Schools drop Holocaust lessons

[Behind the Aegis]

Source: The Guardian -- UK

Schools have avoided teaching the Holocaust and the Crusades in history lessons because they are concerned about causing offence to Muslim pupils or challenging "charged" versions of history which children have been taught at home, government research has found.

A report for the Department for Education and Skills found that a history department in a northern city had avoided selecting the Holocaust as a GCSE topic for fear of confronting "anti-semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial" among some Muslim pupils.

Another school decided to teach the Holocaust despite anti-semitic sentiment among students, but avoided the Crusades as "their balanced treatment of the topic would have directly challenged what was taught in some local mosques".

The report, Teaching Emotive and Controversial History, also revealed that one school was challenged by Christian parents for teachers' treatment of the Arab-Israeli conflict.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/secondworldwar/story/0,,2048082,00.html

[heidiho]

1. The Holocaust Involved More Than Just Jewish people

Poles, Romanians, Hungarians and others including the mentally and physically handicapped were also killed by the Nazis. To ignore this most valuable lesson of the history of the 20th century would be a crime, in my opinion.

Having just returned from touring Auchwitz and Birkineau I feel even more strongly than ever before.

[Megahurtz]

16. And Don't Forget The Serbs! n/t

[Dudemachine]

18. Ah yes, the "others". n/t

[silvermachine]

22. Is there a problem?

Just curious. Thanks.

[Dudemachine]

23. Sort of...

One of my pet peeves is seeing the people heidiho referred to described as the "others".

[heliarc]

39. You have a problem with seeing the people heidiho describes?

the Poles, Romanians, Hungarians, Mentally and Physically challenged? Or you don't like them to be referred to as "others"? Seems to me that they are often referred to as others because they are often underrepresented when Holocaust history is recounted.

Let's not forget the communists, and gypsies. They were persecuted too. Saying that "others" were persecuted in no way diminishes the holocaust's horrific implication. It certainly adds dimension and analytical rigour.

[Dudemachine]

41. No...

Or you don't like them to be referred to as "others"? Seems to me that they are often referred to as others because they are often underrepresented when Holocaust history is recounted.


That's the point I was trying to make! I guess I could/should have made that clearer. I hate seeing millions of people dumped into the 'other' catergory because, to me, it gives the impression that they're not worthy of remembering. Like you said, they are underrepresented.

[Kutjara]

2. Talk about moral cowardice.

Because parents fill their kids' heads with bigoted, racist crap, schools should tiptoe around the truth, for fear of offending them? Bullshit. If the schools don't teach these subjects, the only place kids will learn about them will be at home, and another generation of "holy warriors" (of whatever faith) will be created. At least by teaching the facts in school, there is hope that some of the kids will grow up to be rational adults.

[Deep13]

3. So facts are now dependant on public opinion?

That pisses me off.

[lonestarnot]

47. me too

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. I feel a Dark Age coming on...

[barb162]

7. Yeah, so do I

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

30. After the complete collapse of the oil

economy, that is the most likely scenario, yes.

[hogwyld]

5. What a wonderful case

Of political correctness run amok. Of course, the government is worried about offending someone and getting sued, or even worse, starting some religious rioting over "zionist propaganda" While I am no fan of Israeli policies, I DO believe the holocaust happened.

[fujiyama]

35. The holocaust isn't a matter of believing in it or not

It's a matter of FACT.

[scavenger]

55. Who can dictate fact or believe?

I don't believe history should be dictated as fact to others. Thats what christians try to do with the bible.

There is no way I can guarantee history has been written with complete honesty and without distorted facts and I don't see how anyone can possibly prove it was.

From what I've read and the pictures I've seen on the holocaust, I myself believe it happened, but I can not prove it or say for a fact that it happened the way it did, because I wasn't there and I don't know anyone personally that was. History is like anything else , you can look at the proof, listen to the reasoning and come to your own conclusion as to what you want to believe or not believe.

I wont let anyone dictate fact or belief to me, because I don't trust the word of mankind.

[Lurking Dem]

57. So you don't believe in science?

[scavenger]

60. Only at face value.

It would depend on the proof and reasoning representing the body of facts that are used that validates the science.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

6. The last line in the article is somewhat heartening.

Teaching of the Holocaust is expected to become compulsory under the new national curriculum from next year.

[barb162]

12. Good!

It seems some people need to have their eyes forced open.

