>* Shanks did a bit about Indian history vs. English history– In the catholic church view, there was a "good queen mary" Most of the rest of the world knows her as "bloody mary" (daughter of Henry VIII).
History is such a fascinating thing, so many sides. I tend to think of Queen Mary as a goodie (and a rather good liner). Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and Edward (whatever) were all baddies - breaking away from the church, destroying all those lovely monasteries 'n all. On the other hand, I also thought that Mary Queen of Scots was a baddie (for no real reason, other than that she was a bit foreign). Now I live in Scotland my children have been taught that Mary Queen of Scots was a goodie and Elizabeth I was definitely a baddie.
Whoever said that history was wasted on children was right. It takes a bit of maturity to take on the challenge of putting all the pieces back together for oneself. Whichever point of view taught in schools, sadly, even today tends to help build problems for the future. It's too easy to believe that we are getting the whole truth and nothing but the truth. the best thing about learning as we get older is that we have a context for all those meaningless facts and dates which used to whizz round for no apparent reason.
When I was learning to ski, I was pleased on day not to fall over. "Too bad", the teacher said, "you can't have been trying hard enough"!
