The problem is I knew actual holocaust survivors. I remember talking to a nice lady in a local bakery who had a number tattooed on her arm. She was just a store clerk. I also talked to a lot of “important” people who were survivors or entered the camps at the end of WWII. For me there is no debate. Sadly the remaining survivors and witnesses are dying off daily. The holocaust is something we should never forget.
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It’s interesting that an American school district finds the existence of the Holocaust worthy of debate at the same time that the Iranian foreign minister is telling his parliament that he “will not allow Iran’s reputation to be damaged with statements about the Holocaust denial.” Is it a coincidence that the Republican Party has lately been trivializing the Holocaust and telling “the Jewish people” what they should and should not think?
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I’ve subbed in high school history classes 20-some years ago. Maybe 2, 3 times I delivered an impromptu how-we-know-what-we-know about events that happened before we were born. I talked about evidence – documentary, pictures, diaries, memoirs, contemporary news reports etc.
With luck, maybe 1/3 of the class knew or cared what I was saying.
Some of the brighter and more sensitive ones seemed to take it to heart.
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Caterpillar: They’re not speaking to Jews. They’re talking to the anti-Semites in their constituencies.
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You’re right.
Yeah, at first when I read this I thought “oh my, what a dumbass” but then I read further. I don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but the spokeswoman’s name is Syeda Jafri and the superintendent’s name is Mohammed Islam? That is very hard not to notice.
On one hand, fortunately we have built-in First Amendment protections against the sort of thing that happened in the UK, but on the other hand, the GOP doesn’t understand what it means and is building a legal staircase to allow that to happen, and appear to be completely clueless about what they’re actually doing.
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ron: Ditto for me. I lived in Newark, NJ, during the early 50s. We had many “displaced persons” there. Many were Jews – yes, and with tattoos. When I was a freshman in high school, we had several seniors who had survived camps.
A former colleague of mine was born in a DP camp in Europe after the war. Her parents --and she – were devout Catholics. Mom was a concert cellist; dad a math professor. Somehow they ran afoul of the Germans and were sent to a camp that they survived.
I worked with another woman who was born in Poland. She was 6-years old when the Germans invaded. She witnessed her mom hanged from a lamp post.
How would you like to go through life with that kind of baggage?
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So, do you think the assignment was a good idea?
Just what the hell is wrong with people?
Propaganda tool??? Two words: religion. religion.
Hmmmmm . . .
There can be litle doubt that there are better ways and less hot button topics to use to help in “developing critical thinking skills” in the 8th grade…
~OGD~
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Given the number of actual holocaust deniers out there, this wouldn’t be a bad idea for an exercise in critical thinking skills if it were handled correctly.
Students, here’s your assignment:
Despite overwhelming evidence, there are still people who deny that the holocaust happened. Prepare a paper that refutes their arguments that the holocaust was a hoax.
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So sad that someone like this is in a position of teaching our children. I guess this is our fault for not funding teacher salaries high enough to exclude mental midgets like this.
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Or how about the Holy Roman Empire being neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire? Discuss.
This assignment was either horrendously stupid and offensive, or it was Neonazi inspired. AND horrendously stupid and offensive.
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There are lots of “ultimate questions” that can be asked to teach critical thinking and writing skills, you don’t have to jump into political lala land to find them either.
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The Los Angeles chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, which reached out to the school district Friday to express concern about the assignment, said in a statement Monday that the organization believes the assignment was a “misguided” attempt to meet Common Core standards and not “part of a larger, insidious, agenda.”
Thanks. With ‘help’ like that, who needs enemies?.. This will now show up on every RW media outlet as “Common Core teaches Holocaust denialism…”
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You could use Benghazi, the IRS investigation, Birtherism, ACA, or many other less emotionally volatile example of people believing in something long after the evidence has proven them wrong.
It’s one of those things that probably sounds good while you formulate the idea in your head. This is certainly the case where you want to take a day and think about it before you forge ahead.
Can you imagine the feedback if the school proposed a critical thinking assignment on the subject, Is the Bible the word of God?
They could use Benghazi, the IRS investigation, Birtherism, evolution, ACA, or many other less emotionally volatile example of misguided beliefs that people maintain long after the evidence has proven them wrong.
Why does this not surprise? Especially the part where the school was ok with it as long as no one complained.
Of course we now have crazies questioning wether or not slavery existed and purporting that it was just an unpaid internship for a few million adults and children.