It's Time to Teach British Kids About the Wonders of the British Empire

Andrew Cunningham, in the Daily Telegraph (July 14, 2004):

[Dr. Andrew Cunningham teaches at Charterhouse.]

Fifty years ago, their names tripped off the tongue: Clive of India, Wolfe of Quebec, Captain Cook, Mungo Park, Livingstone and Stanley, Baden-Powell of Mafeking, Kitchener of Khartoum. Every schoolchild grew up knowing these imperial greats. On the wall of most classrooms was a map of the world, one-third coloured pink, as a reminder.

Now, 50 years of progressive education and misguided history teaching have done what these figures' opponents never quite managed - killed them off. Ask any teenager today about the illustrious names on this list and you'll meet with a complete blank. As far as history teaching in schools is concerned, the British Empire may as well not have happened. Our children are never taught about it.

These are the unsurprising findings of Ofsted, which complained this week that schools spend "insufficient time" learning about the Empire. "Insufficient time"? Surely, the understatement of the year. Ofsted's inspectors found that pupils aged 11 to 16 receive a mere three or four lessons on the subject in five full years at school.

The Empire barely features on the GCSE syllabuses, which devote most of their attention to trendy topics, such as Hitler, Stalin, the General Strike and Cold War. Our teenagers know all about the Nazis and trade unionism, but nothing about the Empire upon which the sun, once so famously, never set.

What little information does filter through tends to be sickeningly one-sided: condemning the British Empire as some brutal aberration. One BBC website aimed at schoolchildren came up with this analysis: "The Empire came into greatness by killing lots of people... and stealing their countries." The reality, of course, is that the British Empire was special largely because it was based on commerce, not conquest.

As Ofsted argues: "Pupils should know about the Empire." Why not put it more strongly? It should be top of the syllabus. Yes, of course the Empire can be a sensitive subject (though not, perhaps, as sensitive as its detractors would have us believe) and should be taught in the context of its own, vastly different world order. Pupils should be aware that its legacy can be interpreted differently, according to beliefs and background. They should also realise (as if they need reminding) that imperialism - whether British, French or American - is no longer acceptable. But, in addition to being the biggest Empire the world has ever seen, ours was also the most benign. It deserves better than to be consigned to oblivion, 100 years after its Edwardian heyday....

Now, more forward-thinking historians, such as Niall Ferguson, are at last giving the Empire credit for its many achievements. As Ferguson says in a recent book:"The Empire maintained a global peace, unmatched before or since." We should be ashamed of the fact that the Empire is no longer taught in schools. Imagine the French being so coy and uncaring about their imperial past. Far from being embarrassed, we have a duty to remember the British Empire with some pride.