kids ignorant of d-day

[may18]

Read quite a shocking poll today. It appears 73% of people under 25 dont know a thing about d-day, when it took place, who was involved, who was prime minister at the time etc.
A common reply to the poll was "its in the past its not important"


Schools representatives said they do cover the war, but dont
cover events or people anymore..instead they learn about gasmasks etc


The question is, when did this start happening? and why have our schools taken the step of not teaching our kids about the past and the sacrifices made?.

Some replies from the poll


Christina Thomas, 16, of East London, said: "D-Day stands for Doomsday doesn't it?"

Asked which world war it happened in Simone Marshall, 19, of North London, said: "Was it in Iraq?"

Sarah Gentry, 15, of Bromley, Kent, thought John Kennedy was the American president. Peter Murray, 17, of Liverpool, said: "Our Prime Minister was Tony Blair's granddad."

Tim Whitehouse, 16, of Kingstanding, Birmingham, summed up many youngsters' apathy: "It's not important though, is it. It's past so there is no need to keep remembering it."

[Guest]

BRITAIN is a nation of D-Day dunces, a Mirror survey reveals.


We asked 1,000 under 25s across the country what they knew about the Allied invasion of France in 1944 - and found astonishing ignorance despite massive TV, radio and newspaper coverage of this week's 60th anniversary.

Seventy-three per cent did not know what it was, when it happened or who was involved.

Only six per cent correctly answered all seven questions shown on the left.

Christina Thomas, 16, of East London, said: "D-Day stands for Doomsday doesn't it?"

Asked which world war it happened in Simone Marshall, 19, of North London, said: "Was it in Iraq?"

Sarah Gentry, 15, of Bromley, Kent, thought John Kennedy was the American president. Peter Murray, 17, of Liverpool, said: "Our Prime Minister was Tony Blair's granddad."

Tim Whitehouse, 16, of Kingstanding, Birmingham, summed up many youngsters' apathy: "It's not important though, is it. It's past so there is no need to keep remembering it."

Joss Mark, 80, president of Carlisle branch of the Normandy Veterans Association, said: "I'm shocked - they should be teaching this in history."

Joe Lindon, 80, who worked as a gunner on a mine-clearing tank on D-day, said: "In France it's part of the curriculum to take them to the beach to see what happened."

Nick Seaton from the Campaign for Real Education said: "I'm horrified."

The Department for Education said: "The Second World War is part of the national curriculum, which means children should all study it."


__________

TEST YOUR 1944 KNOWLEDGE

HERE are the questions, and the correct answers:



1. What is D-Day?

ANSWER: Day of the Allied invasion of France.

DUNCE: David Butler, a 20-year-old admin worker from Blackpool, said: "Is it something to do with Denomination Day? I really haven't got a clue."

2. When was D-Day?

ANSWER: 6 June 1944.

DUNCE: Alexia Lange, a 20-year-old student from Bournemouth, Dorset, said: "I'm sure it happened in the 60s. The precise year would be 1962, I think."

3. Where did it happen?

ANSWER: The beaches of Normandy, France.

DUNCE: Robert Johnson, 20, from Grays, Essex, said: "I'm sure it was Japan but I don't know any more than that."

4. Who was British Prime Minister at the time?

ANSWER: Sir Winston Churchill.

DUNCE: Dilip Rajah, a 20-year-old university student from Lewisham, South East London: "Was it Tony Blair? I really don't know, mate."

5. Who was the President of America at the time?

ANSWER: Franklin D. Roosevelt.

DUNCE: Michael Fitzsimons, 15, of Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, said: "It was the man who could not chop down the tree." (presumably referring to George Washington, first President of the US)

6. Who the leader of Germany at the time?

ANSWER: Adolf Hitler.

DUNCE: Hannah Gray, a 24-year-old advertising executive, said: "Was it a king? I don't know. Can I phone a friend?"

7. During which world war did D-Day happen?

ANSWER: World War II.

DUNCE: Natasha Mitchell, a 19-year-old helpdesk worker from South London, said: "Was it World War I? This is really embarrassing."

[Andy O'Pray]

Sad but true. WWII to the youngsters today is history and how many young people are interested in history. Here in Canada some school districts arrange for a member of the Royal Canadian Legion to come in and talk to the kids, but this only occurs prior to Remembrance day.

I read today that the last surviving American from the American Civil war has died. The last surviving member from another event in history. It will not be too far in the future before there are no longer anyone who took part in WWII left alive. All that we will be left with are those who can relate second hand stories and what is written in history books, for those interested enough to read them..

Aye - Andy.

[joethejudge]

As this says, it's only 75%.
There are "young people" out there like me who have quite a bit of knowledge on WW2.
Don't assume everyone is the same.

[goreD.]

Thick ignorant gits.

