomorrow morning and have it disappear into the turgid, feverish cauldron of dreamtime along with other whisps of fancy
This is now a matter of official, Governmental policy and it will be how things are done from now on. This will be how the next generation will be taught and form the foundations of what they know and understand to be the truth about the world and of human achievement.
It is as real as a heart attack, and may God Bless and Help us all.
“Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.” ~Sir Winston Churchill~
Great Britain Fury at Churchill statue (Former PM and beloved hero is in a straightjacket)
Western nations are racing to fling themselves into the abyss. Incredible. All the suffering and sacrifice of people to make nations where man can be free, and the liberals and sheeple are now racing back into bondage. Just heartbreakingly incredible.
God, this is depressing....
Not a bit surprising, but so depressing.
I never imagined I’d live long enough to see such INTENTIONAL ignorance and stupidity.
No doubt ‘they’ will soon remove all the greats from American history in the US too.
But I’m sure they will continue to teach how wonderful Marx, Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Castro and Ho Chi Minh were... And no doubt soon add the ‘savior of Rhodesia’, Mugabe, and the ‘savior of Venezuela’, Chavez.
Corection; Winston Churchill is the towering figure of 20th Century WORLD history.
Sad. Churchill was the greatest leader of the 20th Century in spite of his early shortcomings. Saving the UK from the onslaught of the Nazis is a feat unsurpassed in history.
I’m sure they will learn all about GoreBull warming.
Mohammed and the importance of Islam and how the peaceful Islamics were under attack from us violent westerners.
They will learn about the great Shaka Zulu.
Britain is lost.
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
Bye-bye, Britain.
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Contact details I hope you will feel free to contact me if you have any concerns which you would like to raise or simply if you want to let me know your views or arrange a visit to the Palace of Westminster.
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Please let him know that Sir Winston's memory is beloved on this side of the pond as well.
I never forgot walking into a Ben&Jerry’s ice cream shop back in early 90’s and a large banner proclaiming (among other points like world government and anti-RKBA) that we should learn a new language...basically for the same reasons.
England needs to be free. How can we help these poor surpressed backwards people?
MODERN LANGUAGES: Schools will be able to stop teaching French, German and Spanish and offer other languages, including Urdu, Chinese, Russian, and Arabic. Qualifications and Curriculum Authority boss Ken Boston said the changes would equip young people “with the skills for life and work in the 21st century”.I think a case could be made that French, German and Spanish are not so important for a British student, since Western Europeans speak so much English. The same is true in the US, except for Spanish, which is important for American kids because of all the Spanish being spoken around them.
Meanwhile, I think its important for the Western world to learn as much Arabic as possible. In the current clash of civilizations, knowing the language of the enemy is incredibly important. Just ask the Israelis.
The report was about Dr. Martin Luther King.
Being February, I asked her if she would be doing a report on George Washington?
Her response was, “Who’s George Washington?”
(We had history lessons for days after that)
If the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, “This was their darkest hour.”
Just looking at the rest of the list of “dropped” individuals: Hitler, Stalin, Gandhi...... Just what ARE they going to teach?
You know, when I taught, and when I was in school myself, we studied ALL the subjects they discussed-—both approved and unapproved. (All except the guy they “approved” that helped end slavery in England. I’ve never heard of him!?)
the joke is...in the USA kids are now taught more about mlk than washington & lincoln!!!!
none learn much about history and the advancement of civilization except how the whites were land grubbing racists that exploited blacks/natives/women and brought pollution and destruction of the environment at home and abroad!!!!
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