At the end of the last post I asked myself why many British do not consider it important to know the history of their country. And far too often I have been confronted with unrealistic perceptions of the world or serious gaps in general knowledge.
Is our group of friends and acquaintances, despite their often academic background, more ignorant than the rest of the country? Or is this a general problem? And if so, why?
To get to the bottom of these questions, I took a closer look at the local school system. The following remarks refer again to the system in England; the other British countries are organised (slightly) differently. (I wrote this text mainly to explain the English system to foreingers. If you are from the UK, you know it, of course. However it might be interesting for you to see it described by somebody with a different background. On the way I will compare the English and the German systems.)
As in Germany, there is a two-tier school system consisting of primary and secondary schools. The normal form of a secondary school, is similar to the German Gesamtschule.
The equivalent to the German Gymnasium, grammar schools, used to be widespread. These were actually supposed to be abolished a few decades ago. However, many have survived to the present day. Either they were converted into independent schools or the respective regional administration kept them alive. Nevertheless, the latter are rare enough. Not every child who meets the requirements can attend a grammar school [1].
My wife is such a case. There was a grammar school in the vicinity of her parents' home and she met the requirements. But the classes were already filled with children who lived closer to school. For a few weeks she attended a common secondary school before she got the scholarship for her independent school. For those, it does not matter how close pupils live.
In the UK children start school at the age of four (In Germany at the age of six). Whether one can already learn properly at this age, I don't know. Perhaps this is why the first year of school is called reception and not year 1. Letters and numbers are taught. It is not until the second school year, year 1 (yes it is confusing), that defined subjects are introduced.
In addition to English, mathematics, geography, music, art, P.E., history, computer science and science are introduced. This sounds very impressive. The latter subjects I only got in secondary school. A foreign language follows a few years later.
Primary school usually ends with year 6. The pupils are 11 years old. At the end there is a series of tests, the SATS (standard attainment tests).
In secondary school, subjects like citizenship, religion and sex education are introduced. At the end of Year 11, the pupils are 16 and there is another round of tests, the GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education). Pupils must be tested in at least five subjects and need to receive at least five grades in the A*-C range for successful completion.
Already 2 years before the GCSEs pupils can drop some subjects to focus on the remaining ones. By the end of Year 11, students have completed the national curriculum and compulsory education ends. As in Germany, Year 12 & 13, are supposed to provide the qualification needed to apply for university.
However, the structure of the last school years differs quite a lot between the two countries. In Germany I had to take at least eight minor courses in addition to two major courses for my Abitur. In England the number of subjects is four in the first year and three in the final one. Pupils can take more subjects, but it is not typical. The qualifications from the first year are called AS-levels, those from the second are called A-levels.
When I told my wife about my wide range of subjects in my last years, she was not surprised. After all, I had only started school at the age of six. And many topics I was only exposed to at secondary school are compulsory in England from the age of five. The many subjects in my last years just compensated for my lack of education in the early years, she said.
But the contents of the curricula tend to speak against her beliefs. In an easily comparable subject as mathematics, pupils of the same age learn roughly the same material. Simple differential and integral calculus are only covered in the last two years in both countries and mathematics was mandatory for me. Topics such as matrices and complex numbers, are only taught in a second subject in England, further mathematics, but would be part of the major course in Germany.
If the topics covered are the same, perhaps English students know them better? Given the anecdotes of our friend who teaches maths at an English university, I strongly doubted this. But I looked into the question and talked to a former teacher in our group of friends. She had studied physics and even done a PhD. Her enthusiasm for the subject led her to pursue a school career. She taught mathematics and physics at a secondary school.
But the work quickly frustrated her. She usually covered the final years, but was unable to teach the subject matters. The pupils lacked both basic knowledge and understanding.
When I asked why, her answer got longer and longer. She did not see only one problem.
The first one: in many places, teachers have no incentive to actually provide actual knowledge. Their work is evaluated by the performance of their pupils. So they focus on getting pupils through tests, no matter what. Short-term success takes precedence over sustained learning.
Pupils tend to learn just for tests anyway, but in England they are pushed further into this habit. Parents and teachers tell them not to pursue any interests, but to plan their school careers in such a way they will find a well-paid job later on. When I think of British wages and the costs of living, this advice is absolutely understandable.
But since the UK is a country that bases everything on key performance indicators, rankings and so on, pupils try to optimise their performance in these as directly as possible. For example, if one wants a job in the well-paid finance industry, one should have a maths degree from a highly ranked university. For admission to such a university, as described before, top graded A-levels in mathematics, further mathematics and a related subject are required.
This is why many students take physics as their third subject. Not out of interest in the laws of nature, but to further their careers. Therefore, even in higher classes most pupils entrusted to our teacher friend were only interested in the simplest methods to beat the exams, not understanding the subject.
Disenchanted, our friend left her job after a few years. Perhaps I should be careful and not generalise her statements or believe them blindly. She may have ended up at a terrible school. And her frustration may have coloured the narrative even more negatively.
On the other hand, this would explain so much. The lack of history knowledge for example, and the reputation of the subject. It just doesn’t matter when it comes to finding a job and making money.
If her stories can be generalised, I think I have found one of the fundamental problems Britain is dealing with today. In Germany, the main task of school is not to prepare for a career but to provide Bildung. This means pupils should gain enough general knowledge to understand the world. Not only the laws of physics, but society, politics and so on. And they are supposed to be provided with the intellectual tools to keep this understanding up-to-date after they leave school.
All this is done for good reasons. First of all, Bildung helps people to cope with their own life. But societies benefit from a higher level of education of the population, too, especially democracies. For example, if voters do not understand the world, there is a danger they will become victims of populists, believe confused stories and vote against their interests.
The primary objective of the English system is to prepare for careers. Children begin to specialise at the age of 14. In many subjects, only the basics can be taught. And these are often enough hardly appreciated.
Even when it comes to the subjects taught in the last years, the transfer of knowledge and understanding often fails, because pupils, teachers and parents are not interested in these.
This answers my opening questions: In the UK, general knowledge is indeed not seen as important and the messed up educational system fails to provide it anyway. I would warn about the consequences for society, but it is probably too late for that.
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[1] In addition to the school types described above, there are also special forms. For example, not all secondary schools offer instruction in all years, some do not have senior classes, others specialise in certain subjects in the advanced years. Other schools concentrate on the upper years or on subjects neglected at other institutions.