Hi Dark, Ouch! Sounds like ignorance is becoming a world wide phenomenon. I'm not British but I certainly know who Rudyard Kipling is. Of course, I think this could be a result of our modern society where most people would rather play games on their XBox, Play Station, etc or watch television all day long rather than sit down and read a good book. This lack of interest in reading and so on is dumbing down the masses. In any case we are drifting off topic here. :D
Cheers! On 9/6/12, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Tom. > > That is pretty dire, and indeed while I know British attitudes haven't > always been the best, at least in terms of education there was a reasonable > > enough spectrum, with various courses that teachers could choose on > different periods, however much of the point of history was thinking > historically. > > Indeed, the course that I did for gcse's betwene 13 and 15 was history of > medicine, which obviously instead of taking one specific historical period > was a general look at the way over time peopl had considdered deseases and > injuries, going from the ancient egyptians onwards to the modern day, > covering various religious and scientific views as well as advances such as > > Pasteure, koch, and flemming. > > Though concentrating primarily on europe from the grieks onwards, it was a > general look at the way people thought, rather than a look at the specific > history of a given nation, and to me, far more interesting because of that, > > indeed during my degree I took two extra modules specifically! on history of > > medicine so that I could look at the subject in greater detail. > > When i was doing my A levels, things were a little more tied to one period, > > being the renaesance quite specifically, however this covered Britain and > the hole! of europe, not just Britain itself, which again gave a far more > detailed picture of what was happening, ---- for instance not just that > Francis drake sunk the armada, but the reasons why the spanish wanted to > invade britain in the first place (and in fairness given what the royal navy > > had been doing to Spanish merchant shipping I can't really blame them). > > I'll also add that this is something I really like about Doctor who, that > even in it's initial conception, part of the idea was that it would be an > educational program (two of the first doctors' original companions were his > > grand daughters' history and science teachers). > > You thus got episodes set in the Aztec empire, china at the time of marco > polo, or france during the huganot massacre. unfortunately, this aspect > rather fell out of favour in later episodes and usually instead of > historical settings being used to show something about the history, they > were just backdrops to a science fiction plot (though there were still > occasional exceptions where the setting got more notice), ---- and the new > series hasn't exactly helped (especially with it's ultra short episodes). > > The doctor who audio dramas from big finish are fantastic for fully > exploring historical settings, often with absolutely no sf elements at all > just like the original 1960's version, and we've had stories set everywhere > > from the Arabic empire in the 9th century, to ancient egypt, the first world > > war, RRussia at the time of napoleon etc, indeed one of my favourite recent > > stories was set in British colonial india in the late 19th century and > themed somewhat around the works of rudyard Kipling. > > Unfortunately, with the national corriculum over here getting over all > easier I'm not sure how much this trend continues, indeed recent surveys by > > news papers are suggesting that a lot of kids don't even know about basic > hhistorical figures like Oliver Cromwell, ---- and still worse when it comes > > to literature, a survey I remember carried out by a British paper said that > > %70 of kids had not heard of Rudyard kipling, and a good few just associated > > the name with the Kipling brand of cakes which is really! dire. > > Beware the grue! > > Dark. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
