Weird and Wonderful would like to embark on a very predominant problem entrenched within underbelly of British Society. For all those who have not read some of ” A Blighty Tale” posts, here is an example link: A Blighty Tale: “English subtitles have now become voiced over.” and also the Scandinavian edition”The land of the Midnight Sun”: The Land of The Midnight Sun: “What is a National Identity Crisis?” I feel National Identity Crisis affects not just the mental health of ethnic minorities within the society, but the actual ingenious people or British people: Scottish, English, Welsh and Northern Irish people. I feel this makes people feel weird rather than wonderful. I feel although I want to absolve my British citizenship; I am now identifying what is wrong with the whole theory of not connecting History, with our identity to help with mental health problems. It has been proven that discrimination can affect the mental health of individuals. I feel, your identity is especially important as a teenager or a young adult to identify with because of Eriksson’s theory of identity crisis as Susan Krauss Whitbourne Ph.D. (2012) Any Age Are You Having an Identity Crisis? 4 key ways to identify your identity. states:
“An identity “crisis” may occur at any time in your adult years when you’re faced with a challenge to your sense of self. In addition, not every adolescent goes through an identity crisis at all but instead accepts the roles and values handed down by his or her parents. Some adolescents remain in a permanent state of crisis. Because there are more than two ways that people navigate their adolescent identity issues, researchers following Eriksson’s theory expanded his concept of the identity crisis.”
As I write this I really do not think colour or ethnicity identification should be separate from teaching history to young children and adults, because of colonial Britain makes up a majority of the society today. I also feel this is really a poor representation of Britons or some heretics imply to have any bold patriotism is dangerous. It is not! The Common wealth is made up of 52 countries that the British Empire invaded. The British Empire was quite inhumane, very raw to ethnically cleanse societies into becoming slaves has been proven in A Blighty Tale: “Stereotyping And The Psychological Impact Of Imperalism in the Modern World.” It is as though the government is somewhat ashamed of who they are and what Britain has become through the Imperial Era which technically never ended there because many of you have the ability to read and write in English. Through globalisation they have been able to soften their approach to changing societies.
“You are who you are; you cannot change this factor.” Weird and Wonderful (2016)
I feel, even though parents would like to tell children about history: some parents maybe bias or have certain ideologies; imprinting on children’s minds which may create deep seeded hatred or discrimination. Even being taught by the establishment or framework which has denied such monstrosities, I can say that watching ‘mean streets’ or any other gangster films showing the downside of ethnic minorities participating in violent crime has helped sooth deep psychological matters.
This is a vicious cycle which has lead to some parents and grandparents to believing in fearing non- discrimination society as politically correct, meaning they don’t agree with history and becoming humble about such monstrous, vicious invasions that happened a century ago – still fresh in modern day society. Most of the cover-ups of racism is to deny history, not only the British people but to the countries they invaded. To name a few; India, Pakistan, Nigeria, South Africa, and Australia.
Although, many Britons are proud to be British many are actually against the diversity in their society which is more so than that of their Scandinavian neighbours. At one point in history to symbolise the absolution of guilt the citizens of the Common Wealth were given British Passports, until they became independent countries. For example, if you were born Indian in 1960 you would have a dual nationality passport and have freedom of moment to occupy the UK. Facts like these change the way society would behave towards itself, with more ability to reduce discrimination. If they make the imperial era compulsory then how many will it affect? Claire Alexandra (2014) Influencing the cultural diversity of the UK history curriculum
“Over 20% of Britain’s population is now of minority ethnic background, with nearly 25% of the school age population of Black or minority ethnic heritage. Despite this, according to a review of the national curriculum by Ofsted, the Schools inspection service for England, cultural diversity and multiculturalism are poorly taught in schools. The UK Coalition Government has placed history as central to the formation of British identity and citizenship and has redefined the national curriculum, placing greater emphasis on British ‘island’ history and neglecting the contribution of Britain’s ethnic minority communities to that history and to British identity.”
I feel they should make it illegal for parents and schools who refuse to teach gruesome historical impacts on the rest of the world because I feel, essentially what they are doing is inciting racial hatred to a child; really is unnecessary because it prevents them from succeeding in life. This goes against the Children’s Act which is to help a child to strive and thrive. Your identity means so much to you as a teenager and I realise from reading stories about people’s circumstances and how they feel about their identity imposes these factors of feeling discriminated against. Let’s all face the facts about stereotyping Do You Realise You Are Stereotyping Yourself? it is a cruel thing to do to ourselves.
I am sorry use the Americans who like to home school their kids as an example but, I do feel within British society there is a blanket ignorance of colonialism and a significant connection to American’s who have no knowledge to the reason why “Thanksgiving” is a National Day. I feel to not actually tell their children about the reason why such a day exists and what happened should be compulsory. The British Empire had a lot to answer for. Even the slave trade as depressing as it may seem to discuss with a child should be compulsory in order for them to accept their identity and other’s within society.
Why is it important for English Blighty’s to identify more with oppression of imperialism?
