History

Of course New Zealand history should be taught in our schools, and as your editorial (Feb 6) points out, a good starting point is the history of each school’s local area.

As part of my first teaching job in 1973 I filled in teaching 6th form history at Christchurch Boys’ High. When composing a test on the unification of Germany (Bismarck, 1871 and all that), I popped in a question “What was happening in New Zealand at this time?”

The boys had no idea and thought it was a very unfair question.

David W Collins, Governors Bay