UK teachers to drop the holocaust, to avoid offend

[voivod]

How long before this type of bullshit hits the States?!?!

Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims
Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Governmentbacked study has revealed.

It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.

There is also resistance to tackling the 11th century Crusades - where Christians fought Muslim armies for control of Jerusalem - because lessons often contradict what is taught in local mosques.

The findings have prompted claims that some schools are using history 'as a vehicle for promoting political correctness'.

The study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, looked into 'emotive and controversial' history teaching in primary and secondary schools.

It found some teachers are dropping courses covering the Holocaust at the earliest opportunity over fears Muslim pupils might express anti-Semitic and anti-Israel reactions in class.

The researchers gave the example of a secondary school in an unnamed northern city, which dropped the Holocaust as a subject for GCSE coursework.

The report said teachers feared confronting 'anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim pupils'.

It added: "In another department, the Holocaust was taught despite anti-Semitic sentiment among some pupils.

"But the same department deliberately avoided teaching the Crusades at Key Stage 3 (11- to 14-year-olds) because their balanced treatment of the topic would have challenged what was taught in some local mosques."

A third school found itself 'strongly challenged by some Christian parents for their treatment of the Arab-Israeli conflict-and the history of the state of Israel that did not accord with the teachings of their denomination'.

The report concluded: "In particular settings, teachers of history are unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged versions of history in which pupils are steeped at home, in their community or in a place of worship."

But Chris McGovern, history education adviser to the former Tory government, said: "History is not a vehicle for promoting political correctness. Children must have access to knowledge of these controversial subjects, whether palatable or unpalatable."

The researchers also warned that a lack of subject knowledge among teachers - particularly at primary level - was leading to history being taught in a 'shallow way leading to routine and superficial learning'.

Lessons in difficult topics were too often 'bland, simplistic and unproblematic' and bored pupils.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

[ZeoBandit]

If you forget your history, history WILL repeat itself.

[ZORBA5150]

I think learning about the Holocaust is essential to one's education. But when I was in high school, it was shoved down out throat- guest speakers, videos, special assemblies, etc over a week's time every year. It was just overkill. Not once, did we learn about the other genocide in history- the Turks attempt to extinguish not one but two different ethnicities- the Greeks and Armenians, in which millions were killed.

But dropping anything that is historical fact from a school's curriculum to avoid offending people, is terrible

[jrk5150]

This isn't political correctness gone amuk, this is poor leadership. These teachers are afraid of the students and parents. They are afraid to offend, and there is a difference. There needs to either be better education of the teachers to handle the conflict, or better leadership to head it off before it happens.

And yes, it'll get worse as the Muslims become the majority in Europe. This IS just the beginning.

[HuBBs5150]

tuff shit. I'd teach it regardless of anti-semitic threats or whatever. Those people are just ignorant.

[charlesresta]

I think learning about the Holocaust is essential to one's education. But when I was in high school, it was shoved down out throat- guest speakers, videos, special assemblies, etc over a week's time every year. It was just overkill. Not once, did we learn about the other genocide in history- the Turks attempt to extinguish not one but two different ethnicities- the Greeks and Armenians, in which millions were killed.

But dropping anything that is historical fact from a school's curriculum to avoid offending people, is terrible

Exactly or what about the many genocides that have occured in Africa/ASIA?

[coyote]

I think that the important thing for the teachers to remember is context. If you are teaching a class that features WWII, to ignore the actions and atrocities of the Nazi party is shameful. If a group of people choose ignorance, then that is their issue, not the schools.

[Brett]

Who cares, most of the world hates the Jews already and anti-semitism is as bad as I can remember in my life, and that's with learning about the Holocaust. So what does it matter anymore?

[Van Squalen]

I think learning about the Holocaust is essential to one's education. But when I was in high school, it was shoved down out throat- guest speakers, videos, special assemblies, etc over a week's time every year. It was just overkill. Not once, did we learn about the other genocide in history- the Turks attempt to extinguish not one but two different ethnicities- the Greeks and Armenians, in which millions were killed.

But dropping anything that is historical fact from a school's curriculum to avoid offending people, is terrible

Overkill? The holocaust? Spoken like somebody who never really got it. How's that lying on your resume going, anyway?

I'm sure being the humanitarian that you are, you're keeping up on the situation in Darfur, as well as lobbying your local school district to continue teaching evolution in its biological science curricula.

It's better to say nothing than to say something stupid, Zorba.

[Van Squalen]

So what does it matter anymore?

It matters, dude. It always matters.

In the end, all people will have to look in the collective mirror.

[Red]

You know, at least they are getting a world history education, as incomplete or edited as it may be. When I went to high school, the only history that was required beyond basic "social studies" was US History. We learned about the Holocaust simply as a small part of the WWII lessons, but overall, it was focused on American involvement in the two theaters. We didn't even learn World History, unless it was as an elective. Crusades? What, Billy Graham's crusades?

Anything I really learned about world history came from my own curiosity. And let's face it, most people aren't that curious about it.

[Axxman300]

I'm glad I grew up when I did.

In junior high, social studies covered Central America (which included geography), native Americans and the Revolution (it was the Bicentenial). I also learned Ancient Greek and Egyption history.

In high school, I had US history, Western Europian history through the Crusades and California and the Western movement (our textbook was "Burry My Heart At Wounded Knee".

I can't imagine what my history teachers could have done with all of the History Channel stuff and computer graphics that you have access to today.

Sad, stupidity is a choice.

[OLO]

It matters, dude. It always matters.

In the end, all people will have to look in the collective mirror.

I agree 100%, it does matter. Just because 5% or 10% dont like to hear the truth does not me the truth shall not be told.

Fuck the Muslims.

[Axxman300]

Hey, I had to hear about how we screwed and massacred the Native Americans in high school. I got to hear about Manzinar. I had to sit through a month of the Triangle Trade, the Missouri Compromise, Jim Crow and that ugly side of US history.

It was good medicine.

[SactoFan]

I agree 100%, it does matter. Just because 5% or 10% dont like to hear the truth does not me the truth shall not be told.

Fuck the Muslims.

Well, yeah...Learn all that stuff and you come to the unavoidable conclusion that, like beauty, lunacy is only skin deep. Makes the world a smaller place and much easier to understand when you learn that humans are screwed up, regardless of the rays of the light spectrum which we reflect...

All cultures have done wrong. Ignoring the facts won't make them go away...