Prime Minister Cameron in happier times.
I suspect that you would have seen/heard David Cameron’s comments about the ‘Special Relationship’ this week. One comment in particular has drawn a lot of attention:
“We were the junior partner in 1940 when we were fighting the Nazis.”
On the surface, it does display a poor grasp of the Second World War but I think it shows two deeply important, but contradictory, lessons. The first lesson is that History is important. In a day and age where the threat to the subject appears to loom larger than ever, it shows that getting key events wrong can offend a large majority of the population and might even lead to questions about your ability to do your job. Pretty serious stuff.
The second lesson to be drawn from the reaction to Cameron’s comment is the difficulty teachers face in creating an ethos where mistakes are seen as a normal part of the learning process. It seems clear to me that Cameron is learning to be Prime Minister and although he may be gifted in certain areas, unfamiliar situations cause people to react in different ways. Within the context of the rest of his discussion, the comment made sense but it was a small error not a terrible threat to the social fabric of British society. It is therefore unsurprising that students can sometimes battle with a classroom environment where mistakes are seen as a necessary element of becoming better; the pressure to get things ‘right’ the first time from society seems overwhelming.
Who said teaching was an easy job?
Front and top image: The Prime Minister’s Office@Flickr
