Why thoughts of the past have a place in the present

Are children to be well versed in the traditional ‘Three Rs’, or should science and IT reign supreme in the classroom? And what about languages or acquiring the practical skills in preparation for working life? Each generation of the ruling political elite, seemingly more enlightened than its predecessor, thinks it knows what is best for the nation’s children.

The only problem is if government gets it wrong – and let’s face it politicians the world over have a reputation for cocking things up – it is the future of an entire generation that is in jeopardy.

The British education system, which Jersey is intrinsically tied into, has been subject to a number of ‘fashionable’ revisions since the Second World War – and here we are on the brink of yet another transformation.

Ironically, it is the very future of the next political elite that never seems to suffer because its members are either fortunate to be academically gifted so able to excel regardless, or to be educated in high performing public and private schools. The ones who usually suffer from politically led education reforms are those children, who need extra help or simply become disengaged, and often though no fault of their own, with the very system that is supposed t help them.

It is yet another case of history repeating itself, as it has a rather regular tendency to do so.

If I ruled the world, the teaching of history would be top of my list.

Without a sense of the historical events that have brought mankind to where it is now, every single member of the human race is – as the American author of Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton, said – ‘a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree’.

The versatile Mr Crighton, who also created the hit US television programme, ER, was not the only famous person to give an opinion on the importance of history.

The most quoted – and often out of context – was the founder of the Ford Motor Company, the father of the mass-production assembly line manufacturing process, Henry Ford, who is famed for saying ‘history is bunk’.

What he actually said, and as was published in Chicago Tribune in 1916, was: ‘History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history that we make today.’

How wrong he was. Ninety-six years later man still clings to tradition as some nostalgic comforter from a more certain past in the face of an alien present.

The trouble with history is that historians have a tendency to rewrite it -which is exactly what they are supposed to do when previously unseen or ‘secret’ records come to light. The problem arises when they revise what happened in the past according to the prevailing attitudes of the present day.

Politicians are equally annoying in revising the past to suit their own agendas and international alliances. So they decide not to commemorate events of significant national interest just in case it upsets their new friends.

To quote a politician who left an unforgettable imprint on the 20th century, Israeli Prime minister Golda Meir: ‘One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.’

It was because of a ‘guilt complex’ over the bombing of German cities such as Dresden that resulted in the brave men of Bomber Command being denied the official recognition they deserved until this year.

Which is why it is refreshing that Premier David Cameron has at last decided to spend £50 million on making the 100th anniversary of the First World War, each and every one of its battles, truly fitting national commemorations.

In addition, £5 million will be spent on an educational programme including school trips to the battlefields. Fingers crossed that he doesn’t put Nick Clegg in charge. It is an example that Jersey would do well to follow.

The sacrifice made by more than 1,600 Islanders killed fighting predominantly in the British forces but some under French, Commonwealth and dominion flags, from 1914 to 1918, has been overshadowed by the Island’s experience in the Second World War, or to be precise the Occupation from June 1940 to May 1945.

For Jersey, the Occupation was as much a national defining point as the First World War, which haunts the British people to this day. It has left an indelible mark on the British character – even more so than the Second World War, in spite of that conflict being ‘our finest hour’.

The names carved on the parish and other First World War memorials – and those who have no memorial in their Island home – deserve our attention, respect and commemoration as much as the ‘heroes’ of the Occupation.

It is beholden on the authorities to acknowledge the sacrifice they made for the ‘war to end all wars’.

There is still time for the States to find the money to come up with some far more fitting memorial than it has done of late in the eclectic collection of curios commemorations that include a bronze tree, a Jubilee needle, a holographic portrait and a £100 bank note.

Better to spend £5 million so their names liveth forever more than give such a sum to support the commercial aspirations of the already wealthy finance industry.