History teachers drop Holocaust & Crusades

Reba

Reba

Retired Terp
Premium Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
54,903
Reaction score
1,518
From England:

Schools drop Holocaust lessons to avoid offence
Alexandra Frean

Teachers are dropping controversial subjects such as the Holocaust and the Crusades from history lessons because they do not want to cause offence to children from certain races or religions, a report claims.

A lack of factual knowledge among some teachers, particularly in primary schools, is also leading to “shallow” lessons on emotive and difficult subjects, according to the study by the Historical Association.

The report, produced with funding from the Department for Education, said that where teachers and staff avoided emotive and controversial history, their motives were generally well intentioned.

“Staff may wish to avoid causing offence or appearing insensitive to individuals or groups in their classes. 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,” it concluded.

However, it was concerned that this could lead to divisions within school, and that it might also put pupils off history.
Click to expand...
Schools drop Holocaust lessons to avoid offence - Times Online

Responses:

booo! If you live in the UK you must adhear to being British, same thing for Canada, USA and any other country for that matter... if you want life to operate a certain way then live in the country that opperates that way. as countries we need to stand up and say no. We are so worried about stepping on toes! baugh! Tell it like it is, my grandfather faught in that war, and his brother died... it happend and it needs to be taught. They are intollerent of us, look at the stupid reaction with the poorly named Teddy bear. We need to stop being nice and pull out of their country and send them back to theirs as that is where life is lead according to how they want to live it.

Betty, Canada,

What a tragedy....to remove from history those lessons that might prevent such an event from ever recurring! Those who do not learn from the past are bound and determined to repeat it. I pray for our world. What are we doing? Slavery was wrong, it occured....it cannot be erased, but it can be prevented! The Holocaust OCCURED...learn, prevent, protect. Such a spineless group of politicians that rule our policies and procedures!!!

K Bacheller, Pinedale, Wyoming

I am not surprised by the UK government's decision to drop lessons in the Holocaust. This government, and the previous, has totally lost the plot and capitulating to threats from the Muslim community. Might as well forget teaching history as a subject as somewhere somehow it is going to offend a certain section of the population who are intolerant and ignorant.

I just read another article today that overworked hospital staff are "ordered to stop all medical work five times a day to move Muslim patients beds so that they face towards Mecca. The lengthy procedure, which also includes providing fresh bathing water, is creating turmoil among overstretched staff on bustling NHS wards."

Welcome to the Islamic State of Britain.

Jeff Daniels, London,
Click to expand...
 
:jaw: Unbelievable. Teachers are not doing the job if they don't teach these I think.
 
I forgot who it was that said, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Softening the horror of history is a mistake. Those events ARE offensive and should continue to be. People need to remember correctly. We don't live in a pink and fluffy world where you can ignore things and they won't happen to you. How can we be watchful and guard against those things ever happening again if we are taught that they weren't really that bad?
 
Yep, Britain is quickly becoming an Islamic state. The altering of the history curriculum is just one step in the process. Tolerant? They won't rest until the whole world is Muslim no matter how long it takes. The 5 times a day prayer facing Mecca in the hospitals, universities and all public establishments is another step. Who's next? America? The British government should round up all the Islamic loonies and deport their asses back to the Mid-East since they like praying to Mecca so much. We should do the same here in the USA. This kowtowing to one group and this politically correct bullshit has gone too far. No one group should have that much say in how a society is shaped. Last time I checked, the majority rules. :pissed:
 
I have no objection to Islam in general.

However, if these people come to our countries and force us to change to their ways and we allow it, then we have lost the plot.

They came to us willingly, usually fleeing for safety and/or freedom. They should be prepared to accept our homes as they stand.

Why do they want us to become the home country they ruined? I find it hard to comprehend that they would still want to be ruled by Islamic interests if those countries cannot or will not be anything but despotic.
 
arachyd said:
I forgot who it was that said, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Softening the horror of history is a mistake. Those events ARE offensive and should continue to be. People need to remember correctly. We don't live in a pink and fluffy world where you can ignore things and they won't happen to you. How can we be watchful and guard against those things ever happening again if we are taught that they weren't really that bad?
Click to expand...

Truer words were never typed.
 
We are living in a society of fear these days. Fear of getting shot at in a mall, fear of offending anyone, and fear of spanking our children. Children need to learn the tough lessons of life and learning the ugliness of the past is a good lesson to learn.
 
I'm forever defending teachers. It's true we have many in the profession who should be digging ditches or flipping burgers -- anything but wasting minds in a classroom -- but most are serious professionals.

For instance, I'm always asked why English teachers make up all those confusing rules. We don't. YOU who speak and write the language make up the rules. We just try to explain them.

My teaching minor was history. That's even worse than English, because despite what we may know to be fact or the latest findings, we have to teach -- or not teach -- what the school board or administration dictates. Sometimes that teaching direction is no more than a poor choice of texts picked by a board of people, the majority of whom are not college graduates. A few on a board choosing the watered-down text I was forced to follow hadn't even graduated from high school.