[Forkboy]

8. I think it should be mandatory in all schools worldwide.

It's a lesson for the human race that we should constantly be reminded of.

But that's just me.

[LeftishBrit]

24. I fully agree!

To be fair: as someone who has quite a few contacts with schools in a part of Britain with a significant Muslim community, I haven't noticed much of this sort of thing. With some obvious exceptions, there is relatively little acceptance nowadays of, or indeed demand for, religious control of the content of factually-based subjects in British schools. (I say 'factually-based' as there is a long and chequered history of debates on the extent and content of religious instruction *itself*. But subjects like science and history are not usually subjected to these demands.) Fortunately, all schools will soon be required to teach about the Holocaust as part of the National Curriculum.

[KiraBS]

43. And to be fair Creationism is not taught in science class....

Religious Education maybe but must kids drop that unless it is compulsory for GCSE but that works well because it seems to be the easiest for a good grade.

[heliarc]

40. Can you believe it?

At the high school ... yes high school where I teach, we were told not to discuss Katrina when it happened because children were having nightmares. Wow. The real nightmare is the reading and writing skills of some of the students schools are graduating these days.

[Miss Chybil]

9. Cowards. nt

[barb162]

10. This is outrageous. History should be taught as it happened,

not the way certain groups like to think about it in line with their prejudices

[barb162]

11. Kick, kick, kick!!!

thanks for posting

[Odin2005]

13. This is why Cultural Relativism and so-called "Multiculturalism" disgusts me

[Stuckinthebush]

14. This isn't multiculturalism

This is censorship due to fear.

Multiculturalism is a powerful tool and it should remain in schools.

[damntexdem]

17. How is this multiculturalism?

This is a refusal to acknowledge attacks on two peoples seen as "others." A failure to speak of the two attrocities, the Holocaust and of the Crusades, is the antithesis of multiculturalism.

[Odin2005]

20. That is why I put multicuralism in quotes.

There is multiculturalism, then there is the "multiculturalism" pushed by cultural relativist idiots that bash Western society as inherently evil 24/7.

[ProudDad]

67. But

Western Capitalist society IS inherently evil :shrug:

[damntexdem]

15. Let's see: not talk about German attrocities so as not to offend Muslim students?

Avoid teaching about a series of attacks on another civilization in order not to offend those carrying the religious heritage of the victimized civilization?

Seems a funny way to not offend.

[bamacrat]

19. Thats just stupid, its history, we must learn from it or......

By not teaching children about what happened during the Holocaust and the Crusades is the worst thing. It is as if the education system is disregarding those events as not note worthy. Slavery is taught in schools because it happened as should everything else that happened. Fake history is for the churches and cults not the schools.

[johnlal]

21. Sad decision.

It is sad that educators would choose to ignore a huge part of history. When these students encounter the documented facts and circumstances of the holocaust, it will knock them over like a ton of bricks.
http://www.archive.org/details/nazi_concentration_camps

[poorinnaples]

25. Yeah, right...

Like American history, as taught, isn't rife with examples of exactly the same situation. Fact is, if Americans ever review their own history, as fed to them, & compare it to reality, they'll realize this is nothing new.

Pick almost any period of US history, read the actual documentation, etc., & you arrive at completely different conclusions.

The Brits do it, the Americans do it, & probably every other country does it. Unfortunately, that's the way it is, & most Americans just accept it, promote the propaganda themselves, & even argue that "that's the way it was", never bothering to check.

100 years from now if left to the "court historians", & federal apologists, chances are, George W. Bush will be remembered as "The Great Liberator", & "The Great Decider"...hell, Richard Perle's even said as much, "...our children will sing great songs about us years from now." Happens every time...from "chopping down cherry trees", to "saving the union", to "in God we trust", to "under God", etc., it all makes for great myths, & story telling. Most of it's bull shit, written for public consumption. Propaganda, as much as anything.

* * *

"Ike's Warning May Just Tell Us 'Why We Fight'" by M. Carlson
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-carlson/ikes-warning-may-just-te_b_23917.html

* * *

http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/3404.html

Excerpt:

Richard Perle, a leading hawk with influence in the administration, outlined that road to greatness in 2002. "This is total war," he declared. "If we just let our vision of the world go forth . . . our children will sing great songs about us years from now."

[cali]

27. Welcome to DU.

Man, you got practically everything wrong and packed it into one post.

