SCHOOLS should be compelled to teach kids about the Battle of Britain, top Tory Robert Jenrick has declared.
A staggering two-thirds of under-40s do not know it refers to the RAF’s decisive victory over the Nazi Luftwaffe in 1940.
2
Just 36 per cent correctly identified the Battle of Britain as the WW2 dogfights that defended the skies from German invasion – while more than 80 per cent of over-65s knew what it was.
The pilots are immortalised as ‘The Few’ due to Winston Churchill’s tribute that “never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few”.
But the Shadow Justice Secretary has pointed to the Find Out Now research he commissioned to demand the battle is a legal requirement on the school curriculum.
Mr Jenrick said: “For too long our history has been neglected.
READ MORE ON BATTLE OF BRITAIN
“We have allowed our past to become a source of shame, even as the rest of the world still looks to us with admiration.
“It’s hardly surprising we have a crisis of national self-confidence when our past achievements aren’t properly taught in schools.
“Every child growing up should learn about the Battle of Britain and the heroics of the wartime generation.
“Their example must live on as a source of inspiration for future generations.”
Currently the Battle of Britain is optional for teachers, unlike other mandatory historical events like the Holocaust.
2
