Lies they told you in history class

[Puddleknock]

When it comes to history in British schools the significant thing is not lies they could potentially teach you, but rather the large amount of British history that is left out.

Now I understand that British history is a long subject and also some simplification is needed but the actual teaching of British history is poor. There seems to be a focus on historical powers there were not British, namely the US, Russia (Both Tsarist and Soviet) and Germany (Weimar and Nazi). Now what we were taught about those nations was fairly accurate considering it was secondary/high school education but still the lack of any real analysis of British history was annoying. The industrial revolution was studied but often only in the context of gender studies or class studies. Both relevant areas but not the only way the industrial revolution was significant.

So history classes in the UK, in my experience, don't lie about what they do teach but are more selective in what they do teach. Topics such as Ireland, the Indian partition, British Palestine and the even the greater idea of the British Empire rarely were mentioned in my education. Good thing I loved history and did it at university.

 

[Exterminas]

They told me that Graf von Stauffenberg was a hero because he tried to kill Hitler to reinstall democracy in Germany.

That is not true. He was just as much as militaristic fascist as Hitler was. He just fancied Hitler incompetent and wanted to make room for a better Leader. So from our perspective that hardly makes him a Hero.

 

[tthor]

Everything about Thomas Edison. That dude stole nearly all of his inventions from the real genius Nikola Tesla. Hell, he impeded Tesla's progress in various fields, such as his work with alternating current. But did they teach us any of that? Nope it's the tired Edison invented the lightbulb shtick...

this. I'm not so sure i would say he stole from Tesla, but Tesla was sure by FAR much more intelligent and and a better inventor than Edison could ever dream of. Tesla was genius and revolutionary, so much so that many people wrote of his ideas as being crazy. I mean, damn, he powered a field of 100 lightbulbs from 27 miles away with wireless electricity, and even made working designs for a charged particle beam weapon. Many of his ideas we are only just now beginning to realize. I am AMAZED that we don't fucking talk about this genius ever!

 

[Supertegwyn]

*snip*

I love you... I knew Stephen Fry would have something to say along those lines...

I loved history, so I would always read books and do my research. Quite fun actually. Us city folk had some good public schools as well, and we were taught a lot of history.

I too love it, wish I had time to study it more (I do engineering, no spare time with that degree...) but I try my hardest to learn as much as possible. I should mention I grew up an hours north of Newcastle. If you thought Newcastle was bad you should see where I grew up, I don't think I even had a science lesson before high school, let alone a history lesson.

I've never been to Newcastle. I quite like Australia, and I don't really want to taint that view by going to cities known to be bogany. I feel for you, I know somebody who didn't know the Moon was in orbit around the Earth.

 

[Shazbah]

I've never been to Newcastle. I quite like Australia, and I don't really want to taint that view by going to cities known to be bogany. I feel for you, I know somebody who didn't know the Moon was in orbit around the Earth.

It's not as bad as I make it out, it's just after living your whole life in the same city (well basically, grew up not far from it and then moved into the CBD for uni) you start to see the bad as well as the good. The university lifestyle is amazing, as are the beaches. But yes, a lot of bogans, some are your laid-back type, almost Croc Dundee type, but then you've got the type whose parents were obviously related and it makes you ashamed to call yourself Australian. But do come here if you ever get the chance. I had students from ANU come to our university's independence day and they seemed to love it!

 

[Shazbah]

ew! no!
i did make an effort to educate myself outside of school (as everyone in my circle of friends bloody had to) but WW1 never struck my interest. i'll get to it, but for now i do know my way around general history, science, english, ma-uuuuuh... not so much maths. i understand it, but i'm terrible at it.
oh! and marine biology! i do love my octopuses;D

Good onya mate, you should do to James Cook University in Cairns to do marine biology, brillant little campus and a great town in general, recently scuba dove the GBR, and it's amazing!

 

[Supertegwyn]

I've never been to Newcastle. I quite like Australia, and I don't really want to taint that view by going to cities known to be bogany. I feel for you, I know somebody who didn't know the Moon was in orbit around the Earth.