First of all, nope American history isn't rife with examples of the exact same situation. Yes, it's filled with terrible injustices and the genocide of the Native Americans, but there are vast difference. The Genocide of the the Native Americans took place in a times span of approximately 150 years. The Holocaust, in about 3. That in itself is a big difference. In addition, what is so singular about the Holocaust is the breathtaking mechanization of deathe; the factory cookie cutter order of it. Hair, dental fillings, shoes- nothing was "wasted". There's a particular horror in the Nazi efficiency.

And children in this country are not being taught standard pablum American history anymore. Yes, it has a ways to go, but when my kid was in elementary school less than 10 years ago, in a rural area, he learned about the Trail of Tears in fifth grade, Japanese internment the following year, and in high school one of the texts used for his sophmore year history course, was Howard Zinn's "A Peoples' History".
Hardly propaganda.

As for bushco being known to future generations as the "Great Liberator". what have you been smoking? An amazing number of illustrious historians havew already weighed in, and not only found him wanting, but deemed him the worst president in history. And that's highly unusual.

[poorinnaples]

29. Maybe...

No doubt the Holocaust was what it was, but I noticed American slavery was noticeably absent from your story.

Fact is, the vast majority of American's wouldn't know Howard Zinn, from a Tootsie Roll, & you nor I will be alive to even know how Bush is remembered by "mainstream" historians. But in the here & now, what I've witnessed over the last 6 years, with all the factual information provided the American people, on a silver platter, & they still can't sort out bull shit, from the obvious, I don't have much hope, that they ever will. Especially as current events, become only vague memories, & as political opinions, displace the historical record.

The fact remains, it's human nature, for many, to remember the past with a fondness, that doesn't come close to reality. It's also government's nature, to try to justify everything they do, as exactly right. Cynic & pessimist that I may be, doesn't allow me much hope, that Americans won't swallow whatever the so-called "mainstream historians" tell them is fact, no matter how twisted.

Only time will tell, & only our children & grandchildren will ever know. Exactly what many so-called "historians" rely on.

Interesting how our posts compare...yours shows the idealism of youth, while mine depicts the cynicism of age. Another revealing fact of human nature.

My hope, the internet, & its collective power allows all of us to help set the record right, where it's wrong, & to make sure fact, & the actual historical record remains honest & clear. It's an opportunity like nothing ever seen before. Use it, or lose it.

[otherlander]

32. The opposite of cynical is not idealistic.

The opposite of cynical is horrified.

[poorinnaples]

51. "Opposite"?

Nowhere in what I wrote does the word "opposite" appear. In fact, most people can be some of both. Either that, or they'd probably be falling for every scam that rolls down the pike.

After the last 6 years of dishonesty, incompetence, etc. coming out of DC, if most Americans aren't, at least, a little bit "cynical", about what they hear from the "talking heads", & our so-called "leaders" & the Beltway "experts", we're in worse shape than I thought.

Cynic that I may be, I tend to lean toward the Founder of our party's philosophy. If something's not provable, I tend to wait & see. Maybe I've just been bull-shitted, one too many times, by folks who thought their cause so righteous & just, that they'd say just about anything, to have their way.

One thing's for sure, if cynicism had ruled the day, American's would have never set foot in Iraq, to begin with, & literally thousands of human beings who no longer exist, would be alive today, & hundreds of billions of dollars, from our Treasury, would never have been wasted, on Bush's disastrous folly.

* * *

Idealism - The act or practice of envisioning things in an ideal form.

cynicism - An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a
general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others.

horrified - showing or indicating great shock or horror.

[WildEyedLiberal]

38. You seriously think American kids aren't taught about slavery?

Um... wow.

[poorinnaples]

46. That's not what I wrote...

"...slavery was noticeably absent from YOUR story."

Reading & comprehending also seem to be in very short supply, among
some.

"Um... wow."

[cali]

52. Ever read Zinn's "Peoples' History"?

Slavery is certainly not absent from that volume. If I didn't mention slavery as being part of my son's history curriculum throughout elementary and secondary school, it's because I thought people would recognize that's a given.

And as I have a 20 year old son, and didn't give birth at 28 or 20, I'm not exactly young, nor do I see anything in my post that would indicate some dewy idealism of youth. As a matter of fact, I was far more cynical at 20 than I am now.

Oh, and Zinn, my friend, is being used more and more in high school curriculums.

[poorinnaples]

66. Absolutely...

And Zinn's book is another perfect example, of a "historian" approaching American history with his personal opinions, & taking many things out of context, to support his pre-conceived beliefs. Even though I tend to agree with Zinn, on many points, he's no more the be all, end all, of American history, than you or I.

