HISTORY AS SHE IS TAUGHT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6090, 29 January 1898, Page 7

HISTORY AS SHE IS TAUGHT.

• A gentleman -who -lias •sometimes had occasion to examine scholarsrfrom our local -pnbKo schools,, has shownrfurepiasentative • of this journal.somesamptes'of the answers sent in to q.uestions,on.Hißtory, theasspon* sible .Btrf3iorsijßUigit>oyß«iTwl)giriß.af*twelye to sixteen years^ot aj»e. Th©-actnal papers Tvere-prodnc6d,^sa«thafc-tbe sgerarinanegs of Tth&answers-can be-rgnaranteed's — Qnestion :— <l) What was the ErfflJfih Answer:~Th&.EremokJß«rolttfcion was caused bythe .English trying to take Calais^after-they^had Joat it. Tie TVgJitAi amA •pVflno.Kfmig^frt'.Tn^fchft.'RngßHh Channel. Tfae.Engßsh were -defeated and the Etench-won<iHie' < ractory,.iM)w caUechtbe , Erench.J£evolation. What was the Stamp *Aict.?— (a)*The Stamp Act was that unless a^stamp was put>on any bill or illegal.docnmeni>to make ifcvalid it wasno good. (6) An Actipaajed requiring a stamp to-be put»on a .receipt, cheque_Bill, or other • docaunenfeito make it valid. What were the -Six Acts.?— TheiSfauAoto was passed when the Government -of England was at sixes and,sevena, What were^ke relations»existixiefi>efcwßen England and Holland daring the. Stuart Period P— (a) The relation existing between England and Holland was that James's daughter married WHEam -o£ Orange,, and he was King of Holland; and when he had to flee the gpeopie of Englandasked him to come over -anil, gat England settled. This he did,.and after they were all on for getting James back again, (b) Durmg^the Stuart Period &c people of Holland helped the Engiishjj the Swedes and Saxons helped the peopfe of Holland, and then both the English and the inhabitants of Holland grew aa\ connected with-«ach<other tkattfbey called themselves Cousins. Wliat was the Act of Settlement ?— (a) An, Act passed by whack the . people of the east of, America deciazed they were independent; (b) An Act which Baid that judges should sit on their seats for life, and should only be dismissed for bad conduct. Who was Pitt the Younger ?— Pitt the Younger brought from India the great Pitt diamond, which still sparkles in the Crown of France. Who was Sir Francis Bacon P— Sir P. Bacon was a great English sailor. He sailed round the Capo of Good Horn. Other boys were of opinion that Bacon was a Polar explorer, discoverer of the North-west Passage, that he was a Cardinal under Henry VIII., and that he was a great juggler and wizard. One child referring to the Elder Pretender showed a clear perception of the later Stuart Kings: — "James Btated that he was the son of the King, but he was really the son of respectable parents." These are only some of the more ludicrous answers, but the general knowledge of English history is lamentably, bad. Not one of. the replies quoted above was made by a scholar who had not reached the Sixth.Standard. Of sixty-scholars examined on the Act of Settlement, an important constitutional measure, only .one showed any useful knowledge of its provision*.