What do I really need to know about the Corn Laws?

I feel cheated that a large part of the history syllabus when I was at school focused on the Corn Laws, followed by a fascinating insight into the repeal of the Corn Laws. Every time I have thought about this, I have been surprised at how little I remember of these except that I didn't really understand them when I was 14, although in fairness, there was a lot of stuff I didn't understand then and it was mostly because I wasn't paying any attention and me and my friends were too busy taking the mickey out of our history teacher, who was unfortunately named Mr Guy. However, having suddenly thought about it again recently, I decided to look it up and see if I had been missing out on a fascinating and worthwhile slice of historical know how. So I did, and whilst I now appreciate the importance of the law's abolition in terms of free trade (a concept which I have a sketchy understanding of at this age, but had no real idea about at 14) I really cannot fathom what possessed the examining board to choose this particular period in history as one to which all GCSE students must be introduced. When you think that history effectively covers everything since the world began, I find it hard to conceive of the kind of mind that couldn't think of a time period more suited to engaging the minds of adolescents - anything with blood would have done for a start. There's just so much to learn, but subjects like this really did put me off history as a subject - the focus always seemed to be on learning dates rather than understanding how the events of the past have impacted on our present and how they will continue to affect the future. So, I can safely say that not only did the Corn Law syllabus fail to provide the basis for what should have been my understanding of the Corn Laws, it simultaneously put me off history at a point in my life when I could easily have been quite inspired to find out more.