This is how they're teaching your kids about the Battle of Britain

[Guest]

I saw this today:

I find this an affront to those who fought and died for our freedom - reduced to a boy-band pastiche in an attempt to teach our kids about The Few.

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Its an unfortunate situation that our boys fought for a freedom that affords idiots like this the opportunity to be able to produce this kind of crap. In some other countries they simply could not get away with it.

[Guest]

Who ever produced that should be taken up in a Spitfire (blindfolded) & given a good rollock about the sky.

These people must be sick. Certainly makes me sick of them.

They should also be told that the life they have now is given by many a life lost for them. That those given lives had many a life back home devastated.

Laurie

[Guest]

Hi all,Dare i sit on the fence with this one?Whilst I appreciate your comments and understand your frustration and somewhat agree, as someone who works with children every day to them its not necessarily crap. I do think on a positive note this may just be one way in ''and is'' successfully engaging with the kids of today who would otherwise be more interested in other things such as the xbox etc. Surely any way that may engage and quite possibly make some think and want to understand about any History is an achievement regardless in how it is sold? I would rather them know something that nothing at all.Perhaps watch the full short episode below which focuses on how the Germans chose their intended bombing targets and why rather than that above to see the full facts that are put to kids of today.

[video=youtube;lahrb-8y1Mk]

As for what they are teaching the kids today, its worth noting it not necessarily the schools but the children's BBC CBBC channel.CheersRich

[flyjoe180]

Even basic 'crap' produced to fit today's style of media is good if it fertilises interest in the actual event. My own knowledge and interest in all things aviation and Second World War was started by reading Battle (the weekly paper one not the little pocket complete stories), and Commando comics. From there it was learning all the way, the interest had been sparked.

[AlanG]

My own knowledge and interest in all things aviation and Second World War was started by reading Battle (the weekly paper one not the little pocket complete stories), and Commando comics. From there it was learning all the way, the interest had been sparked.

I was more of a Victor and Commando mag/book person myself lol

[Guest]

60 million people lost their lives in the combined two world wars. There is NOTHING humourous in that. The story should be forever told to our young people with dignity and respect.

AVB

[Guest]

i have watched about 30 seconds of this crap and i don't find it remotely funny. No wonder kids today are as thick as mince if this is the kind of frack they teach in schools too many people died horrible deaths during both wars and in my view it dishonours their memories.

Scott

[HAWKERHUNTER]

I disagree with a couple of the comments above and could get into quite a debate on this but wont. Of course it is important to raise awareness in children but at the same time lets teach respect. I dont think that the verse about Douglas Baders tin legs teaches much at all. What a sad world we would live in if we have to resort to this method of teaching to get information across to our young people. What shall we laugh about next, the masacar of young kids in Norway or perhaps the London bombings. No, there is no place in my mind for productions like this because the subjects they cover are too sensitive and like this has done, causes offence.

[Guest]

How else would people suggest we teach young children about the BoB? Force them to sit & watch Pathe newsreels or Reach for the Sky?

I don't think youngsters know what respect & dignity mean, not because of modern society, but simply because they're adult concepts. Probably like many 40-50 something's on here, my grandad fought in WW2 so I had a headstart on learning & respecting those who shared that terrible experience.

Kids under 10 don't have that personal connection to the past, & to them 1940 is like Ancient Greece is to us.

Reading the lyrics shows a credible attempt to get over what the BoB was about & what was at stake. If presenting it this way is what's necessary to get kids to begin to learn about it, then that's good.

At least someone's trying to teach something about this era. If that provokes an interest in the subject, understanding & respect will follow as more is learnt from better sources of information.

Cheers

Patrick

[Guest]

Well said, Patrick. My kids are 10 and 7, and they love Horrible Histories - so do I. It has prompted lots of questions from them and sent them off to the library to find out more about all kinds of historical events. They have an understanding of what my parents - both evacuees from London - went through, but as Patrick says, 1940 is ancient history to them.

