Historians back British minister's history curriculum plan

British Education Minister Michael Gove has also received criticism for his proposals London – Maria Tabarani Fifteen prominent British historians, including David Starkey and Niall Ferguson, signed a letter published in British newspaper The Times on Thursday endorsing Education Minister Michael Gove's plan for schoolchildren to learn all of Britain's history in chronological order.
The proposed curricula would teach children about subjects that had been dropped by the previous Labour government, including the Norman Conquest, Henry II's conflict with Thomas Beckett, the Black Death, the Wars of the Roses, the execution of Richard I, the Act of Union with Scotland and the rise and fall of the British Empire.
Gove's plans, however, have been widely criticised in other quarters. Sir Richard Evans, Regius Professor of History at Cambridge, condemned Gove's proposal as rote learning "beloved of traditionalists." Greg Jenner, historical consultant to the BBC children's programme Horrible Histories, said the curriculum "represents an ideological shift back towards the moral didacticism of yesteryear."