Not so long ago, there were millions of people in every corner of the world who attended schools that taught them that the Britannic inheritance was on balance a good thing as opposed to the root cause of all the world’s woes. Good for individual liberty, standard of living, constitutional democracy: see, e.g., Canada, America, the Bahamas, India, Australia, and even a few francophone redoubts such as Mauritius. But then the alumni of Canada’s residential schools sued for “cultural genocide” (a novel concept), and on the whole you’re safer to steer clear of the whole business. The past didn’t change: it is what it is. But the present changed, and the future will be beyond recognition. A couple of years ago, the Mail On Sunday in London reported as follows:
“Schools are dropping controversial subjects from history lessons—such as the Holocaust and the Crusades—because teachers do not want to cause offence, government research has found . . . Some teachers have even dropped the Holocaust completely from lessons over fears that Muslim pupils might express anti-Semitic reactions in class.”
This was from a study for the Department of Education, which noted that “teachers and schools avoid emotive and controversial history for a variety of reasons, some of which are well-intentioned. Staff may wish to avoid causing offence or appearing insensitive to individuals or groups in their classes. In particular settings, teachers of history are unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged versions of history in which pupils are steeped at home, in their community or in a place of worship.”
Cross the Channel to the Netherlands: different country, same discreet closing of the door on awkward corners of the past. Dutch teachers are wary of mentioning the Second World War because “in particular settings” most pupils don’t believe the Holocaust happened. If there happens to be a Jewish child in the class, it could be a little distressing. But fortunately Europeans won’t have to worry about Jews in the school system much longer. A few weeks ago, during the Israeli incursion into Gaza, Olav Nielsen, headmaster of Humlehave School in Odense, Denmark, announced that he would no longer accept Jewish children. The Copenhagen Post reported that several other principals had also decided that they would no longer let Jews enrol at their schools. Once that system’s up and running, they’ll be able to teach the Second World War without any complicating factors. Likewise, those soi-disant “Church of England” schools in Yorkshire where every student is Muslim will soon be able to resume teaching the Crusades, albeit from a fresh perspective.
In 1984, George Orwell wrote, “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” On the Plains of Abraham this last month, Canada lost control of its own past. That’s less bloody than old-fashioned battles with cannon and musket, but sometimes it’s just as significant. Meanwhile, in Britain, public commemorations of St George’s Day, England’s national holiday, have been cancelled on grounds of potential “racism.” On the other hand, Anjem Choudhary, whose last rally featured cries of “Bomb the U.K.!,” was permitted to go ahead with a march calling for the introduction of sharia. Perhaps, in the interests of multiculti sensitivity the British should participate in every re-enactment, but this time round make sure they lose.
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