A letter to the Daily Telegraph which was published on 7th May 1994.

The assurance by Mr Patten, Education Secretary, that the national curriculum proposals will ensure that children of all ages will get a very sound grounding in factual British history (report, May 6th) is unlikely to be borne out in practice.

It is important to recall why Mrs Thatcher was so insistent on having a national curriculum.  This was because influential sections of the schools’ educational establishment could not be trusted to deliver an education which would both foster in our children a proper pride in their country and equip them to prosper in the modern technological world.

These objectives, while matching the sentiment of the majority of voters, of all parties, are directly opposed to the views of that education establishment, whose agenda is far more concerned with promoting multi-culturalism and feminism than with the real educational needs of our country.

Thus, as Anthony O’Hear himself noted some years ago in your newspaper, in the music curriculum there is an “obsession with African drumming, Latin American dancing and other exotica, but no mention of Purcell or Elgar”.

Similarly, as I found when a member of the earlier Schools Examination Assessment Council there was a consistent steer to judge content by its supposed effect on girls’ preferences rather than by its actual significance to British industry.  It follows that if something specifically British is not actually nailed down in the compulsory elements of the history syllabus, the chances are that it will not get taught.

Here we can see precisely what is worrying Mr McGovern, of the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority.  The prescribed list is essentially history sociology, while everthing specifically British is optional.  The name England does not appear.

Moreover, the political, economic, aethetic, social, cultural, religious, ethnic and gender perspectives referred to by John Keegan (article, May 5th) must be embedded in the key elements of the subject.

The Authority’s commentary on the forthcoming report states that these key elements provide the main objectives for teaching, learning and assessment.

What our children need is a straightforward chronological account of the great landmarks and people in our history.  Mr Patten should draw up the list and tell them to get on with it.