AIBU to let my son skip this at school?

[Redcliff]

My DS is 10 and has been doing WW2 at school. Tomorrow the class are watching "boy in the striped pyjamas". We had to sign a consent slip last week and were happy to do so. Tonight he has been in tears saying he doesn't want to see it.

My DP has made some good points about how important a film it is but I hate to think of him so upset. AIBU to tell his teacher that he can sit it out?

Another vote for When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and The Silver Sword if you want your primary age children to learn about WW2. Not that my DC's school reads anything to them of that quality, but I have read both to all my DC and we had some great age-appropriate discussions.

I would not want a child that age reading the book or seeing the film. As others have said, it's badly written and implausible anyway. A better introduction for that age group might be Judith Kerr's book When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, which tackles the persecution of the Jews in WW2 without going into distressing detail.

Ha - should have read the whole thread first!

Was it this Spartacus?

It was a crappy American TV series, but would be very upsetting for a young child to watch.

I never said the movie is factual or the book. We teach ww2 across three subjects simultaneously to compliment each other. Ww2 is factual. We teach the history of it, the religious aspect and a literacy POV. The story is more than suitable and we teach it based on its context in the tri-subject and our own themes and SOW. Mainly it focuses on family values and how discrimination is nurture and not nature.

The book is more than suitable for the 11/12yr olds I teach and I would happily read it to my son in a few years time and explain to him what it's all about. FYI when I was reading LOTF I understood it. I also understood the world around me and asked questions.

Ww2 should be mandatory in schools in detail because it cannot be allowed to happen again. Teaching it in a way that focuses on fact and the atrocities is the way to do it. As I said earlier I have yet to meet a parent who disagrees with us teaching TBITSP or ww2 and they all signed the forms for the school trips as well.

Thanks for saying teachers are thick though. Your children will be homeschooled by yourself no doubt because you wouldn't want one of us teaching your child.

^I don't think I am David is about the holocaust though is it?&

My apologies - I have just checked and it was a communist concentration camp David escaped from. (In my defence, it is over half a century since I read it . . . )

I haven't seen the film but I can only imagine in differs greatly from the book which is the opposite of sensationalist and graphic, being as it is from the German child's naive perspective (though still incredibly haunting and not suitable for under 10s). I'm surprised at people slating the book - I thought it was a very interesting portrayal of a side of the war we don't see often and extremely effective. But it has been many years since I've read it so I'm maybe misremembering.

Can't believe people are recommending Life is Beautiful instead though. Now THERE'S your schmaltzy sentimentalised insulting nonsense, imo.

Aside from whether your ds wants to watch it, the school shouldn't be showing a film which has a higher age rating than the children they are showing it to, even with permission.

You understood LOTF at 5?

Course you did

HappyFlappy

They might be a bit much, emotionally, for 10yos, though possibly reading with parents would help mitigate against it. For older children they're brilliant though. I do genuinely wonder if it's partly because they're translations from the German - the author of Friedrich also wrote I Was There, about growing up during Hitler's rise/in Nazi Germany; and one of Pausewang's other works, Traitor, is about an Austrian girl who finds an injured Russian soldier & chooses to hide & care for him on her family's farm. It's a pity aber Steine reden nicht... hasn't been translated into English (though that's another horribly sad one). Part of what makes the When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit trilogy so powerful is that Judith Kerr was writing about her own experiences, spanning Germany, Switzerland, France & finally England. Even if you've not literally been there like Kerr, or Richter, people who write about the real world almost always do so more convincingly when they know the part of the world they're writing. If you're writing the past, that will have to involve research, even if you know the place. But a German author might find it easier to do that research (unless they want to read Mein Kampf, that is...) & may have family stories to draw on etc. Plus the impact of collective guilt & collective memory issues about "der Nazizeit" (that was almost "dear" not "der" thanks to autocorrect... owch...).

Can't believe I forgot about The Silver Sword earlier though. I read that over & over all through Junior School (they had it in the library there).

Oooh I remember I am David. It was read to us at school.

