The Next Generation

[MikeC]

Amid all the troubles and cares of the world, it's good to see someting like this: a girl joins her grandfather in working on a Lightning https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g0ejr2rrzo

Edited May 26 by MikeC

[mozart]

Heartening indeed Mike, thanks for the link.

 

 I caught the last 10 minutes of “Tipping Point” yesterday evening, Brian McFadden who I believe is a singer with a pop group was the guest. Multiple choice question, history based which he acknowledged he was weak on: “which of these battles was the most recent - Battle of the Boyne, Battle of Wellington, Battle of Britain? You won’t be surprised to know that he said Battle of the Boyne! I despair. 

[vince14]

McFadden is Irish, though, so I'm not surprised he went with the Battle of the Boyne. Irish history is (not unsurprisingly) more prominent in Ireland than British history. I worked with an Irish guy a few years back, he said that both World Wars are basically given a light touch in Irish schools, with WWI being the most prominent due to the association with the 1916 uprising. 

Edited May 27 by vince14

[nmayhew]

i believe the term they would use would be 'eejit'

[mozart]

6 hours ago, vince14 said:

McFadden is Irish, though, so I'm not surprised he went with the Battle of the Boyne. Irish history is (not unsurprisingly) more prominent in Ireland than British history. I worked with an Irish guy a few years back, he said that both World Wars are basically given a light touch in Irish schools, with WWI being the most prominent due to the association with the 1916 uprising. 

That’s being very charitable Vince by my book. Surely just in day to day life the term “Battle of Britain” is going to come up, maybe on the news with some footage of fighters? Isn’t that the kind of knowledge that you almost subliminally “catch” rather than learn? Who knows…..doesn’t matter a jot in the great scheme of things. 

[Pete Roberts]

7 hours ago, mozart said:

Surely just in day to day life the term “Battle of Britain” is going to come up, maybe on the news with some footage of fighters? 

Ah, I wish that was true Max, but I have come to the conclusion that the Battle of Britain, one of the MOST important battles in world history, is also one of the least known, and certainly one the most underrated, battles in world history. I despaired at all the questions that came up on modelling forums relating to RAF aircraft in the BoB, so finished up writing a book on it, in part to also satisfy my own needs! Suffice to say, demand has been underwhelming. I have attended some of the larger model shows here in Australia with the book, and the majority of attendees didn't even give it a second glance. Yes, there were some enthusiasts, but just a handful. I fear the battle is now ancient history, condemned to the dungeons of time. 

 

Edit: apologies for the thread drift

Edited May 27 by Pete Roberts

[Oldbaldguy]

It is very heartening to see that there are still kids today who want to do something besides pound on their phone 24/7.  As to world history, unless they read, most kids today have no idea that anything existed before the day they were born.  College campuses here in the US are rife with students who cannot tell you when the war of 1812 occurred or which countries fought in the Spanish-American War.  At sixteen this wee lassie has done more than many of us have or ever will.  Like she said, how many get the chance to shinny into the intake of any Cold War fighter much less a Lightning with wrench in hand to bring it back to life?  Heck, I've never even seen a Lightning and here she is giving this one CPR.

[CRAZY IVAN5]

6 minutes ago, Oldbaldguy said:

It is very heartening to see that there are still kids today who want to do something besides pound on their phone 24/7.  As to world history, unless they read, most kids today have no idea that anything existed before the day they were born.  College campuses here in the US are rife with students who cannot tell you when the war of 1812 occurred or which countries fought in the Spanish-American War.  At sixteen this wee lassie has done more than many of us have or ever will.  Like she said, how many get the chance to shinny into the intake of any Cold War fighter much less a Lightning with wrench in hand to bring it back to life?  Heck, I've never even seen a Lightning and here she is giving this one CPR.

I hear ya ,brother! The other day  i was getting ready to play the movie , PT-109 and my grandaughters [ they're juniors in H.S. asked what the movie was about .so I told them it was about President John F. Kennedy when he was a skipper in ww2. well,the next question was 'Who was John F. Kennedy?". I knew right there  that I was in trouble or for that matter this country is in trouble. I had to explain the whole deal about the movie . BUT. here's the silver lining they actually sat down and watched the movie!!! They learned something that day and I told them ,"Pass it on!"

[Martinnfb]

Thank you for sharing Mike. 

 

 

I had to Google Bryan McFaden. Will never get those two minutes of my life back.

[Gazzas]

I thought my daughter would choose a military life and build her independence.   She was interested in weaponry.  But then she got married and had a kid and all of that disappeared. 

 

I tried to interest my granddaughter in models.   It only took a short session to realize that it wasn't gonna happen.   

