It looks like educational “reformers” in the UK have bitten off more than they can chew, or that most of Her Majesties Subjects are willing to accept as reasonable.
Fury erupted last night after Sir Winston Churchill was axed from school history lessons.
Sort of brings to mind some old Kinks’ lyrics from Living on a Thin Line:
All the stories have been told
Of kings and days of old,
But there’s no England now.
All the wars that were won and lost
Somehow don’t seem to matter very much anymore.
Britain’s cigar-chomping World War Two PM  famed for his two-finger victory salute  was removed from a list of figures secondary school children must learn about. Instead they will be taught about “relevant†issues such as global warming and drug dangers. Churchill’s grandson, Tory MP Nicholas Soames, branded the move “total madness.â€Â
The decision to axe Churchill is part of a major shake-up aimed at dragging the national curriculum into the 21st century, it was claimed last night. But the plan  hatched by advisers  angered schools secretary Ed Balls, who vowed to probe ALL the changes to the curriculum.
The proposals will see traditional timetables torn up, with pupils focusing on modern “relevant†topics such as drug and booze abuse, climate change and GM foods.
Churchill  voted the greatest ever Briton  goes off the required lessons list, along with Hitler, Gandhi, Stalin and Martin Luther King. There will also be no need to mention the Wars of the Roses, Elizabeth I or Henry VIII.
What’s the connection to us? DUH! When polls and surveys regularly show that many Americans have only (to be generous) a rudimentary knowledge of history and the principles of our constitutional republic, it’s plainly evident that we have similar processes underway here.
At least in the UK, the Schools Secretary has gotten fired up. One continues to hope for similar signs of life in the Bush cabinet…thus far in vain.