Would You Think This is a 'Silly Idea'?
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I hope I am not the only one who sits and ponders over solutions for the problems of this country, even the world. If I am you will all think me mad
. I accept that sometimes my ideas would not be practical or even doable but one thing I strongly believe in is that education could be improved with a simple, non expensive idea.
I have watched many films in my life and many are true life stories that have touched, enlightened and educated me. I remember leaving a cinema in tears once mumbling that every secondary age child should 'see that film'.
Many youngsters game online for amusement and films are not something they tend to do. If once a week they were shown a film in school that would teach them something of history, shocking events that have happened etc which would come under the umbrella of a subject I am sure they could benefit from it. Teacher needs to stress that possible artistic license may be shown but they could discuss in depth, learn from it, then for homework write an essay on their thoughts about what they have seen.
I am sure they would engage in a film far easier than listening to a teacher talking whilst disrupting the class.
These are my recommendations:
Apollo 13
Hacksaw Ridge
Dark Waters
Argo
Schindler's List
The Insider
The Last Emperor
Is this a stupid idea or would you add some films to the list?
Pjran I googled true movies and found a site for best, most true to life. You will notice I haven't included films like Braveheart, or The Patriot. As I said the teacher would need to explain that their will be dramatic licence but if the teacher has done their job they will be able to discuss what is true or false and having to write an essay would help with English grammar and spelling. Also the pupils own understanding of the subject matter after research.
Documentaries would also be used and would hold interest better than a teacher speaking as studies have shown that we only take in 50% of what a person talks to us about.
Some films give a idea my issue is they are trying to wipe out some of the history like my daughters school couldn't tell them about Churchill and never said Hitler just Germany and that the usa won't the war 
Leannexxx that's really bad. Especially as USA didn't enter the war until 2 or 3 years after it started. Not sure why they would be shy of Hitler as there can't be anyone who thinks he was anything other than evil incarnate. If we don't teach our children hard facts how will they deal with repetition of such events in the future. I can't understand why a certain world leader has not yet been assassinated, it must be trying living in a bubble of tight security.
This is something we already do in different subjects at my school. There are certain movies we don't use as they aren't historically accurate. We use documentaries too. It is used alongside research on the subject and the pupils making some sort of presentation on the subject.
Lynibis if they are just sat watching the film/documentary then they can switch off a bit, so we stop it every so often discuss what has happened, how they might feel in that situation, why it is still relevant today. It depends what they are watching as to what we discuss but doing it where they watch a bit of it and then discuss it we get a really good response from them and they do take it in.
Not sure commercially produced films for general release would be that educational or relevant to the curriculum. In theory thou not a bad idea.
I remember years ago in schools being shown TV programmes relevant to different subjects "Living in the past" being a common history one we watched . The school TV would be wheeled in to the classroom on a big trolley and we would sit there watching them , but these programmes were specifically made for educational purposes.
I have been watching Waterloo Rd recently .There are so many 'moral and practical issues which youngsters could identify with and debate. Historical films would be good but would need to be versed in truth and not glammed up Hollywood style.Am reminded of the Cecil De Mille City under the sand film set that led archeologists to think that they had stumbled on a historical minefield.
www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230212-a-city-under-the-sand-the-lost-city-of-cecil-b-demille
MelissaLee1 ha ha, that's a good one. Yes, I agree that's why I added the rider about the teacher discussing with the kids which bits they know to be true or not and why history is distorted. As a keen amateur historian I get very frustrated with different versions of historical events. i.e. some say Richard III was innocent of his nephew's murders, some guilty. There are three different versions of how Edward II was murdered, poker, suffocation or even some say he escaped and lived as a hermit. Every chronicler wrote from a biased point of view, or was too fearful to write the truth. I guess we will never know and it will only get worse with all the fake news and AI of today, future generations will not know what to believe.
Don't forget there is a full forward button and teachers can also pause and discuss but I don't feel the hollywood movies I mentioned are suitable, Braveheart etc. He is made a hero but was in fact a savage who surprised even his contemporaries with his barbaric acts, even killing young children, I believe that is why he failed to gain too much support from the Bruce.
I have done many history tik toks under the name of History Nutter if anyone is interested.
I like true story movies however they can be exaggerated, obviously for entertainment purposes, Napoleon is a good example
martinlufc5637 As you know I am well into history and love historic films but I hated Napoleon, so boring and long winded. Same with Lincoln. But then again I am far more into British history, especially medieval, and love films and series like The King, Vikings, The Last Kingdom, Gladiator, War Horse, Legends of the Fall etc.
I recently read the book 'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' which has been made into a television serial.This is very atmospheric and disturbing and tells the story of life in Auschwitz in WW2 and the job of the tattooist who has to record all the inmates with a tattoo of their number on their arm.I think it would be right for secondary age children to know what happened but with the proviso that the content was checked by the teaching staff beforehand.
I live in Northern Ireland and as my kids were growing up hearing bout different topics they were and weren’t taught in history lessons. My kids went to mixed grammar school and were taught all bout war, hitler etc while friends in catholic schools were only taught Irish history and another friends school who refused to mention Hitler and Jews in fear of offending pupils (or that’s what pupils believed)
I think it’s incredibly important for kids to learn about the past and understand that we keep the memories alive to maybe stop the world from making the same mistakes again in the future
I remember at school being taught history in great detail about the monarchs of this country through time and now I think about it I really can't see why they put so much time to it. Maths, English, sciences, practical learning like metalwork and woodwork seem far more important to me. Don't get me wrong I understand the importance of history but it just seemed to get too much attention. I feel the curriculum should be focused on producing skilled, moral and intelligent citizens rather than who beheaded who 300 years ago. Really the only thing I learned about the monarchy that is important is that we shouldn't have one, no one should have that level of power or privilege. I feel its much more important to teach children that everyone is equal whatever their gender, ethnicity or sexual preference and the most skilled person for a job should get the job. Also the only people to look down on should be criminals.
I don't think you can teach out hate from children, there will always be citizens who commit crime and I feel its more important to teach people about the consequences of crime rather than do a long winded approach trying to educate children about morality through telling them about the evils of history. I don't think knowing about Adolf Hitler made me a better person.
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