Originally Posted by +8Rich
TBM, a little smile for you in an attempt to lighten the thread a little, taken from "The Book Of Fair Devon" 1899-1900 which I dip into every now and again, it's a hoot.

"As to the county's associations with the past - the long list of noble names which Devon has given to the history of our land - is there not a further charm in the recollection of these men and their deeds ? Does not the heart thrill at the mention of the names of such men as Hawkins, Raleigh, Sydney, and Gilbert ? Who can walk upon the Hoe at Plymouth - that historic spot which has looked upon such varied events of history - without recalling the deeds of the "glorious great one's gone" ?"

Great men of their time and never to be forgotten but we have come a long way since this type of presentation in schools, I was reading the passage and imagining the kind of reaction you would have received delivering this to a class of todays teenagers.


In fairness, we do still teach the traditional history, and the kids do still lap up the tales of heroes and their 'derring dos'. I also often weave in anecdotes I picked up from my own varied and diverse past (although gloss over the more dubious and illegal activities!). I didn't start teaching until I was 35 and have had numerous 'careers' ranging from doing dodgy Tarmac drives and working as a Doorman to International Customer Service Manager for Lloyds based in UK/US and HK. I used to have a Library named after me in HK, but not sure it is still there!

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Kids today are really not much different from kids years ago. They like excitement and adventure, and a good historian will interweave these elements into the raw facts to make things memorable and inspire further study. The joy is now that, compared to years ago, the world is a much smaller place, and we have a far greater 'bank' of world knowledge we can use...

"Y mae dafad ddu ym mhob praidd"
1972 4/4, 1981 MGBGT, 1984 FLHT1340, 1980 XLH1000, 1990 ZX10