All I'm saying is don't be too quick to shoot the messengers.

With that caveat, I think teachers who completely bow to political and religious pressures are selling their honor cheaply.
 
Nomad said:
I have no objection to Islam in general.

However, if these people come to our countries and force us to change to their ways and we allow it, then we have lost the plot.

They came to us willingly, usually fleeing for safety and/or freedom. They should be prepared to accept our homes as they stand.

Why do they want us to become the home country they ruined? I find it hard to comprehend that they would still want to be ruled by Islamic interests if those countries cannot or will not be anything but despotic.
Click to expand...

We separate religion from government and this is our way of thinking. The muslims' way of thinking is the government and religion are intertwined. That is why, to them, Islamic governement is a must. I don't like this way of thinking and prefer to see religion out of the government the way the founding fathers intended.
 
I think Turkey is a wonderful example of an Islamic state. Keep the people comfortable and they'll not turn to extremism.

As a history buff, I find the subject to be fascinating. Fascination occurs only with a motivation to learn. You'd be hard pressed to find one person who remembers what they were taught K-12, especially if they had no interest. If you had a sensational movie with gorgeous actors and an award-winning director, some interest might be found - along with "creative license."

I guess the good thing about this is that they're not denying it ever happened. They're just not talking about it.

George Santayana
philosopher, poet, critic, and best-selling novelist

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Click to expand...

He also said, "Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim."
 
Chase said:
I'm forever defending teachers. It's true we have many in the profession who should be digging ditches or flipping burgers -- anything but wasting minds in a classroom -- but most are serious professionals.

For instance, I'm always asked why English teachers make up all those confusing rules. We don't. YOU who speak and write the language make up the rules. We just try to explain them.

My teaching minor was history. That's even worse than English, because despite what we may know to be fact or the latest findings, we have to teach -- or not teach -- what the school board or administration dictates. Sometimes that teaching direction is no more than a poor choice of texts picked by a board of people, the majority of whom are not college graduates. A few on a board choosing the watered-down text I was forced to follow hadn't even graduated from high school.

All I'm saying is don't be too quick to shoot the messengers.

With that caveat, I think teachers who completely bow to political and religious pressures are selling their honor cheaply.
Click to expand...

I have a nephew who was non-renewed for his refusal to bow to the political and religious pressure of school board members. He had the suppport of all of his students and their parents despite the board's objections. In the end, despite the fact that he had a legitimate lawsuit, and this particular board was already responsible for the loss of a very expensive lawsuit of the same nature only a few months prior, he took the non-renewal and payout of his contract in order to be back in the classroom int he fall. Needless to say, he was immediately picked up by a school system with a more progressive board.

I admire him greatly for standing by his postion that teaching children what they need to know is more important than the religious and political views of a few narrow minded and under educated board members, none of which are educators, and none of which had been inside a classroom for over 25 years.
 
For the life of me, I'll never understand how such people get on these boards!
 
The British department of education is bowing to increasing influence from its growing foreign population.

One in five babies born to foreign mother in UK

By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 7:05pm GMT 11/12/2007

One in five babies born in Britain last year was born to a woman from overseas, according to the first official analysis of the impact of migration on fertility.

Immigrant mothers are having far more children than their British counterparts - fuelling the biggest rise in population since the 1960s baby boom.

The highest birth rates were among Pakistani, Indian or Bangladeshi-born mothers, who gave birth to five per cent of all UK babies last year.

A further four per cent were born to mothers from EU countries outside Britain and Ireland, with a growing number from eastern Europe.

The Pakistani rate of 4.7 children per mother is almost three times higher than the British rate of 1.7.

The study, by the Office for National Statistics, shows that about 150,000 of the 749,000 births - 21 per cent - were to immigrants. This compares to 15 per cent in 2001.

Almost 70 per cent of the 10 million rise in population over the next 20 years will be attributable to immigration - either directly or via higher birth rates - if trends continue.

Over the past five years alone, immigration has added more than one million to the population. One estimate recently suggested that a combination of higher birth rates, an ageing population and record immigration could push the population above 100 million in 50 years....
Click to expand...
One in five babies born to foreign mother in UK - Telegraph
 
More details:

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'.

...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.
Click to expand...
Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims | the Daily Mail
 
Seems to me the teachers were given two choices:

disrupt the class and plunge the school into controversy (quality of education)

or

teach (delivery of education).

It's not surprising that the teachers just want to teach (whatever subject they may be fluent in) rather than squabbling like little children.
 
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
 
Tousi said:
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Click to expand...

That is a pretty important point made. We indeed need to remind ourselves and others of the horrors of our past in order to not repeat them.

The Holocaust and the Crusades were indeed horrors that need not be repeated in modern times, and they can certainly serve as valuable, costly lessons.
 
How many atrocities are listed in the Bible that hasn't happened again?

Just because people remember does not mean it won't happen again.

That's besides the point, really.

I believe the teachers have made a choice to teach the children what they can rather than distract the students (and their communities) with a whole other agenda.
 
Back
Top