My dd year 7 is currently reading this in English

Yes I did. It's actually a pretty obvious book. I also read animal farm at a similar age too and my grandmother taught me about the Russian revolution including the stories of Rasputin. My dc WON'T be learning about it in that detail from me but we did do it in school and I did a s&l presentation on it aged 12 and it was fine. I think if they can do sex education in primary school then they can do the holocaust too.

I haven't read all of the thread but I'd also suggest too young.
Goodnight mr tom is a fantastic film which does have sad parts but is a PG and would be more age appropriate.

We read this in year 8 and I always cry when I read the class the ending. I'm happy to cry in front of the class, but I'm the teacher. I find it v upsetting and would rather not read it at all.

Yanbu.

The age rating is the reason they are seeking permission. My daughter was reading Anne frank in year 4 which we felt was too young. Some tricky conversations - not a bed time story! Say no if you want to.

"Ww2 should be mandatory in schools in detail because it cannot be allowed to happen again."

Jesus! If you really are a teacher I'm glad you never taught my child!

Genocide & ethnic cleansing & population manipulation have been going on for millennia and happened after wwii and are still happening!

If you are a teacher and don't want us to think you are less than intelligent don't make out you could possibly understand the nuances of lotf at 5!

The Russian revolution is a period of history I have personally read about & studied for 30 years (following an INTRODUCTION due to us reading Animal Farm at school and having a lovely English teacher with a Russian mother who directed me to further reading). A rudimentary understanding of the narrative yes, maybe but not beyond that come on!!

I personally loved the film for its story and enotional impact. But I am 32, and would say it is highly inappropriate for a 12 year old never mind one who is 10. Your son sounds quite emotional already at just the thought of watching it, which suggests he may be a bit young for his age, so even better reason to let him skip.

Haven't read the whole thread so apologies if it's already been answered - but is it normal for schools to ignore certifications? Why would they think it's ok to show a Cert 12 to 10 year olds?

Teaching of the Holocaust is mandatory in England. The Holocaust Educational Trust advise teaching it in Y9. The IWM suggest a minimum age of 14 years to access its Holocaust exhibition. Age 10 is too young to study the Holocaust and as part of a topic on WW2?? The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a dreadful piece of fiction so all in all YANBU.

Yes - DD had the holocaust in yr 9 history, it seemed like about the right age. They might need to bring it forward to yr 8 now that many schools are starting gcse options in yr 9 rather than 10 though, if they want everyone to learn about it.

Thank you so much for all your input and suggestions of alternative films and books - he is an avid reader so I feel an online book order might be a good idea. He spoke to his teacher who was lovely and came up with a plan of him sitting near the back of the room and slipping out quietly if it gets too much.

They ran out of time today so think it's going to be shown tomorrow now but he's lots happier.

Both my ds read Anne Frank in Y4 and TBITSP plus film, in Y6, they are 25 and 22 now.
I can remember much of the content going over their head as they hadn't the emotional intelligence to form any opinion, they were just stunned. They did it all again in Y7 anyway.

Dd did them both at bit later Y5/Y7 and understood them a bit better.

Redcliff "He spoke to his teacher who was lovely and came up with a plan of him sitting near the back of the room and slipping out quietly if it gets too much."

If this is his plan, that is great. If it is his teacher's plan, then I still think he should be free not to watch this film if that is his choice.

We teach ss2 across three subjects simultaneously to compliment (sic) each other. We teach the history of it, the religious aspect and a literacy POV Mainly it focuses on family values and how discrimination is nurture and not nature.

Rainbow - I have to say I would be very uncomfortable with you teaching children about WW2, based on your comments. Do you realise that the virulent Anti-Semitism had absolutely nothing to do with practising Judaism? That Jews were considered a race? So if you were a totally assimilated German who had never entered a synogogue, but had a Jewish grandmother, then you were deemed Jewish enough for extermination.

Ww2 should be mandatory in schools in detail because it cannot be allowed to happen again.

Words fail me. Oh, wait, here's a few: Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Kurdistan.