Since you address slavery, let me quote a sentence from Zinn's book which appears, to make the point.

"It would take either a full-scale slave rebellion or a full-scale war to end such a deeply entrenched system." (pg. 171)

Zinn completely ignores the argument, that the industrial revolution, the invention of farm equipment, & the economics of maintaining slaves, on such a massive scale, would have had an impact. More than likely, slavery would have ended, without firing a shot, & possibly with better results.

Not only, if one simply considers the outlay, from the US Treasury, involving the "civil war", which "historians" surmise amounted to approximately $9.5 billion, & since slaves were considered property, as the majority of Americans, both north & south, believed at the time, then buying them outright, & releasing them as freemen, would possibly have been a better idea, than an all out "civil war", with all its incumbent carnage.

If one only considers the economic ramifications, every slave in the US could have been purchased for $1000, by the federal government, & every slave awarded $1000, to start anew, & the US would still have saved approximately $1.2 billion, & that's not even considering the costs, to the south.

As a full-blown pacifist, in my opinion, a war for any reason, should be the choice of last resort, especially one amongst countrymen.

At the end of the day, slavery ended in the majority of countries, amiably, with the good old USA being the only one, where it took a national catastrophe, to end it.

And back to my original point, if Americans aren't extremely careful, our children & grandchildren will be sung songs about Bush, "The Great Liberator", just as we were taught about "The Great Emancipator".

It's the Whig/Republican way. They've shredded Democratic leaders, throughout history, while promoting their own, as Gods.

[ProudDad]

68. I'm glad to hear your son

had Zinn in HS

We had pablum history when I was in school in the 50's - early 60's... Happy "darkies" on the ole' plantation, the Indian "problem" during the great Western Expansion, Great (White) Man History, etc.

[cali]

73. Yes. I was thrilled

by his history curriculum all through elementary and HS. It wasn't just Zinn, they read Malcolm X, and other primary sources. I don't know how common his experience is, but we live in the most rural and remote part of Vermont. My sister teaches History in CT, and I'm incredibly impressed with what she's doing. I think things are changing as regards the teaching of history.

[poorinnaples]

77. By the way, did you "read Zinn's "Peoples' History"?"

Mr. Zinn makes some very honest, & lucid points, concerning what he's attempting to do, in his book, but, as I wrote before, he falls prey to the very same trap, when addressing the most disastrous period, in American history, our own "civil war".

And I quote Mr. Zinn:

"My view point, in telling the history of the United States, is different: that we must not accept the memory of states as our own. Nations are not communities and never have been."

"If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even if in brief flashes, people showed their ability to resist, join together, occasionally to win. I am supposing, or perhaps only hoping, that our future may be found in the past's fugitive moments of compassion rather than in its solid centuries of warfare." (pg. 10-11)

* Spoken like an honest, fellow pacifist *

But on pg. 171 he states, as I pointed out before, "It would take either a full-scale slave rebellion or a full-scale war to end such a deeply entrenched system."

It took neither to end slavery, anywhere else in the world, including the American northeast, even though they were the major "slave traders", of the period. So why wouldn't Mr. Zinn consider there might have been other options, in this case, when he earlier states, the very premise of his book, is to do just that, to "emphasize new possibilities" ?

[poorinnaples]

80. Thanks...

Did you bother to read & comprehend your son's "sophmore year" history text, "A People's History of the United States"?

As you say there is a vast difference between the Holocaust, & the Native Americans. Only one happened on US soil, the other halfway around the globe. Maybe European history, but definitely not an American experience, by any stretch of the imagination. According to history, Americans actually stopped the Holocaust, at the cost of much blood & treasure, unless, of course, you believe that's "standard pablum", too.

[ItNerd4life]

81. I wouldn't say most of it is BS

but I do agree there are some historical actions that are not even taught or they are written in a way to spread propaganda. These include just about any historical article related to how the Indians were treated.

However, I do know efforts are being made to correct this. My kids are getting a better understanding of how the U.S. lied to Indians to move them to reservations and things of that nature. They aren't just being fed the propaganda side of it.

My biggest concern is that the holocaust is not going to be taught at all because someone's feelings might be hurt? That is about the stupidest argument I've ever heard. So in America's history courses we shouldn't teach about the Revolutionary War because we could hurt the English's feelings. What poppycock!

