The Holocaust UK Curriculum

"German and Russia peoples??" WTF (should be Russian, or the peoples of...)

And I haven't been in school for awhile but I thought it was the German, Austrian and Polish Jews that were targeted.

How do people fall for this shit? If it were true, it would have been on the news.

It was, some weeks ago. For example:

BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Schools 'avoid Holocaust lessons'

Note: Something being on the news doesn't make it true, it makes it news.

Due to adverse economic and environmental conditions, it is regretfully announced that until further notice, the light at the end of the tunnel will remain switched off ...

They fall for this because it suits their needs. Years ago, I spoke with two members of the Aryan Nation who vehemently denied the holocaust. It's funny because these guys were in their early twenties, already indoctrinated with this crap, yammered on about how history books are rewritten and falsified but when I asked them what's actually correct in the history books and what isn't, they couldn't tell me. The conversations ended with me saying "you two don't know what the hell you're talking about. You're just parroting what your leader says. Come back when you start thinking for yourselves and we'll continue this discussion."

*shakes head*

"It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true." -William James

As mentioned earlier, I taught social studies which includes history and served on state curriculum guides committees for several years.

The first rule in teaching history is that personal pronouns need to be avoided if at all possible. Example: In teaching the American Civil War the terms are the Union Army and the Confederate Army. There is no, "Their army came in and did such and such and then our army sent in reinforcements and when the day was over "WE" won the battle.

There is no "WE" in the American Civil War. Everyone involved in that war is dead and has been for some time now. Never in studying historical events that happened at a time before any of the children were born should any child or group of children be made to feel that We did this or that.

If a true balanced study of Christianity and Islam is done, there will be plenty of examples of good deeds and bad deeds. A far amount of killing people has been done in the name of both religions to be able to not favor one religion over the other. But it is also important to learn that it wasn't those religions that did it. It was people. People who may or may not have been real believers of that particular religion. All religions and culture are made up of people. There will be both good and bad there. The purpose of teaching history is to one, get a perspective on why things are like they are now and why certain groups either get along great or have historically been enemies. It helps in determining what plan of action might or might not work in problem solving. The second reason is hopefully, we can learn from the past and not make some of those same mistakes. That is why learning how Hitler was able to come to power in Germany is more important than learning all the facts and dates of the battles of the war. When we see that same pattern developing in a society, hopefully, we will take steps to see that history does not repeat itself.

It is also very important in teaching World War II to say that the Nazis did these things, not the German people. Many Germans lost their lives opposing Hitler. The German people still exist. The Nazis for all practical purposes do not exist, certainly not in the context of War World II.

Sometimes in teaching history we have to find a piece of history out of context to teach it side by side certain sensitive issues so that the students see a balanced curriculum at the moment and not it be balanced over the period of three years.

When the students in class present versions of history that clearly are different from what most if not all historians recognize as history, we teachers have to be sensitive and learn how to answer that. One way, is to say that yes, there is some differences of opinion about what happened during that time. However, most historian believe this is what happened. Sometimes, it is better to just let those students speak what they believe and then move on. I would not suggest that history teachers tell students that their parents or their place of worship is wrong. It is better just to say that one of the aspects of history is Point of View. That is a major component of education. Take advantage of it when real life examples happen right there in the classroom. It can be a major learning tool for every student if they learn the concept of Point of View. Then maybe someday the children of the children of different cultures can sit down and come to an understanding of what really happened. We can always hope.

That just about summarises the situation. The ability to recognise that one's POV is just that, personal. And, while one's opinion may not co-incide with that of the majority (or indeed fly it's it's collective face) that alone doesn't render it invalid. Surely rational dicussion should proceed from that premise. At least in theory, but that's just my POV.

I wish more here could learn that skill.

Due to adverse economic and environmental conditions, it is regretfully announced that until further notice, the light at the end of the tunnel will remain switched off ...

That email has a different agenda behind it. It's like the wave at a sporting event. Everyone passes it on to the next recipients. A similar one is the poor train clerk in Africa that left 10's of millions in inheritance that is unclaimed and a bank executive wants you to misrepresent yourself as a relation in exchange for a split in the embezzlement. Simply phishing for information, working an angle for fraud.

"http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/"

be very careful even when simply opening it, it may contain a virus or worm that has malicious code.

This happens already all across the US. Although the biology textbooks are truly excellent on the subject, most teachers avoid the chapters on Evolution so as to avoid run-ins with parents.

This is aggravated by the fact that a large number of kids of fundamentalist parents send the kids to summer camp, where part of the program involves instructing kids on how to challenge the teachers in public schools on the subject of Evolution.

In other "denialism" news, the Discovery Institute, who is the heavily funded right wing "belief tank", that brought you Intelligent Design has a new strategy for fighting Evolution in the public schools. Having failed at every turn to create a Supreme Court proof strategy to introduce Creationism into the classroom, they have just begun to give lectures across the country persuading people that "Darwinism" is directy responsible for the Holocaust and for the practices of Eugenics in other countries.

The odd thing about the strategy is that much of their base of tin-foil-hat wearing right wingers are also Holocaust deniers. So notice in this blog article that the DI's speeches talk about the "hundreds of thousands of social undesirables" who were killed in the Holocaust. They just can't bring themselves to quote the actual figures of six million, and neither can they bring themselves to say the "J" word.

Methinks they are finally getting desparate. Their tin-foil hats are starting to show.

Lest you think this is all harmless pageantry, at any one time in at least 10 states there are bills being proposed constantly to the state legislatures which try in one way or another to alter the science curriculum in public schools. These bills are all offered by right wing republicans and are all worded pretty much the same, that wording having come from the Discovery Institute.

The barrage is constant and relentless. DI is still heavily funded and all of their funding goes directly into PR and lobbying.

"Science: Getting stuff done since the 16th century." - JA

"The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself." - Emerson