D-Day+kids=Hilarity

Big Ears

Originally posted by embee
For 10-14 year olds, the most significant world event that they would have been aware of would be September 11th.....

I'm sure kids to have social awareness about the unrest in the world. My young cousins frequently ask me questions about Iraq, September 11th etc.

World War II has no real significance anymore to these kids. Its not a daming indictment on the education system, rather I think the visual impact of events like September 11th and news coverage of the war in Iraq will stay with them longer than some history lessons.

As a 14 year old myself , I have to say u are right . (except in my case , im a bit weird because I like history and could answer those questions in the article , and have finnished reading my eek school history book , despite not being in 3rd year yet , Im a freeak ) . I doubt any of my friends would know hardly anything on WW2 , but would know a lot lot more on Sept 11 and war in Iraq . Then again most of my friends are thick as ......em something thats realy thick .

Hecate

One 10-year-old in a Northamptonshire school thought it was the day the "Americans came to rescue the English".

Thats quite close to the truth actually....

BlitzKrieg

quote:

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One 10-year-old in a Northamptonshire school thought it was the day the "Americans came to rescue the English".

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[Thats quite close to the truth actually....[/quote]

actually they came alot earlier then d-day with the Africa campaign, Italy and other similar operations. Look out for guinness books of military disasters there are some great stories about some of the first battles American troops were involved in...


what confuses me though is that to the average male i thought world war 2 was interesting???



ITS THE CRAB PEOPLE!!! they are making us weak by making us care more about big brother and football then about our history AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!!

Winters

D-Day does not directly releate to just World War II btw ...

D-Day is actually a name given to the day upon which a operation [Such as the invasion of Nazi Occupied Europe, Overlord] takes place. It is a common misconcerption that only the 6th June 1944 is known as D-Day.

H-Hour is the time at which an operation taking place on D-Day will start.

Yea, all kids should have some, if even basic knowledge of WW2.... if even only in the countries whos ordinary people actually fought in and gave their lifves etc..

Dolan84

Someone pm Tellox, isn't he like 12 or something? I suppose he'd know more about handbags than he would war, heard hes a bit camp (wears makeup and such).

billy the squid

The school I went to had history as an option subject. you could either do history or geography. History should be compulsary in my opinion. It is only by learning from the mistakes made in the past can we make a better future.

Irish history should have decent coverage of World War 2 nearly 10 percent of the male population of ireland went to fight in the War.

As for World War 1 Ireland was directly involved as a member of the brittish empire.

Cabaal

Originally posted by Dolan84
Someone pm Tellox, isn't he like 12 or something? I suppose he'd know more about handbags than he would war, heard hes a bit camp (wears makeup and such).

lol, funniest thing I've heard all day

dam stupid ****en gits
I'd be scared to ask some American kids these questions :dunno:

jill_valentine

The thing is, kids, particularly British school kids, have an awful lot else to worry about, and the history course, like all modern education, is geared towards doing well in tests rather than learning anything. Its not fair to expect them to be interested in something that has no direct impact on their lives. When they're older, they may or may not take an interest, or they may take an interest as a sort of hobby, but at 10-14, they have no reason or incentive to.

I'm not saying its right that they should be this ignorant, I'm just saying its not entirely the kids' fault.

SantaHoe

WW2 wasn't even touched on when I was in school, right up until the junior cert... even the details of the 1916 rising were foggy at best.
I didn't take history for the leaving, so it was probably covered in more depth there.
There's plenty of time to learn about WW2, I don't think there's any reason to crap your knickers because some 10-year-old hasn't been exposed to the names and dates involved.
Just sit them infront of Discovery channel for a few hours, tbh I'm hooked on WW2 documentaries

jill_valentine

Sidebar: My little brother has turned into a big WW2 anorak largely sparked by MOH Underground.

Sarky

GURPS WW II.

All I ever wanted to know. From What German troops caried to stats on the Bizmark.

Cabaal

Originally posted by jill_valentine
Sidebar: My little brother has turned into a big WW2 anorak largely sparked by MOH Underground.

Now for all those people that have always said otherwise
Games ARE educational! :-)
I'm sure BF1942 has got people into learning about WWII as well

Sarky

Don't forget heavy metal. Specifically Iron Maiden and Metallica...

jill_valentine

Games ARE educational! :-)

Heh, almost my entire Junior Cert English essay was Sniper Wolf's final Speech with a few adjustments. I felt a little bad about it, but then spliced together Otacons and Donald Anderson's speeches for my Leaving.

BlitzKrieg

did u pass?

jill_valentine

A in honours.

In fairness, I actually did have a knack for English, and I really only borrowed elements of it. I seemed to be able to write what they wanted of me. With the sole exception of one essay (That I'm still proud of) which had perfect grammar, spelling etc, but was Lord Help Us! Horror, about a man who gets lost on his way to Dublin Airport, in a Twilight Zone kinda way.

MGS got me interested in both the ethics of Nuclear proliferation and the treatment of the Kurds (and tangently, the desert Arabs) so I had actually read up a lot on both, just out of interest, before the exams came up.

Best Luck ever: A passage in the Irish Honours Mock. About the X Files...I didn't have to read the passage at all.

Raskolnikov

As already pointed out, 10-14 year olds aren't given an in depth treatment about the battles of WW2. You've got to remember that kids that age are still learning to read and write properly, it's asking a bit much to have them to know the details of a 60 year old battle. Of course, you could argue that by reading newspapers, watching news, etc they should know about this. I ask you though, when you were all 12 year old nippers, did you nerd up on the news or papers or did you go out and kick a soccer ball up and down

Victor

Originally posted by Raskolnikov
I ask you though, when you were all 12 year old nippers, did you nerd up on the news or papers or did you go out and kick a soccer ball up and down

"nerd up on the news or papers"

jill_valentine

Really? I mean, yeah, from about 15, 16 I developed a proper interest in politics and history, but I hated the bloody news. I did nerd up though. I was, I believe, one of the select few who knew what a Paleantologist was before Friends...

bugler

It has nothing to do with expecting youngsters to know the details of specific battles. No one would ask that, and indeed at times such knowledge could be a little sinister

The problem is the fact that some of them have little to no idea of the general nature of many things that are important historically.

Raskolnikov

Originally posted by Victor
"nerd up on the news or papers"

By that, I meant the news on television and read newspapers. The dinner was on and I was in a rush so I dropped, what I thought, were a few superfluous words

ixoy

Originally posted by bugler
The problem is the fact that some of them have little to no idea of the general nature of many things that are important historically.

Agreed. While we're at it, why not recall the survey done by American schoolkids for, I believe, National Geographic showing a frightening ignorance of world geography. Many, many, could not even find places like Israel or Iraq, despite the country's very heavily influenced foreign policies in those areas. Gob-smacking really.
*shakes his zimmer frame alongside bugler*.

Blisterman

It depends on how you ask the question. If you gave a blank map nd asked people which country was Iraq or israel, I'd say most people would get it wrong, even though they have a general idea whereabouts it is.

nlgbbbblth

Originally posted by Exit
Is it unreasonable to think that people should know the dates of both wars, or do most people really not know?

it's trendy not to remember dates

I often meet people who make a big thing about not being able to remember what they got in their Leaving Cert - "yeah man - I'm so vague etc"
as if that makes them the coolest people on earth