Oh better yet, let's not teach about the U.S. Civil War because we might hurt some racists' feelings! It's a stupid reason for not teaching history.

[w4rma]

26. "Teaching of the Holocaust is expected to become compulsory under the new national curriculum"

Thank goodness.

[otherlander]

33. Thank god.

I'm suprised that it wasn't already. I mean... it's the Holocaust.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

28. Just think...If they don't teach about the Holocaust,

it can happen all over again, with a different set of people.

[ProudDad]

69. Darfur

It's already happening...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

76. Darfur is "over there"...

I was thinking more of countries where no one would suspect genocide...Like England and the US.

[JerseygirlCT]

31. Oh good grief!

So they intend to fight ignorance with... more ignorance?

How completely stupid!

The bigotry they anticipate confronting MUST be confronted. That's the only way to stop it. It must be confronted with education, and that must be done at every single opportunity.

This is so very shocking and sad!

[mzmolly]

34. How would the truth offend Muslims?

Confront denial damn it! Schools are supposed to TEACH, not build a curriculum around irrational beliefs.

K and R.

[Crayson]

49. Offended by pictures of dead victims?

Unbelievable...

Imagine it!!!
"I'm offended seeing starved people work themselves to death and then be gassed and cremated in ovens day and night and the ashes from the ovens falling like black snow!"

Of course these pictures are heavy to stomach.
But this was the world 50 years ago. It's not some distant science fiction movie.
IT HAPPENED! The killers themselves kept books on every single human being who was "processed" rough this machinery.
People HAVE to see them so it may never come to pass anymore.

Only then they understand what war and discrimination can lead to.

[The Stranger]

50. Unless seeing Muslims massacred by Christians in the name of Jesus is offensive.

Probably the local Surburbanite GOP Family Values Christians that were offended

[cali]

54. Uh, no GOP

in GB.

[The Stranger]

58. Uh, then the GOP

equivalent.

[LeftishBrit]

63. We don't have an exact GOP equivalent

The nearest is of course the Conservative Party, but it differs from the GOP in a number of ways, notably in being less religiously dominated. There is a sort of 'Christian Right' in Britain; but it's small and doesn't have much power.

Our semi-mainstream righties tend to combine xenophobia of all sorts with a dislike of taxes, and an extreme law-and-order orientaton ('bring back hanging and flogging!') They would not, on the whole, however deny the holocaust or try to prevent it being taught in school.

I suspect that what's going on here is not so much that any Muslims are actually seeking to prevent the teaching of the holocaust, as that some schools are afraid that, if they teach about the holocaust, some Muslim pupils may upset their classmates, especially the Jewish pupils, by anti-semitic or holocaust-denying remarks; and that teachers would then be forced to deal with this as a problem. Of course, this is no reason to avoid the issue, and most schools are not doing so.. It's in any case not unknown for schools and other institutions to worry unnecessarily about 'problems' and to pre-empt them by avoiding issues that would actually NOT create objections from most Muslims - and thus of course to create unnecessary problems!

[keroro gunsou]

53. actually..

they are worried that studying the Crusades will offend the Muslims, not the Holocaust.

[mzmolly]

56. Not sure how that makes ignoring history ok, but the article indicates otherwise?

:shrug:

[ProudDad]

70. Exactly

the German Holocaust was mainly committed by Lutherans...

[mzmolly]

72. Really?

Sheesh, I don't doubt that a bit after reading a bit of rhetoric by Martin Luther.

Then again, in all fairness:

A Lutheran Pastor in Nazi Germany during the Second
World War wrote:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak
out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the Catholics, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Catholic;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

--Martin Niemöller

[ProudDad]

75. Yes, he wrote that indeed

I check up on it recently. He seemed to know what he was talking about.

"Although he was a national conservative, and initially a sympathizer of Adolf Hitler<2>, he became one of the founders of the Confessing Church, which opposed the nazification of German Protestant churches. For his opposition to the Nazi's state control of the churches, Niemöller was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Niem%C3%B6ller

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...

[fujiyama]

36. Real moral cowardice

Yeah keeping people in ignorance is the best way to not not offend a person. How fuckin' stupid.

What ever happened to challenging people's beliefs?

It's good to know that this will have to be covered under the new curriculum.

I'm really fuckin' sick of educators bending over to accommodate the views of the ignorant.

[roguevalley]

37. schools used to teach. too bad. given that the world is so on the

edge, maybe if they don't learn it, they won't be so sorry when they fucking repeat it. so goes history, so goes the world.