It's not as bad as I make it out, it's just after living your whole life in the same city (well basically, grew up not far from it and then moved into the CBD for uni) you start to see the bad as well as the good. The university lifestyle is amazing, as are the beaches. But yes, a lot of bogans, some are your laid-back type, almost Croc Dundee type, but then you've got the type whose parents were obviously related and it makes you ashamed to call yourself Australian. But do come here if you ever get the chance. I had students from ANU come to our university's independence day and they seemed to love it!

I'm in ADFA at the moment, so I don't get a lot of time off. Maybe in a few years, I think I may be stationed up in NSW.

 

[Furious Styles]

I don't think we were lied to ever, maybe there was some oversimplification in my earlier years (such as simply describing Alexander Fleming as the man who invented penicillin and ignoring everything else that went into its discovery and mass production), but there weren't any outright lies. Some historical perspectives and theories may later prove to be untrue, but they are perfectly in line with out current thinking so cannot be described as lies.

In short, no.

 

[Supertegwyn]

ew! no!
i did make an effort to educate myself outside of school (as everyone in my circle of friends bloody had to) but WW1 never struck my interest. i'll get to it, but for now i do know my way around general history, science, english, ma-uuuuuh... not so much maths. i understand it, but i'm terrible at it.
oh! and marine biology! i do love my octopuses;D

Good onya mate, you should do to James Cook University in Cairns to do marine biology, brillant little campus and a great town in general, recently scuba dove the GBR, and it's amazing!

that sounds cool;D but that's only my little hobby on the side, by real future (if i play my cards right) is in rendering for games and CG and junk, so i'm going for the digital arts course here in canberra.

Wait what? You live in Canberra? You and me both!

 

[Shazbah]

I've never been to Newcastle. I quite like Australia, and I don't really want to taint that view by going to cities known to be bogany. I feel for you, I know somebody who didn't know the Moon was in orbit around the Earth.

It's not as bad as I make it out, it's just after living your whole life in the same city (well basically, grew up not far from it and then moved into the CBD for uni) you start to see the bad as well as the good. The university lifestyle is amazing, as are the beaches. But yes, a lot of bogans, some are your laid-back type, almost Croc Dundee type, but then you've got the type whose parents were obviously related and it makes you ashamed to call yourself Australian. But do come here if you ever get the chance. I had students from ANU come to our university's independence day and they seemed to love it!

I'm in ADFA at the moment, so I don't get a lot of time off. Maybe in a few years, I think I may be stationed up in NSW.

Well we do have a great RAAF base in Williamtown if it's the Air Force you're in (that's where I grew up), or if it's the Army, I'm pretty sure the barracks at Adamstown are still open. Not 100% sure on that though...

that sounds cool;D but that's only my little hobby on the side, by real future (if i play my cards right) is in rendering for games and CG and junk, so i'm going for the digital arts course here in canberra.

As long as you continue to educate yourself, I do worry about our country's future looking at some of the individuals in Newcastle. I hear the capital has less of these types, which makes sense, you only have government and educational buildings there, right? ;-)

 

[Furious Styles]

oh! and marine biology! i do love my octopuses;D

I'm so glad someone else on earth loves octopuses as much as I do! Everyone else just thinks I'm a bit weird for loving them so, but they don't know quite how amazing they really are.

 

[Shazbah]

Don't worry, that perception of you has been replaced entirely, in the UK at least, with the Australians as Interdimensional Living Room Occupiers Hypothesis, with the primary contention being that inviting one Australian into your home will result in an exponential increase in occupying Australians who arrive seemingly from nowhere

That wouldn't surprise me, if I was in the UK and you invited me over for a drink, I'd invite all the aussies I know ;-)

 

[thethird0611]

You know, to be honest, im scared of where a few of these people got THEIR information from. (And the few blatant left-winged, atheistic points of fews.)

Everything I was taught in from Elementary up to College (currently attending), hasnt been a lie, but like other, there has been quite a bit of detail taken out. (I may get some flak for this to, but who cares). Im also a devoted Christian, so there much earlier history is a bit of a debate to myself, but that's personal.

But yeah, I used to study history more in depth after some lessons, and didnt find any lies, just over generalizations.