Author Topic: The "little" shops of Balsall heath.  (Read 38704 times)

Phil

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Re: The "little" shops of Balsall heath.
« Reply #33 on: November 27, 2012, 07:14:36 PM »
Phil
 
You might want to have a glance through this, they really ought to teach these young kids a little more local history especially if they are going to set them this sort of project. Do watch the videos they are quite funny but intersting to see what the young people think.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

mikejee

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Re: The "little" shops of Balsall heath.
« Reply #34 on: November 27, 2012, 11:06:08 PM »
The title of the file says geography resources, so I suppose the teacher  did not concentrate much on the history side of it. However i agree that they should have been taught more about local history, and non-local history as well.

Phil Davidson

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Re: The "little" shops of Balsall heath.
« Reply #35 on: November 28, 2012, 01:41:25 PM »
Phil
 
You might want to have a glance through this, they really ought to teach these young kids a little more local history especially if they are going to set them this sort of project. Do watch the videos they are quite funny but intersting to see what the young people think.
Hi Phil,


For some reason, the videos will not run on my computer. (A Mac, but I am more familiar with PCs).


In any event, there will always be problems teaching kids local history. The subject matter is likely to be highly selective, and probably very subjective, depending on the teacher's point of view and objectives.


I have no regrets about growing up in Balsall Heath, and I have some great memories. But, even though I grew up in a poor family of ten kids, my story would not fit into a report on the deprivations of poor inner city suburban residents.


Phil.


 


 

mikejee

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Re: The "little" shops of Balsall heath.
« Reply #36 on: November 28, 2012, 11:23:39 PM »
But Phil , this was not a matter of choice of subject, some of it was plain wrong. It stated that some filled in windows were because of the window tax, which made Victorians fill in the windows to avoid paying it. The window tax was introducedin 1696, and repealed in 1851. By the time pf the Victorians amost windows that were going to be filled in would have already benn filled. Anyway the houses concerned wre very late victorian (possibly c 1890- 95) and so the tax had not existed for 30-40 years when they were built. I would certainly hope this had not come from a teacher , though thinking about how some teachers have manipulated in-school exam marking to boost the schools rating then perhaps I would not put anything past some of them

Phil Davidson

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Re: The "little" shops of Balsall heath.
« Reply #37 on: November 29, 2012, 11:13:06 AM »
I take your point about things being plain wrong as far as the Window Tax is concerned.
However, I have memories of buildings with bricked up windows, and probably in buildings that were from the post 1851 period, so what would be the explanation ?
I am not a historian, neither in a general sense, and especially not as far as local taxation is concerned. Is it just possible that, some time after the Window Tax was abolished, one of the components of the calculation of Rates was the number of windows in a building ?
If so, the teacher concerned would be guilty of identifying the wrong tax, but not guilty of identifying the primary reason for the bricking up of windows.


It is much easier to tell kids to look up the Window Tax on wiki, than to suggest that they research the manner in which Rates were calculated. As you say, identifying the right reason but the wrong answer, may not be viewed too severely in today's education system.


Phil.




Phil

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Re: The "little" shops of Balsall heath.
« Reply #38 on: November 29, 2012, 11:18:22 AM »
Phil & Mike
 
It wasn't just the window tax error that I was referring to there were other errors in all the pieces. In fact I thought the windows in question being bricked up were a recent cosmetic addition.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

mikejee

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Re: The "little" shops of Balsall heath.
« Reply #39 on: November 29, 2012, 05:12:42 PM »
I agree Phil. The bricking up looked quite recent and was probably because the the building was no longer a house. This was often done, and still is where a change of use is involved. My point was that there seemed to be no check of the relevent statements before putting it on the net. Either their teacher had no involvement in its production, or he had little knowledge about the subject

Phil

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Re: The "little" shops of Balsall heath.
« Reply #40 on: November 29, 2012, 05:25:58 PM »
As you say Mike it seems that the students instructor or teacher or whatever they are called had little to say on the scripting production content or editing of the piece. Its a great shame really because this is the sort of thing that the future replacements of people like you and I will take great interest in.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Phil Davidson

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Re: The "little" shops of Balsall heath.
« Reply #41 on: November 29, 2012, 06:03:09 PM »
Phil and Mike,


I think that we all face a similar problem.
As you seem to suggest Phil, for the most part, the "truth" of all history is what gets recorded and remains available in the future.
Those of us who grew up in Balsall Heath did not write our history, we just lived it.
But, the Internet will make sure that a history is written, even if it is wrong. 
Future researchers will not have to worry about the availability of information, but they will have some fun trying to sort out fact from fiction.


Phil.

Phil

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Re: The "little" shops of Balsall heath.
« Reply #42 on: November 29, 2012, 06:16:35 PM »
Phil
 
Both Mike and myself have a deep interest in Birmingham's history, and we both know only too well the amount of misleading information there is out there at the moment as publishers attempt to cash in on the wave of nostalgia that seems to be flooding across the country at the moment. It seems a great pity that these young people are being taught very poorly when things could be so much better with a little more help.
 
As far as I can see there were  so very close to the local history archives which I believe are kept at Clifton Rd School. Surely their teacher could have found this out and made them an appointment to go along and have a look and a chat to whoever it is that looks after the archive?
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Phil Davidson

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Re: The "little" shops of Balsall heath.
« Reply #43 on: November 30, 2012, 12:18:16 AM »
Phil
 
Surely their teacher could have found this out and made them an appointment to go along and have a look and a chat to whoever it is that looks after the archive?
Phil,
For this to happen would have required the teacher to accept that historical accuracy is at least as important as completing the project.
From the little that I understand about the use of Score Cards in education, I would have my doubts on this matter.
Phil.



 

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