News & Politics - Teachers to drop Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims

Lain · 04-02-2007, 03:25 AM

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Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims
By LAURA CLARK - More by this author » Last updated at 10:49am on 2nd April 2007

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.

* Teachers fear backlash over crackdown in the classroom

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.

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Just my two cents worth, it seems a little ridiculous because it seems that if you're going to hide something like that in order to not avoid hurting others, it's like saying you have to hide the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor being taught in a Japanese classroom. You can't exactly sugarcoat history and just explain the simple facts that may be ambiguous at some point. What's happened, happened, and students do need to know their history.

This almost (though I'm not really saying they are) makes those that are aware of the history of the Holocaust and actually believe it happened make them look like they are in denial themselves.

S.A.S.H.A. · 04-02-2007, 03:30 AM

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Originally Posted by ~+Yamiko (View Post)

can't exactly sugarcoat history and just explain the simple facts

And that's sadly what many people do.

Sasha

elisheva · 04-02-2007, 04:30 AM

If that's true, it's ridiculous.

**TheAngel** · 04-02-2007, 04:41 AM

Why are we so damn worried about offending Muslims? I don't see them stopping history classes on slavery that may offend African-Americans, or World War II that may offend any families of German, Japanese, or Italian immigrants. They still teach about British Royalty (and some of those guys were screwed up, let me tell you) which may offend a number of British or Irish families. We're also taught about Vietnam and Korea, offending both Korean and Vietnamese families. Therefore, we should stop teaching history. That's the only solution to this problem.
Worried about challenging what they're taught in mosques. I was challenged daily on what I had learned in church, whether in history classes or English classes or science classes, it didn't matter, my faith was strong enough. I don't want to bring children into this world we're creating, it's starting to worry me.

migamoo · 04-02-2007, 05:23 AM

There are many things in history that offend me, but you don't see me asking my teachers to stop teaching them. Hell, I'm even a history major! I've even thought about teaching history on some level, but I would never not teach something on the basis that it might offend someone. You cannot change the past, even if you want to, because what is taught in the classroom is more factual than what it taught in a religious setting. Why? Because I'm sure that those people are changing things here and there to show a more biased viewpoint.

Lexis · 04-02-2007, 06:09 AM

That's just insanity. History cannot be edited just to make some people feel better. It is what it is. Sometimes we are hurt by what we hear but we need to know it.

froggiepopple · 04-02-2007, 10:00 AM

These people needed to be treated like equals not some 2nd class citizens who needs the world to cater to their every whim. I completely disagree with them not teaching the Holocaust out of fear offending Muslims. IF the parents have that much of an aversion to their children learning about the Holocaust they could take them to another school or homeschool them.

Doing this is just catering to Holocaust Denial and creating more antisemites. I could care less if this offends any antisemite. There are many things in history and the world in general that offends me. The difference is though is that I do not expect that whole world to cater to my every little need, because I am not emotionally strong enough to handle the fact that there are people that disagree with me. If it gets that difficult, I just remove myself from the situation, rather it be through physical leaving or mentally leaving.

Not only will this create more antisemites, it will also create more Islamophobes. People are or will be pissed off, some will blame the school district/s and others will take it out on the Muslims even those that do not deny the Holocaust.

quaist · 04-02-2007, 01:21 PM

The holocaust is an important part of history, not only for jews or germans.

People will always hear about it at some point of their life, and I think it's better when this happens at school. It always depends on the teacher you've got, but from what I've experienced at school you've got the highest chance to get (at least the near) truth about it.

With not teaching about it, you just kind of support the holocaust deniers, which should definately not happen under any circumstances.

Lain · 04-02-2007, 01:41 PM

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

Okay, if you're going to explain the Holocaust to Primary and Secondary school kids, you don't really have to get in to the graphic details of showing the bodies of those who have perished, and so forth but you do have to explain the facts of Holocaust and then get more in to it in high school. Also, the teachers should explicitly explain that it is just in the past and it is part of history without getting their wits in a bunch of worrying over whether or not they'll make Muslims Anti-Semetic.

At this rate, maybe thirty years from now, they'll try to avoid teaching the history of 9/11 to any kids because it would raise kids to go against Muslims or for Muslim kids to recreate the attack and other things.

Just to let you know, I'm not trying to be a racist in this sort of thing but it seems in the article, that's what those teachers are trying to prevent.

**sunnykerr** · 04-02-2007, 07:41 PM

Funny how the fear of offending Germans never hampered anyone from teaching about the Holocaust but the fear of offending people who, as far as I know, weren't directly involved in any of it may put the kibosh on it.

Do we really want to live in a world where Anne Frank just happened to die one day for no reason whatsoever? And the Nuremberg Trials? Were they the ravings of power-hungry fools? What about Elie Wiesel and those numbers he's got tattooed on his arm? Did he do that to himself then?

We're really bad at learning from our past mistakes. But the only sure way I know to repeat our history is to ignore it completely. The Holocaust should be taught to every child out there. Depending on the age, we might want to be careful as to how we go about teaching that particular part of our history, but this monstrous event in our world changed our world, changed our history. It changed geography, it changed demography. And the people who died because of it and trying to end it may be forgotten with the passage of time, but how dare anyone glaze over what happened to them.

Indian Summer · 04-02-2007, 08:07 PM

So... it's okay to offend Jews and gays, but offending Muslims is baaaad? Huh.

lizzie2000 · 04-02-2007, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunnykerr (View Post)

Do we really want to live in a world where Anne Frank just happened to die one day for no reason whatsoever? And the Nuremberg Trials? Were they the ravings of power-hungry fools? What about Elie Wiesel and those numbers he's got tattooed on his arm? Did he do that to himself then?

What I am afraid of is that if we stop teaching the holocaust because if offends people soon the next generation may forget it even existed because most holocaust survivors are slowly dying off. I dont understand how we could not teach the next generation about the henious acts that occured during that time. Offending someone should not be worried about when teaching history. Any type of history taught will always offend someone. Just because one religion is offended it should not matter at all, ok this is being said by the granddaughter of two holocaust survivors so it might be bias but still.

**TheAngel** · 04-03-2007, 04:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indian Summer (View Post)

So... it's okay to offend Jews and gays, but offending Muslims is baaaad? Huh.

It's always been that way. Political and religious groups are always made fun of, but someone makes a comic strip about Muslims and there are riots in the streets. It's pathetic.

marina86 · 04-03-2007, 06:34 AM

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Originally Posted by sunnykerr (View Post)

Funny how the fear of offending Germans never hampered anyone from teaching about the Holocaust but the fear of offending people who, as far as I know, weren't directly involved in any of it may put the kibosh on it.

This is what I don't get either. How could it possibly offend Muslims if they have no direct connection to the holocaust?

**sunnykerr** · 04-03-2007, 06:58 AM

And I love how it's a blanket thing: for fear of offending Muslims. As in, all Muslims. As though they're all anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers.


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