I have spent 4 school terms learning about Tudors.

That’s about 1 school year.

And I’m only in year 8, there’s probably more to come.

So let’s face it, our curriculum’s getting a bit out-of-date.

I’ve never, ever been taught about the history of people outside of England. I am completely oblivious to any Asian, African, American or European history. I've only ever learnt about the same English people over and over again.

In most schools, children learn nothing about history in other countries and continents. And the times when we have learnt about other countries, instead of learning about the actual country’s culture we focus on what the English people did. For example, when learning about Native Americans, instead of learning about their culture, we learnt about the British conquering America (with little information on the many lives of Native American that were taken in order for Britain to do this).

And, as a person of Indian heritage, I was surprised at never being taught about India, considering how long it was part of the British empire. However, I’ve now realised that the main reason why so many people haven’t been taught about their heritage is because the curriculum wants to make England look like a great country and not like a country that has continually exploited many different cultures over the decades.

As a country we need to stop sugar-coating our past so we can move on and never repeat those mistakes again.

And if society is going to become more inclusive, we need to start with education.

However, if we continue to learn about the same privileged white men, society with continue to be full of subconscious discrimination against people of different races, appearances and genders.

As a school student, me and loads of my friends find that the history we’re being taught is boring, repetitive and not very useful in modern society. I’ve had the same conversation over and over again about how many time we’ve learnt about the same people and events.

And we’re tired of it.

So, now is the time to change our curriculum and learn about the rest of the world.

Here’s the link to me and my sister’s website, where you’ll find more of our petitions:

petitiongirls.com

Thanks,

Asha