Levels of Ignorance The BBC conducted a poll recently to gather information before it launched a new historical series, 'Auschwitz, the Nazi's and the Final Solution.' I was astounded to learn that, according to the poll, 45% of adults in this country claimed never to have heard of Auschwitz or to know what happened there. Amongst the under 30's this figure climbs to 60%. I find these figures rather frightening and depressing, but believable. When I conducted a quick quiz among my staff last year I found that although they had all heard of the Holocaust, they couldn't really explain about it. More worryingly, here is a short list of recent history about which my group of bright A level students could tell me absolutely nothing....... Suez Crisis Northern Ireland and the Troubles Korean War Vietnam War Rwanda Balkan War They could however report in depth on Big Brother, advances in mobile phone technology, current pop trends, fashion, nightclubs and boozing. Now fair enough, I had similar interests as a teenager, but I used to read the Daily Telegraph as well, and watch the Six O'Clock News. Why is it that our young people seem to be turning away from history, politics and current affairs ? What can we do to bring them back to these vital topics. Santayana said that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," we often say that we learn from our mistakes, but if future generations don't understand the mistakes of the past, how will they learn ? Society in some ways seems to be cocooning itself. We live our little, busy, media filled lives and can easily shut out the things we don't want to hear. The political actions of our government have become far less important in the public eye than whether or not some MP or Minister has had an affair. Foreign politics is a lost world to us. People moan about politics and the state of their world when they are down the pub, but then can't be bothered to use their vote on election day. They don't seem to understand that their MP is their MP. Is something worrying you ? Go and bother your MP about it, it's their job to listen. Is there something a company is doing that you don't like ? Write a letter of protest, stand outside their gates dressed as death, organise a boycott of their products. You can do this, it's what living in a free country is really about. But it's easier isn't it, to just open a beer, put the telly on, watch Coronation Street and moan about how Tony Blair isn't doing enough for all those starving people in the countries you cannot name.