IAN MORTIMER

History in Education - a further note

I was in the local shop, a small supermarket in the small town where I live (about 800 houses). The chap in front of me in the queue for the till, whom I know only by sight, was buying several items. His hands were full and he couldn't reach to put his PIN into the credit/debit card reader.
'Could you do it for me?' he asked the woman behind the till; 'the number's 1066'.
'1066? That's the Battle of Hastings, isn't it?' she replied. 'That's about the only date I remember. I hated history at school.'
'I know what you mean,' said the customer with a smile 'it's so boring. Why do they bother?'
'Excuse me,' I said, 'but it doesn't have to be boring. I'm a historian, and the last time I gave a talk in the church, 120 people turned up from the town, and you could have heard a pin drop. History can be passionate and exciting. Come along next time I give a talk.'
'No way,' said the customer. 'Not in a million years.'
'I could never do that,' replied the cashier. 'Sorry. Thanks for the offer though.'

I found this little exchange very interesting. The customer has a son in the same class as my youngest son, so I think he's about the same age as me (41). The cashier was a little younger, probably mid-thirties. But despite the passage of more than twenty years since their last history lesson they retain this sense that the subject is so incredibly boring that they could never go to a talk about history, even when they do not have to travel more than a few hundred yards. A few years of uncomfortable lessons have left them with nothing but a deep prejudice against the subject, and thus against the understanding of mankind in any other time but the present.

Having written an essay recently, History in Education, stating why I could not support the proposal that history should be compulsory in secondary schools to the age of sixteen, this exchange had resonance for me. I do think compulsory history lessons are likely to alienate a number of people permanently. It's a pity. History is like sex - you must discover how wonderful it is for yourself; you shouldn't be forced to undergo it against your will; and it is shallow and meaningless when it is second-rate.

Ian Mortimer
9 October 2008