[Hyperlithe]

1000 under 25s is not a very big sample group, but even so, I would have expected better. Even if they didn't choose History as one of their GCSEs, this is something people should know. I think part of the problem may be that as people have families later, kids have less contact with their grandparents, so don't hear the things they could have learnt first-hand. For example, both my grandads died when I was 13, they had both been in the Navy through WWII.

[Andy O'Pray]

joethejudge, if you read again the previous posts I think that you will find that nobody made the assumption that all young people are the same.

Aye - Andy.

[may18]

joethejudge, if you read again the previous posts I think that you will find that nobody made the assumption that all young people are the same.

Aye - Andy.

i wouldnt do that, but i do think theres something wrong with our education system.

[lew]

We (as my generation goes) are ignorant, if its not on a computer game it didn’t happen,

Today I heard a group of black kids at my college say this and i quote (to be spoken in typical black teenager accent) "watz wiz all dese ole geeza's wit dem medels on outsidez tesco's beggin for my dollors man, dun dey no the war iz over".

How f@#k ignorant can people be when will people learn if we don’t know our history we will make the same mistakes in the future, I despair of my generation some times I really do.

lew

[AdamR]

It's quite sad really. I remember when we were learning about the World Wars in history we covered WWI in quite a lot of detail, the Somme etc, but when we came to WWII we watched Goodnight Mr Tom (all about an evacuee) and Schindler's List, learnt nothing about the actual war. Waste of bloody time if you ask me. We didn't even cover it at GCSE (although some syllabus' do).
GoreD, I don't think its a case of kids being ignorant, simply not being told about these things. Children are being taught very little about national pride in schools (or are learning about it but in the wrong way ala football hooligans and the sort).

[Frank S.]

when will people learn if we don’t know our history we will make the same mistakes in the future, I despair of my generation some times I really do.

lew

I'm not entirely convinced its generational. Students today did not design the system as it exists nor the curriculum.
If you work within a flawed system and need to succeed, won't your efforts be flawed as well? Really what choice does the individual have?
But as to the topic, even 30% would be unacceptable.

[Dolly Gray]

Lets bring it a bit more up to date - you want to try running Korea past people now there was a forgotten war. I come across quite a lot of teachers who do not believe in teaching about wars as it might turn minds.

We learned it at school because it was important to know about such things and many of our teachers had been through it. sad its changed the way it has.

Dolly

[chrisfow]

The ignorance of some people really winds me up. True, 1000 people is a tiny cross section but even so those people should be ashamed: at least one of them in the Mirror was red faced.

I'm not actually sure if I have every been taught about D-Day at school, and I go to a decent grammar school too (ho hum!). I only know what I do from reading and finding out about it off my own back. At GCSE you do WWII in some detail, but at a political level, not at a mechanical level. At A level, it doesn't feature at all, although after two years solid of WWII politics that is a nice break (and I am doing both Politics and History A level!).

I'm just glad that the TV channels are taking it so seriously, maybe some of those ignorant idiots will actually learn something with wall to wall coverage. Let's hope so, eh?

[Kanadiana]

Sad but true. WWII to the youngsters today is history and how many young people are interested in history. Here in Canada some school districts arrange for a member of the Royal Canadian Legion to come in and talk to the kids, but this only occurs prior to Remembrance day.

I read today that the last surviving American from the American Civil war has died. The last surviving member from another event in history. It will not be too far in the future before there are no longer anyone who took part in WWII left alive. All that we will be left with are those who can relate second hand stories and what is written in history books, for those interested enough to read them..

Aye - Andy.

Hi Andy.

Remembrance Day Ceremonies brings the history into the public eye once a year ... which is wonderful ... but god, wouldn't it be wonderful to make EVERY DAY Remembrance Day?

We can all do this because we're all historians, whether we talk from direct experience for having "been there", or because we learned the history and what it all was, and meant then, and what it all means NOW.

We have to somehow

"make the past meaningful to the present"

before peoples ears open up and understanding/ comprehension kicks in. A light-bulb moment Yah gotta get 'em where they live in the "present"

Opportunities happen very day to turn on someones light

Turn it on!

This is really interesting, I've been learning for the last year, through talking with lots of people, vets, real historians etc ... and its turned lots of light bulbs on for me... and through that, I've turned on a few in others ... just people in passing, and family and friends of course. This is especially great when it happens to open up closed minds too. They start to question their own judgements regards anti-military too.

Make every Day Remembrance Day in our own little spheres ... what a great idea?

blah blah blah ... as ever I shut up now.

[RobT]

Can't blame it all on the kids though, i read somwhere that a large percentage (can't remember how many) of British ADULTS thought that Adolf Hitler was an Fictional Charecter. :crazyeyes:

Sad to say it but alot of kids know more about the battles in Lord of the Rings than the Second world war....there the same thing aren't they?

Rob