A Petition for Ancient History

Plans are afoot to abolish the AncientHistoryA-level.* The current proposal is that it can be replaced with the Classical Civilisation level, which mentions Ancient History in passing while also teaching Art History, Drama and so on. It bothers me as Classics and Ancient History aren’t interchangeable and the removal of historical context shows a shallowness of mind.

There is a protest going on. An e-petition has been created which calls for the Prime Minister to intervene. I’m not how much weight an e-petition carries, but it’s useful as an opener to writing to a local MP. I suspect my local Labour MP in a swing seat has a better grip on political reality than Tony.

The puzzle is would any government formed from an elected oligarchy want the electorate to be informed about how democracy worked?

*If you’re not from the UK the simple explanation is that A-levels are exams you take at age 18. Typically you’d take three similtanously as two-year courses. If you live in England, Northern Ireland or Wales. Scotland has its own system.