Can you teach British values?

I always groan when I hear of yet another initiative to define Britishness and British values.  Our ancestors seemed to manage perfectly well without a list of prescribed 'core values'.  They went out and conquered a fifth of the world without giving 'Britishness' much thought.  There were no charts setting out British values on the walls of the factories which drove the Industrial Revolution. 

Trying to define a society's values is difficult.  Values are underpinned by deep-rooted shared assumptions.  And the problem with assumptions is that people don't realise they share them until someone, usually an outsider,  points them out.  The fish is always the last to discover the water - when you are part of a culture it is difficult to see the characteristics that define it.  British people are therefore the worst people to ask the question, 'What does it mean to be British?'

Which is why I am sceptical about the government's latest good idea - teaching British values in schools.  I'm not sure that trying to teach a set of prescribed values is necessary or achievable.  The grammar schools that used to produce such good academic results often had an underlying ethos but it was rarely overt.  It was usually reinforced by rewarding and punishing behaviour, rather than by reference to a published set of values.  Which would be more effective,  telling children that queueing is an example of a core British value - politeness,  or just encouraging them to queue when at school?

Teaching British history would be useful though, especially if we revived the idea of telling it as a story,  chronologically.  That is not to say we should cover up all the bad bits and glorify our past.  Explaining how we got to where we are today, warts and all, would go a long way to helping pupils understand what being British is about.  Let them draw their own conclusions, as most previous generations have.  Some will feel anger at the exploitation of the colonies or the workers in the mines and factories.  Others will feel pride at the great conquests and industrial innovation.  Some will feel both.  Gradually, they will come to understand the story, even if they draw different conclusions.

Poetry and literature also reflects our culture and values.  We may struggle these days to define these values but a good place to start is Rudyard Kipling's 'IF'.  (Yes, you can already hear the intellectual snobs sniggering behind their skinny lattes.)

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

'If' tells us a lot about the values that prevailed when Kipling was writing and which are still strong today - it was voted Britain's favourite poem in a BBC poll.  'If' is a very British poem. Who else would treat triumph and disaster just the same?  The Italians certainly wouldn't.

Living up to the values in 'If' is a tall order.  I have been trying for years and I doubt if I will ever get there.  I still sometimes throw 'foreign' tantrums when I lose.  That's not the point, though. 'If' is aspirational; something to aim for. 

Instead of preaching core values at pupils,  perhaps they would gain more from discussing a poem like 'If'.  It is through reading and understanding our history and studying our literature in its historical context that people will regain a sense of what it means to be British.  It is a gradual process that happens almost by osmosis.  Teachers can guide students to help them draw conclusions but trying to push a prescribed framework of values will almost certainly fail. Teach school children about the history of Britain and its art and literature, then let them discover the values for themselves.

Comments

[Jack Asher]

Interesting that it's just schools in England that will be given the Britishness lessons. Now why is that?

The Beeb ran a "Have your say" on the subject that you might find interesting. Click my name for the url.

[TottenhamLad]

If you need to be taught 'Britishness' then you are probably not British and never will be (the same goes for Englishness, Welshness, Scotishness, and Irishness).