As for the WW2 clip; I can understand some people being offended by it, but I wonder what any surviving BoB pilots would make of it. I thought the ending was suitably sombre.

I'm also envious of the actors who got to sit in a Spitfire.

Tony

[Guest]

As a musician - I'm appalled at the overall production, but this is one direction where the music industry has drifted as entertainment. .... mores the pity.

As a patriot, parent and historian - I'm saddened and slightly angered that this is needed at all, i have told my children about what their Grandad and other servicemen and women did for their families and this country ... the same way my dad told me about his parents/family in earlier conflicts, passing down family history should still be part of life in my opinion

I think there's a difference in the education system now, when i was younger the basic details were learnt at school and this lead to us wanting to find out more from people we knew who had first hand experience, nowadays i dont think anything like this is in the curiculum - possibly for not wanting to upset the do-gooders who think it all should be swept under the carpet.

I could waffle on but i think you get the jist of my sentiments.

I'll say one thing ... if this type of video sparks even one childs interest in finding out more detailed facts about the subject (or their family history) then i'm afraid to say we have to admit it's done its job.

[Guest]

I do not have a problem with teaching children about the past what so ever. History unfortunately has been & is neglected as time goes by. We had in the 50's 3 one hour history lessons per week.

It is in this the case the way it is presented. In detail to show pilots having the time of their life singing & dancing on the screen is not history it is comic fantasy which it was certainly not. It was at first excitement & then fear then absolute terror as they saw their fellows killed. Waiting for the next shot of fear as the phone jangled.

During the fifties in our area we were all taken to see Douglas Bader in Reach for the Sky plus Scott of the Antarctic. The contents of those films are etched on my memory. All thought that great an afternoon off school. But I remember the absolute quiet in that cinema the absolute concentration & not a teacher had to ask for it. The buzz after & the talk next day.

My contention is that you can introduce children into the past with out this fantasy comedy in this case airmen singing & dancing on the screen. They will have forgotten what they saw within the hour. The content of the above films have stayed with me for 60years & persuaded me to learn more about all that my peers did for me & us. Many of my senior peers throughout the country & the then Colonies etc., & many were leaders & teachers in every walk of life of the future in the community, were killed & members of the community of my age were deprived of those people to help us become adults.

Not saying that showing the Douglas Bader film would be by any means the thing to show children of this age. But what it does demonstrate is that you can introduce history in a way of the day which is truthful & most important captivating with a want to know more.

Matter of interest the above films were virtually the start of making films which had fact as their basis with the human interest factor to move them along ie documentaries with a story line.

Laurie

[Ian M]

While I dont exactly agree that its crap, I can agree with the overall bad production.

My two bobs worth is this; If the text in the 'song' is historically correct and kids get correct facts and it sticks then I s'pose its OK.

One thing did strike me. Of all the comments I read not one person had the gumption to complain or call it crap actually on you-tube...I did only look at the first three pages though. It also had 116 likes and not one single dislike.

Ian M

[Guest]

Sorry to post again so soon, but this has captured my interest!

I appreciate what you say Laurie, but really you're not comparing like for like. Watching Reach in the '50s would obviously have made an impact, being that the event's depicted were only a decade or so ago. As I said before, it's much harder for the under 10's to connect with stuff that's over 70 years old.

A couple of teacher friends have often said the hardest subject to teach is history. Their students don't want to know about stuff that happened " before I was even born! "

Teachers have to use what works to get children's attention & interest, and the Horrible Histories have been shown to do exactly that.

Of course it's not ideal, but in today's Jeremy Kyle, X Factor, soap opera society, can we truly hope for more? Plus we need to be mindful of the servicemen & women who are fighting in Afghanistan & their children. I would think no-one wants kids getting worried about their parent living in fear, even if that is how it really is.

And why are there no dislikes? Because to criticize isn't considered the done thing anymore, as I've found out on here!

Cheers

Patrick