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In SA History is a conmpulsory subject from Grade 3 to grade 9. The first year is local history (town, region, province), then from Grade 5 and six is mostly South African history, but also some classical history of the west (Roman to Middle ages type thing), and then grades seven to nine is international history, with a lot of concentration on things like WW 2, as well is in depth look at African history. Then you can decide to take history as a subject in grades 10-12, which is then a lot more intenseand in depth, with grade 10 being SA, 11 Africa and 12 world history.
I grew up in apartheid SA (finished school the year after MAndela was elected) so I went trough the old school system (were were taught real horrible things in history like that the first 'people' arrived in South Africa in 1652!!) with very little attention given to black history.
History was then used as propaganda tool, with a lot of attention being given to teaching us of the heroic moments of the Afrikaner, like the wars against the Zulu, the British etc.
Now government has changed it around again. They teach intensivly history before 1652, which I don't quite get, as there is no written records for that period, and they struggle to get it right to teach Apartheid.
I myself love history, and tokk it right up to grade 12.
AH
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“The subject no longer has to be mentioned by name. Someone is sick. Someone else is feeling better now. A friend has just gone back into the hospital. Another has died. The unspoken name, of course, is AIDS.”
“From the point of view of the pharmaceutical industry, the AIDS problem has already been solved. After all, we already have a drug which can be sold at the incredible price of $8, 000 an annual dose, and which has the added virtue of not diminishing the market by actually curing anyone.”
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