My mom has never heard of Mohandas Gandhi.
I'm hoping most of you have heard of Gandhi, because he's kind of a big deal. Whatever your thoughts are of him, I'm assuming you've heard of him. I don't know about other countries, but most school history classes around here talk about Gandhi. When I mentioned Gandhi to my mom once, assuming she knew about him, she gave me a confused look.
Mom: You mean the former president of India? (Indira Gandhi, who actually shared no relation to M. Gandhi)
Me: No, I mean the revolutionary leader, Mohandas Gandhi. You know, helped protest British rule in India? Nonviolence?
Mom: I've never heard of him. Was he important?
Me: Mom, you never learned about him? He's important to Indian history!
Mom: Well, we studied Indian history in school, but I don't know who this guy is.
I should probably mention my mom grew up in the Soviet Union. This was a huge shock to me, mostly because here, Gandhi is established as a significant leader of revolution and freedom. Of course it makes sense that she would never have heard of him in communist Soviet Russia! It feels like a direct encounter with Soviet censorship! I mean, I know that the Soviet Union had heavy censorship, but for my mom to not know the existence of this guy is so surprising. I feel like I'm peeking into a historical period that's beyond my time.
I don't know, maybe only history freaks like me find this fascinating. I thought it was interesting.
That's crazy! I remember learning about him and even watching a movie about his life sophomore year of high school. I thought everyone had heard of Gandhi, but the whole Soviet censorship thing makes sense. That's actually really interesting.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of him simply because he's so well known. Was never taught anything about him though!
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a little shocking that someone I knew didn't know who Margaret Thatcher was so Colonel Gaddafi. But Gandhi? I thought nearly everyone knew who he was xx
ReplyDeleteI wasn't taught about him, but I know about him and have recently researched him quite a lot.
ReplyDeleteHAhaa...Im not that surprised actually. I live in India and here of course he is a big deal but I never thought he'd be such huge whatever in other countries. Well...you see Gandhi wasnt as amazing as you think he was. He was dick too. Im not a huge gandhi fan.
ReplyDeleteI honestly had never heard of him till just recently. I don't think my school even mentioned him, but idk. I just remember learning about (in no specific order), Aztecs, Columbus, more Native American stuffs, Colonization, birth of America, slavery, reformation in the20th century, WW1, WW2, segregation and the civil rights movement, Vietnam war, Kennedy's assassination, and that's probably where it ended. If he had been mentioned it would've been after or during WW1 or 2 study. Which basically was centered around the holocaust and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. (not the war, but my history classes as I remember). So needless to say, I have learned a lot more from not being in school.
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