[MikeC]

On 5/28/2026 at 12:32 AM, CRAZY IVAN5 said:

The other day  i was getting ready to play the movie , PT-109 and my grandaughters [ they're juniors in H.S. asked what the movie was about .so I told them it was about President John F. Kennedy when he was a skipper in ww2. well,the next question was 'Who was John F. Kennedy?". I knew right there  that I was in trouble or for that matter this country is in trouble.

But here's the thing: how old are they in Junior High?  About 10/11?  That means that JFK's assassination in 1963 was, for them, over 60 years ago.  Now when I was that age, "60 years ago" was 1906: the year HMS Dreadnought was launched and Rolls Royce was first registered as a motor manufacturing company, among other things.  The Victorian era was not long over.  To me, 1906 was "ancient history", and it took something to spark an interest in learning history: in my case an enthusiastic teacher of the subject who, I learned much later, was a WWII RAF veteran, plus both parents and sundry relatives having served.  A bit more perspective: the year I was born, WWII was less than "20 years ago".

On 5/28/2026 at 12:32 AM, CRAZY IVAN5 said:

BUT. here's the silver lining they actually sat down and watched the movie!!! They learned something that day and I told them ,"Pass it on!"

In your granddaughters' case, a bit of family time with Grandad may perhaps, by the sound of it, have sparked something.  The point of this rambling is, that we can't expect the younger generations to automatically see the events we hold significant in quite the same way our generation regards them; but we can educate and spark enthusiasm.  As Grace in the article said: at first, it was just a thing she did to hang out with Grandad, the interest developed from that.  But like a fire that's difficult to get going, that knowledge and enthusiasm needs gentle encouragement, rather than a dose of petrol and a flamethrower, to nurture it. 

 

Sorry for the ramblings: I know what I mean, hopefully I've conveyed something of that. 

Edited June 4 by MikeC

[CRAZY IVAN5]

15 minutes ago, MikeC said:

But here's the thing: how old are they in Junior High?  About 10/11?  That means that JFK's assassination in 1963 was, for them, over 60 years ago.  Now when I was that age, "60 years ago" was 1906: the year HMS Dreadnought was launched and Rolls Royce was first registered as a motor manufacturing company, among other things.  The Victorian era was not long over.  To me, 1906 was "ancient history", and it took something to spark an interest in learning history: in my case an enthusiastic teacher of the subject who, I learned much later, was a WWII RAF veteran, plus both parents and sundry relatives having served.  A bit more perspective: the year I was born, WWII was less than "20 years ago".

In your granddaughters' case, a bit of family time with Grandad may perhaps, by the sound of it, have sparked something.  The point of this rambling is, that we can't expect the younger generations to automatically see the events we hold significant in quite the same way our generation regards them; but we can educate and spark enthusiasm.  As Grace in the article said: at first, it was just a thing she did to hang out with Grandad, the interest developed from that.  But like a fire that's difficult to get going, that knowledge and enthusiasm needs gentle encouragement, rather than a dose of petrol and a flamethrower, to nurture it. 

 

Sorry for the ramblings: I know what I mean, hopefully I've conveyed something of that. 

I hear what you're saying and I understand what you're trying to convey. I also agree to a large extent. I was a bit shocked that they hadn't been taught in school who President Kennedy was, they know now. i see it all the time  on T.V.,a reporter will on the street and randomly ask history questions to COLLEGE kids ,stuff I learned in 3rd grade, and they had not a clue! Like who attacked Pearl harbor? Some of these geniuses blamed England, Canada, and the one I really liked Vietnam! When I was in school we learned about stuff that was way older than 60 years but I digress.

[MikeC]

45 minutes ago, CRAZY IVAN5 said:

When I was in school we learned about stuff that was way older than 60 years but I digress.

Indeed, as did I. But the interest has to be there as well, either inherent or "sparked" by something. 

And we're only talking one subject with history. Did you retain everything you learned in school in every subject? I know full well I didn't 

[quang]

40 minutes ago, MikeC said:

Did you retain everything you learned in school in every subject?

I did. But then they say the older you get, the farther in time you remember 😝

[CRAZY IVAN5]

9 hours ago, MikeC said:

Indeed, as did I. But the interest has to be there as well, either inherent or "sparked" by something. 

And we're only talking one subject with history. Did you retain everything you learned in school in every subject? I know full well I didn't 

Oh Heck no ! I'm dumber than a nail! I'm kind of a history buff so I tend to gravitate in that direction. Now math? Ferget about it ! I took Calculus in H.S. and the other day I ran across a "simple" calc problem and I didn't even know where to start! Apparently I sparked "something " because now they're coming up and hitting me with all kind of history questions and I don't mind in the least. With my grand daughters' family history linked through me , they want to learn stuff now , the schools sure as heck ain't teaching them anything and they should be,at least the basics if nothing else. I told my daughter that perhaps they should've been "home schooled", I would've took that on ,hell I'm retired !