✧✦Catherine✦✧studying for uk residency
this paragraph is all it says about the american war of independence
snubbing americans is funny so i'll allow it
this... document... is gravely insulting to at least tens of millions of people
i am so going to fail this test by knowing some actual history instead of propaganda at some point...
"A referendum was called"
BY WHOM. WHO CALLED IT
THIS IS IN MY ACTUAL MEMORY. I WATCHED IT LIVE
i can't read this any more i have to go do something less aggravating
Gina Peter Banyard@whitequark yeah GL with that my Hungarian gf did it last year. It's definitely weird. She acquired a "copy" that was referring to the King as: "her majesty King Charles" which shows the level of care that went into the contents
Z̈oé@Girgias @whitequark TIL! 🏳️⚧️👑
David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)History, as taught in British schools, is interesting mostly for the fact that absolutely nothing happened between beating the French in 1815 and the start of the First World War. The Empire was a happy prosperous place with no down sides for anyone involved and Germany was just jealous of how awesome it was.
There are some especially weird things. For example, we learn about the Charge of the Light Brigade poem in English classes, but never learn anything at all about the war in which it happens in history classes.
A phenomenal amount of time is spent on the Tudors and Stewarts and almost none on the surrounding context.
Dr. Sobek@david_chisnall @whitequark What war was that charge from, in fact ?
(As a French, I have reasons not to know every single involvement of the Britts, especially when those aren't, for once fighting against us (or sometimes with us))
The Crimean War. The French were also involved, but on the same side as the British for a change.
The biggest long-term impact of the war on Britain was that more people died from infection than directly from combat injuries and it led to a big push to introduce antiseptics in hospitals. Florence Nightingale pushed for this (most British people have heard of her, even if they aren’t sure why), who should be most famous for spending 40 years in bed, a level of achievement I aspire to.
Rick Moen 🇺🇸 🇳🇴 🇬🇧@david_chisnall @whitequark , along the same lines, when I was a wee sprog in Hong Kong RCC in the 1960s, attending the UK government school atop Victoria Peak, we heard all about the least details of the 19th C. back home, and even went through a group reading of Kingsley's The Water Babies as some sort of collective punishment, but heard absolutely not a word about the two Opium Wars that resulted in... Hong Kong RCC.
Gosh, wonder why? It's a mystery.
Mini@whitequark this reminds me of the wierd "british values" clause stuff they brought in to education at some point
Pxl Phile@whitequark it says 2026 on the cover but the Infographic is from 8 years ago, or so? (From what I hear over inclusion topics)
Inga stands with 🇺🇦 🇵🇸@whitequark weren't there a couple more prime ministers between Boris Johnson and publication of this book? I can't quite remember...
Victor Westerhuis@IngaLovinde @whitequark I think there was a head of lettuce at some point
SnoopJ@whitequark it's easy the answer is always "drink from the puddle, remember when the binmen were hard"
@whitequark (n.b. I know it is not easy, I hyperbolize in attempt of humor)
@SnoopJ i took some online tests with zero prep and had about 50/50 chance, i've considered just booking it three times since there's only a 7 day cooloff period for a failure
@whitequark getting a good grade in bri'ish, a thing that is both possible to achieve and normal to want
@whitequark 7 days isn't bad at all though, so at least there's that
@SnoopJ @whitequark this comment sent me to a Rabbit hole because I had no clue of the "binmen" idiom.
Arriving at https://stephenjones.blog/2022/12/03/binmenism/ I find it in a negative way fantastic how toxic nostalgia can impress people.... 😮
Tobias@whitequark This is somewhat infuriating, and I'm not even remotely involved…
Nina Kalinina@whitequark it's pay to win, you're allowed to have as many attempts as you need to pass.
@nina_kali_nina yep and i fully intend to use that
@whitequark good luck! The actual test used to be a fair bit easier than the textbook, with many answers having obvious (but still incorrect) answers. Like, IIRC there was "what kind of bird humans traditionally eat on Christmas in the UK?" with "Turkey" as the expected answer ;/
Hugo Mills@nina_kali_nina @whitequark "Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat".
@whitequark It's giving me flashbacks to a course on my masters, where the exam was pick two of three essay questions, all of which basically read: "agree with the prejudices of the lecturer on the following subject".
Kind of hard, given that I disagreed so much with everything he uttered in that course, if he'd walked in and said "nice day outside", I'd have looked out the window to check...
Rob\Viewdata UK@whitequark
As a Brit, even, I'm embarrassed by this..
As a Brit, even, I'm embarrassed by this..
Ignas Kiela@whitequark honestly a bit wild to me that a "biased history quiz" is a requrement
Here it's a quiz on the constitution (generally free), and a language exam (the actual hard part because it's quite hard to even learn the basics).
Here it's a quiz on the constitution (generally free), and a language exam (the actual hard part because it's quite hard to even learn the basics).
Ángela Stella Matutina"Terrorism" and "WMDs", yeah, sure.
Cassandra is only carbon now@whitequark What do I know about the life of Roald Dahl? More than I'd like to, thank you very much.
@xgranade do tell, this will be on the test i think
@whitequark That he's a terrible antisemite, mostly.
@xgranade @whitequark oof TIL I guess.
I think I need to compile a script of people I have any sort of opinion and let it run against automated web searches like:
"Is x fascist/antisemite/anti trans/XYZZY?" 😡
F4GRX Sébastien@xgranade @whitequark oh no fuck
Noisytoot@whitequark @xgranade he was apparently an antisemite, but that probably won't be on the test
Ken Butler@whitequark that's a "just in case" if ever I heard one
@whitequark "against the proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq" 🤡
@IngaLovinde every single page is a gift
aryl ⌬⌬⌬⌬@whitequark technically if you count the 2-3 unemployed guys pretending to be a new IRA offshoot that does nothing but petty street squabbles with local crime it's correct
@whitequark swear there was some weird RW irish astroturf thing about an anti-drug chudded IRA
kouhai, of the health issues@whitequark i wonder if anything embarrassing happened in the falklands
@kouhai i thought it was embarrassing for argentina?
tef@whitequark @kouhai see: sinking of the belgrano and "gotcha!"
@whitequark yeah but thatcher’s government had to have done *something* wrong
@kouhai as far as i know it basically saved her premiership (is that a word) and propelled her to popularity, against all odds at the time
A Smol Bear@kouhai @whitequark Thatcher's military cuts convinced the Argentinian government that Britain wouldn't have the forces left to re-take the islands.
@whitequark "Shipbuilding and coal mining declined"
Exactly *how* did that decline happen?
@whitequark this book is quite nationalist and biased, compared to the equivalent german test (which is a few-hundred question multiple-choice test of rather basic facts about the federal republic as of today, with a bit of history)
@uint8_t it's genuinely pissing me off to read it
@whitequark I got second-degree cringe from simply reading your posts
@uint8_t i'm not even posting all of the soul-crushing stuff. i'd have to scan the entire book if i wanted that i think
@whitequark wow this book truly turns you British
artemist@uint8_t @whitequark the us naturalization test accepts "states' rights" as a reason for the civil war but it's not this off-putting in general
azul@whitequark "The structure of DNA" 
Fiona@whitequark Turing machine? They don't mention what happened to the guy it's named after, do they?
@airtower ofc no