UK Schools to make Twitter and Wikipedia mandatory

Whatever happened to reading, writing, and arithmetic?

A government commissioned overhaul of elementary schools in the United Kingdom would make learning about blogging, Twitter, Wikipedia, and podcasting mandatory.

National history? Well, that's covered in secondary school so it's up to the teachers to decide whether or not to teach it in elementary school. Oh, and they have to choose between teaching about World War II or Queen Victoria. Huh?

The plans, which will be drafted by Sir Jim Rose, who was appointed to overhaul the curriculum, will be published next month, according to The Guardian.

Here is a sampling of the changes:

• "Children to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication. They must gain "fluency" in handwriting and keyboard skills, and learn how to use a spellchecker alongside how to spell."
  
• " Every child would learn two key periods of British history but it would be up to the school to decide which ones. Schools would still be able to opt to teach Victorian history or the second world war, but they would not be required to. The move is designed to prevent duplication with the secondary curriculum, which covers the second world war extensively."
• http://www.examiner.com/x-1146-Seattle-Eastside-Parenting-Examiners~y2009m3d25-UK-may-start-schooling-kids-in-Twitter-and-Wikipedia-over-traditional-subjects-like-history