History has taught us that if we are ignorant towards one another we can have an incident as tragic as Hitler: its all fine, fair enough blaming the Germans – this is one Blighty trait we need to abolish but to actually question previous history; what led to that point for the UK in general and what happened later on – has society improved and why not? These are things that some countries teach their children from an early age to do – think critically and analyse situations and construct an ethical evaluation or to understand how to resolve issues faster. Subsequently, British society is now about exams and tests , so your identity is at an increased risk as a young person of not being able to develop in a secure and critical discussions or actually formulate some kind of ethical reasoning behind what has happened SATS for KS1 year 1 and KS2 year 6 to prepare for G.C.S.E mock exams, proof that children as young 7 years old are put through these tests and then again at 10. The exams do not stop there, in secondary school you take a series of mock tests before your G.C.S.E’s in about 10 subjects: Maths, English, Science, French, Spanish, Art, Music, Geography and then at 18 years old you take the A- Levels Secondary Education in the UK (2016) provides more evidence of the uphill struggle of not being able to differentiate between reasoning and ethical reasoning because of constant testing.
Why is this important to mental health?
Children are always going to discriminate and bully if they are put under constant pressure. According to the Guardian (2015) and many of the people who believe in the right wing press would ignore and neglect the future or how children feel but this is important, English children among the unhappiest in the world at school due to bullying as Sally Weale (2016) declares:
“Violence and poor relationships with teachers puts English children 14th out of 15 countries surveyed for happiness at school as charity calls for action”
This is a problem to have such hate and systematic hate. I had one of my school friends tell me about an incident where her child locked herself in the toilets to get away from a girl who told her to kill herself. My friends daughter was only 7 years old at the time. I mean as little as 7 years old it really is astonishing. It is the most important thing in the world but to be socially included into things helps with the learning process and it means that children can learn from their peers; if they feel intellectually challenged
It is the most important thing in the world but to be socially included into things helps with the learning process and it means that children can learn from their peers; if they feel intellectually challenged as the BBC Reported Daily torment of racism in the classroom (2012) as Khadeja Fahat explains her experience.
14-year-old Khadeja Fahat, is catching up on her school work.
Since the year 9 pupil faced racist Islamaphobic abuse every day at her school in Wilmslow, Cheshire, her education has suffered along with her mental health.
“I was tormented nearly every day; I was scared to go to school,” said Khadeja.
“I used to go to school thinking: what am I going to face today?
“Is someone going to physically hurt me, or shout something at me or throw something at me?”
Then Cyber bullying is also a very high factor with many people thinking it is okay to bully someone on Facebook or on other social networking sites with teenagers as young as 13 committing suicide nobullying.com cyberbullying stories from the UK (2015) shows evidence of more stories:
Hannah was also only fourteen when she took her own life because of cyber bullying. She hung herself in her home in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. After her death, her father found hate posts directed at her on the aks.fm website, which allows anonymous postings.
Daniel was seventeen when he killed himself. Before he killed himself, an online extortion ring was blackmailing him. They tricked Daniel into using a cam to masturbate, which he thought he was doing for a girl his own age. They told him if he did not deposit thousands of pounds in a bank account, the images and video would be shown to all his friends, family, and made public. He killed himself rather than suffer the humiliation.
Five years ago, Amy from Peterborough had a serious problem with cyber bullies when she was only thirteen. A group of students created a Facebook page that said they wished she were dead. This traumatized her so badly she considered suicide. Now, she is eighteen and her mother is happy she survived. Mother and daughter are both happy with software that has been installed in 1,500 schools, which scans the online communications of students looking for code phrases that may mean trouble like IHML (I hate my life) or Dirl (Die in real life). When the software picks up a possible negative code word, it notifies teachers with an explanation of what the code means.
This software provides a chance for intervention in serious situations, because the difficulty with teen suicides is that to others they appear not to show any warning signs. Additionally, child psychologists say that is it almost impossible for children and teens to talk to parents about what is going on.
So there is software prevention. I feel history is a valuable lesson for people to understand their own identity. There are a number of sources young people use today; internet, the library, software programs, pictures, instagram, pinups, reddit, tumblr, google and now you see we are using word press. History will always be discovered by children or young people but to actually not create a discriminating environment means allowing them to construct an environment, 6 where they can discuss things and have the ability to reason and evaluate.
Conclusion
I am making my conclusion personal. I feel I do not want my child to go through intellectual bullying or any other form of bullying to that barbaric nature. It is up to me as a parent to take responsibility for her but I cannot educate her daily, school is mandatory I have my limitations. I feel may parents have their limitations too in this world and we need to find a solution to all their problems by teaching them the best history possible. I am not sorry I am becoming an expat: I know more and now I do I really would not want to be in an unjust society where they are ignorant towards even one another. I live in a place where their national identity is important and the children are happy. Maybe I would like this future for many. I really feel I do not want my friends children to suffer either. This is why education has to be important and children need time to reason and think. Life should not be just about exams because they are not even able to enjoy the very childhood they have. We all grow up hating everything around us and not having any values without some form of national identity. If Blighty is a dirty rotten place this is because leading up to the second world war they were responsible for a lot of things.
I am not stating this is possible to change the psychological impact but I am suggesting a change in the outlook of the British Empire and what effect it had on the rest of the world. It is not too much to ask. Many of us are privileged to have such a life but it came with a big cost. Many generations are still suffering as wars continue. It all boils down to education. It all remains multifaceted when you apply critical analysis to a child. Exams are just mentally draining them and there is nothing left for them any more. I think hearing about the suicides was enough for me to feel unattached. Our identity is so important as teenagers and as adults we should value what we have become.
Weird and Wonderful 