[Hyack]

Sorry Shep, this story is already in the system, I'm going to have to merge it with the original thread.

[Shadow_Flanker]

Mustang1 wrote:

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

martin14 wrote:

[71 Canadian VCs in WW1..

It's too bad Canadian history classes don't teach those facts.

It does.

Teach things like the 71 Canadian VCs? Not when I was in school, and certainly not in the crop of history books I see in my current school board. And the board I'm currently at has far better history books than what I was taught with.

[Lemmy]

What do you want? Do you want your child's history teacher to make the class memorize those 71 names? Learn the entire life stories of those 71? The grade 10 course covers 1914-2000 and is roughly 110 hours of instruction. How much of that do you want dedicted to the VCs?

[Mustang1]

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

Teach things like the 71 Canadian VCs? Not when I was in school, and certainly not in the crop of history books I see in my current school board. And the board I'm currently at has far better history books than what I was taught with.

You wrote, "history classes" and WWI Canadian aces are certainly covered in some history courses.

And you know explicitly what each and every history teacher covers based on a textbook? Really? That book is the required text for the entire board? Really?

[Shadow_Flanker]

Lemmy: Learn the names of all 71 recipients? No, that would of course be way too much. A simple mention of how many Canadians recieved the Victoia Cross with a few examples of soldiers and their exploits that got some of them the VC would've been nice. I was never taught that when I was in school, and neither do the kids in the board im in.

Mustang1: I should have specified history taught in elementary and seconday school. My bad for that. Yes, I am sure at the College and University level a more indeph look at Canadian history is taught. There are two history textbooks in my board, one for elementary level and one for secondary level. Both of those books have no mention of the Canadian WW1 VC recipients.

[Lemmy]

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

Learn the names of all 71 recipients? No, that would of course be way too much. A simple mention of how many Canadians recieved the Victoia Cross with a few examples of soldiers and their exploits that got some of them the VC would've been nice. I was never taught that when I was in school, and neither do the kids in the board im in.

You can't teach history in a lump sum. If you want kids to understand the importance of the VC, you have to teach them all sorts of other shit first. They need to understand what Canada is and what war is and why we were in that war before you can expect them to understand things like the VC or even give a shit. You have to hook them into history first and you have to build on knowledge and understanding. I agree with you on the importance of the VCs and of teaching our young people our military history. Hell, I started this thread. But you can't teach calculus to people who haven't even learned division yet. If we hook our kids on history in highschool, even if they never hear about the VC, they'll be just fine.

[Scape]

Since we are on the topic of flying aces we never heard of I stumbled upon this not too long ago:

Lincoln Beachey is one of the most famous men you’ve never heard of.

[Mustang1]

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

Mustang1: I should have specified history taught in elementary and seconday school. My bad for that. Yes, I am sure at the College and University level a more indeph look at Canadian history is taught. There are two history textbooks in my board, one for elementary level and one for secondary level. Both of those books have no mention of the Canadian WW1 VC recipients.

No...i meant secondary level. Besides, are you sure there's only one history book at the secondary level for the entire board? That seems surprising. Also, what individual teachers focus on depends, so i doubt it that every teacher ignores WWI aces in the Great War unit.

[Regina]

I'm not sure if it's the history classes I chose or even if they were available at the time, but virtually nothing was mentioned of WWII in my classes and little of WWI was mentioned other than what led up to the war. Odd considering I'm of the vintage that many of my teachers were veterans. All I know about WWI and WWII were self educated many years after secondary education. I hope it's different now though.

[ShepherdsDog]

For me, Grade 12 history was about the 20th century. Since it was an elective the classes were small. We had guests come to the classroom, including local history buffs. Barker and Wilfred 'Wop' May were discussed because they familial and personal connections with the town.

[Shadow_Flanker]

Mustang1 wrote:

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

Mustang1: I should have specified history taught in elementary and seconday school. My bad for that. Yes, I am sure at the College and University level a more indeph look at Canadian history is taught. There are two history textbooks in my board, one for elementary level and one for secondary level. Both of those books have no mention of the Canadian WW1 VC recipients.

No...i meant secondary level. Besides, are you sure there's only one history book at the secondary level for the entire board? That seems surprising. Also, what individual teachers focus on depends, so i doubt it that every teacher ignores WWI aces in the Great War unit.

Yes, the highschools have all the same Canadian history textbook. Why would that be surprising? Do the school boards where you are have different ones in every school? Mind you, the teachers have to follow the curricullum set by the Ministry of Education, from what I can recall the only WW1 Canadian ace that is mentioned is Billy Bishop, but not the other VC recipients of WW1. If the Ministry decides that VC recipients aren't necesssary in the curricullum, then it's not taught. Though I'm sure we all know that.

[Shadow_Flanker]

The majority of the history classes that I had in school (both elementary and secondary) spent much of the time on the history of New France/Quebec. When it finally got to Confederation we had to fast track from there too until the school year ended, which was about five weeks. Confederation, war of 1812, WW1, WW2, Korea, and what ever else happened we barely learnt. A shame if you ask me.

[Mustang1]

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

Yes, the highschools have all the same Canadian history textbook. Why would that be surprising? Do the school boards where you are have different ones in every school?

It's surprising because most major boards assign textbook selection to individual school history departments. There are several secondary Canadian history texts in circulation, and many are in use. You must be in a relatively small board.

Quote:

Mind you, the teachers have to follow the curricullum set by the Ministry of Education, from what I can recall the only WW1 Canadian ace that is mentioned is Billy Bishop, but not the other VC recipients of WW1.

True, except if you look at Ontario's secondary curriculum expectations, it clearly states (under Canada's Participation in War, Peace and Security) that, "describe Canada's and Canadians' contributions to the war effort overseas during WWI...contributions of individuals..." Billy Bishop is offered as an example and it clearly leaves the door wide open to focus on any other Canadian individual contribution. So, yes, it's in the Ontario Ministry of Education's curriculum (which is online)

Quote:

If the Ministry decides that VC recipients aren't necesssary in the curricullum, then it's not taught. Though I'm sure we all know that.

And that's not true. The Ontario Ministry has deemed it important and labeled it an expectation.

[Mustang1]

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

The majority of the history classes that I had in school (both elementary and secondary) spent much of the time on the history of New France/Quebec. When it finally got to Confederation we had to fast track from there too until the school year ended, which was about five weeks. Confederation, war of 1812, WW1, WW2, Korea, and what ever else happened we barely learnt. A shame if you ask me.

Not sure where you took history, but we covered WWI, WWII in pretty decent depth during high school. And as previously mentioned, the Ontario curriculum has focused on these topics specifically since the Harris years.

[Shadow_Flanker]

I took history during my elementary and secondary school years. I was in a french school board so the history of New France/Quebec took a more important role in their view. Not sure if there is an exception to french school boards to have them learn more about that part of Canadian history than the rest.