[KiraBS]

42. I am really disturbed by this...

I did History up to A'Level and the Crusades were never taught but 20th Century History is/was. Everything from America verses the USSR, The cold war, The Wall Street Crash, the Russian and Chinese Revolution. Nazi Germany and the rise of the Third Reich, Mussolini, Stalin and the Purges,The fall of The British Empire, The New Deal, The Marshall Plan all are frequently taught for GCSE and A'Level English... before that it is history going back through the century, including the Industrial revolution.
I was 14 years old when my GCSE history teacher showed us the footage from the concentration camps, the effect was profound, many of the other girls (girls school)walked out, they were so disturbed but it was still shown.
It ten or fifteen years from now it may be footage of the Iraq war that school children will have to be shown or will it be held back because some find it offensive.
How can you teach WW2 history without teaching the rise of the Nazi's? And how can you teach the Third Reich without teaching about the persecution of the Jews?Which is an important moment in history that has contributed to the reason why we have the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The Holocaust is also important when teaching the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and the politics involved.
And the two world wars are the events that shaped my country. Especially since WW2.
If people are going to live in the UK, grow up here, they should understand the history and the events that gave us the NHS, Social Security, comprehensive education, council housing and brought in the immigrants from The West Indies and The Sub-Continent in the 60 and the reason why the UK and the USA have that special relationship and the financial debts we owe the US.
And yes the uglier parts of our history are taught such as The Boer War, Indian Independence, The Suez Crisis and The Falklands War.

[smedwed]

44. Not sure

I'm just finishing school in the UK.
I did history a few years ago for G.C.S.E. and they certainly taught us about the Holocaust then, and they haven't stopped.
Both my (younger) brothers are in school and are being taught about it. Indeed almost all the history we did seemed to be the first and second World Wars, Nazi Germany and the Crusades. Many of the G.C.S.E. Syllabuses focus on Nazi Germany.
Some schools may not be teaching it but I think many still are.

[treestar]

45. The Holocaust may be too recent to be taught in elementary

school history.

My schools never touched on it. But I've heard of it. There is an entire museum in Washington dedicated to it.

I really doubt that Muslim students would be offended in the mass, either. If anything, they are not teaching it because they are afraid of some Muslim claiming it never occurred - a racist assumption. And why are they so afraid of that claim? It is easy enough to disprove to rational students.

[Xithras]

62. Too recent?

I have kids in elementary school. WW2 was the war their great-grandfathers fought. To kids nowadays, it's ancient history.

[ProudDad]

71. To kids nowadays

Vietnam is ancient History.

Hell, to them Granada and Panama and Gulf War I are ancient History.


On Edit:

In fact, if you asked the American electorate they couldn't remember the facts of all of those wars of 'ancient history'.

[Crayson]

48. Truth should not be offensive

Right now Turkey causes a lot of problems about the Armenian massacres.
The whole world knows what happened, only Turkey doesn't want to confess what they did to the Armenians and later to the Kurds.

Now they start law suits against other countries school books.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

59. It's part of history unfortunately

history also includes the Spanish Inquisition and the likes

[AngryAmish]

61. Way to go, Bush

[LeftishBrit]

64. For once, this is not something one can blame Bush for

It involves a few schools in the UK.

[redqueen]

65. Lots of countries don't teach facts.

This is only one example of a country trying to avoid offending those who haven't learned the facts about this one event in history... but lots of countries or regions are guilty of this.

I hope this opens a wider debate about whitewashing history in general, not only in Muslim schools.

[superconnected]

74. The holocaust and Crusades are history. Not a religious belief.

Apparently the people they are tyring not to offend, need the history lesson the most as they haven't figured out it's fucking history.

[scavenger]

78. I was just wondering

if anyone believes slavery was a lesser evil then the holocaust? I don't remember being taught anything much about slavery when I was in school, although I do admit that was a long time ago.

[scavenger]

79. Is the thread dead?

No takers to the question? Why is that ? Is it because one atrocity out ways another?

From where I sit mankind hasn't learned a God damn thing from any of these atrocities so why the hell teach any of it in school in the first place?

[SoCalifer]

82. Sad decision indeed

And unfortunately one I am not unfamiliar with. I've never in my 40yrs ever seen the biggest holocaust taught about my ancestors. No movies, no school text books, no television shows, nothing but material you have to find on your own, or material woefully inadequate.