MallyJ - // But it is British history.....people across the world were appallingly treated by the British for a very long time...why shouldn't children learn the truth of the cruelty etc carried out by the British.....or should history be watered down ?? //
No, history should not be watered down, but neither should it be inaccurately portrayed as an exercise in pointless meaningless right-on credential-seeking either.
History is about context, yes we should acknowledge the bad things our ancestors did, and also the good things they did, that is what context delivers, but to suggest that we should all walk around weeping and wailing for the dreadful things done before we were born is not only colossally arrogant and self-serving, it distorts the reality of how society and culture arrived where they are now, and where they are going in the future, and that is what history should be used for.
History is experience, it is not a whip for the self-obsessed right-on Labour numpties to beat themselves up with, for their own percular attention-seeking reasons.