10 year olds learning about the holocaust etc

[restbetweentheelements]

Dc's yeargroup are 9/10
His teacher this year has told them in graphic detail about:

• gas chambers in german concentration camps
• terror in french revolution by showing painting of chopped off head with blood held up next to guillotine and details of what happened
• all about the charlie hebdo teacher terrorist attack in france
• murders in news how many women were killed by partners - they chatted about the news on fridays and dc said it was never about life affirming things (he said nice or interesting things)

DC has been affected by it, and he drew a picture of his teacher with a guillotine and children and he wrote "our teacher is killing us with terror" (he draws a lot, is quite expressive generally...) - i found the drawing screwed up in the bottom of his bag

YANBU - the teaching is not appropriate, the subject matter of treatment of Jews etc is ok in age appropriare way is okay but focusing on terror aspects is not
YABU - no problem with this

If YANBU, then WWYD
I remember learning about medieval torture methods when 10, at school. Is there some sort of theory about terror being useful for 10 year olds???

YABU. history is important. he’s in year 10, he needs to grow up.

@neroforte he’s aged 10, not year 10

He is not in year 10 he is 10. So year 5/6

He's not in year 10, is he? He's 10 years old? So year 5 at primary?

I don't remember learning about ww2 and the holocaust until secondary.

As far as I remember history at primary was mostly ancient history - Romans / Egyptians etc.

Personally I don’t think it’s an issue. My 9 yr old learnt lots of Gruesome facts from watching and reading horrible history’s and he started those when he was about 7.

He also knows a lot about the Holocaust because we’re Jewish and he asked questions about what happened to our families

our teacher is killing us with terror

Rather dramatic but he needs to learn. He's a good age to take this stuff in.

We learnt about Anne frank as part of
Our ww2 history in years 5/6 when I was at primary. We also did war time
Cooking and recipes, had to dress as Evacuees and make our desks into Morrison shelters

it doesn't sound the sort of thing a 10 year old should be hearing tbh. Way too young.

I've just looked it up, history 1901 to present day is ks3 curriculum.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-history-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-history-programmes-of-study#key-stage-1

oh fair enough if he’s only 10, read it wrong lol. definitely didn’t learn about the holocaust at school until i was in year 9ish, but knew about it way before then.

When DDs went to school in Germany (a British school) Yr5/6 had a school trip to a Concentration Camp.

History should be learnt about and from, not forgotten.

I thinks it's too young for 10. Learning about Anne Frank at 10 is not the same as learning about gas chambers at 10.

I have always loved learning about history but I think it needs to be age appropriate.

@Faranth

He's not in year 10, is he? He's 10 years old? So year 5 at primary?

I don't remember learning about ww2 and the holocaust until secondary.

As far as I remember history at primary was mostly ancient history - Romans / Egyptians etc.

I was definitely taught about ww2 in primary school but mainly from a British focus, evacuation, the blitz, bomb shelters. I remember it vividly because it found it fascinating and wrote a report on my grandma's evacuation experience. This was year 4

Goodnight Mr Tom, and the Boy in blue pyjamas are Y6 books, about second world was, concentration camps, child abuse, cruelty and neglect, etc.

I learnt about concentration camps at 9 along side them being gassed and how they were worked and starved. A lot was taught about how it affected the UK children, I was shown Goodnight Mr Tom and taught about how different kinds of people were persecuted, Anne Frank and the like. It was very good for me. This would have been about 14 years ago.

@pinkyredrose

our teacher is killing us with terror

Rather dramatic but he needs to learn. He's a good age to take this stuff in.

agree with the above poster. He's not 5. He's old enough to learn that atrocities happen.

How else do we learn?

There is a line but it is a difficult one. I think telling the children the truth about what has happened is different to graphic pictures. I am a y6 teacher. I would tell children that the nazis murdered people in gas chambers but I would not show graphic pictures. I would however say that it is difficult and that history deserves to be told. We are a country that shields children more than we should.

I would much rather kids are taught these things at school than seeing and hearing bits and pieces on the internet and terrifying themselves with it, and filling in blanks for themselves.

10 years old is fine for starting these conversations and learning.

The "killing us with terror" sounds really bizarre though, if he's struggling then maybe show the school the picture and see if there's a way he can be excused from the more graphic lessons because he is so sensitive.

History isn’t nice. It’s important we don’t gloss over reality. Do they not watch the news?
Ours has visited Beth Shalom and heard about survivors stories at that age. A couple of years later they’d been to Auschwitz.
They need to be horrified by genocide.

If only all 10 year olds learned about the vileness and the futility of war, maybe there wouldn't be so much conflict in the world.

I think it’s about the right age to learn. They’re not 5. My son is 9 and we have chats about all this sort of stuff - if he asks questions I will answer honestly. I mean yes it does need to be delivered in an age appropriate way but I think the younger we start talking about these things the better really.

Its far too much. Children are already terrorised. This is suitable for a secondary curriculm , year 8/9.

@transformandriseup

I thinks it's too young for 10. Learning about Anne Frank at 10 is not the same as learning about gas chambers at 10.

I have always loved learning about history but I think it needs to be age appropriate.

Well as part of learning about Anne Frank we learnt about her fate in a concentration camp and what happened there to other prisoners.

We learnt about the Kindertransport and how those children escaped horrible fates.

Tbh people were still being guillotined in the 70s so lots of children will have grown up aware of that and a painting showing a bloodied head isn’t that shocking for a 10
Yr old IMO

My 6 or 7 year old learnt about the holocaust. In an age appropriate way.

Jewish people cant escape these horrors, its our responsibility to teach them.

@Vodkabulary

Personally I don’t think it’s an issue. My 9 yr old learnt lots of Gruesome facts from watching and reading horrible history’s and he started those when he was about 7.

He also knows a lot about the Holocaust because we’re Jewish and he asked questions about what happened to our families

@vodkabulary it isn't the subject matter it is how the teacher is doing it. I am half Jewish and my dc knew a lot about jewish history and treatment of Jews in WW2, we have history books like horrible history. He didn't know that men and women were stripped and put into a room which was filled wiht gas and where they clambered over each other and were then thrown in pits which was the only part of the holocaust the teacher talked about. Would you be happy with that ?