Whole School Holocaust Month

[boilinthebag]

Hi Everyone. I'm new here so it's good to join up with everyone. My DS (13) is at school here in Scotland and before Christmas he informed me that he'd had such a depressing day because from then until end of January, all his subjects would be 'doing' The Holocaust. So - I thought maybe exaggeration but yes he was right and French, History, Geograpgy, etc etc all is Holocaust. He even had a Home Ec project to do comparing the diet of a healthy 13 year old boy's diet to that of a Holocaust survivor in the ghettos.
Question - does anyone else think this is maybe just a bit too much? I know it's important to learn about, I know we must not forget, but every day, every subject, for a month?...He is a sensitive soul!

No I don't think it's too much. At thirteen he's old enough to cope but I would give him plenty of time to air his feelings to you.
Perhaps the topic will end with some positives, if there are any.

Thanks Mrs Narcissist for your opinion and suggestion. I take your point - however I still feel it's unnecessarily ponderous and heavy-handed. Why choose one misery over another after all - what about Rwanda, the Irish potato famine, the Highland Clearances? This an unworthy thought, but I can't help wondering if they have agreed to do it because some wonderful resources go with it! Has anyone heard of other schools doing this?

My ds' (primary) school did a whole-school learning project for Black History Month, pursued throughout the curriculum. It was v. good. Enriching, creative, inter-disciplinary, thought-provoking.

Sounds to me as though your ds' school has tried to introduce a creative method/approach for a month on the subject of the Holocaust - itself a subject that does lend itself to deep, inter-disciplinary study. And, I'll be honest, something that bears thinking about, for all of us, today. It should still provoke reflection. And your post suggests that it's done just that.

Is your ds really getting nothing out of it? I will freely admit I think it sound like a really interesting approach to teaching and to this subject. But I'm no teacher, just a parent and former school child.

I don't think yabu.

I think kids get bored of the same subject being done over and over again. I know when we used to do projects, they used to last about a month and were only in one subject. We all used to start off really enthusiastic and fired up and by the end of the month we were sick to death of the subject, even if it was a really interesting one. I can't imagine how depressing it must be to have the same topic in every single lesson for a whole month - we were fed up with it by the end of the month and it was only in one subject, like history or RE or something.

I think they should space out the subject of the holocaust over the year. It's something that you can deal with in secondary in every year group and of course in every subject (v. interesting approach to break down the dietary values for example), but a month is a long time for a whole school project. A week would be better, with other stuff interspersed throughout the year IMO.

I don't see why British schoolchildren should study the Shoa at all - an event that happened in a foreign country with whom the ancestors of indigenous kids would have been at war with.

This sort of thing is cranking the indoctrination up to 11. This study is not about learning about man's inhumanity to man, but an exercise in stoking white guilt. I wonder what brown kids make of it (those from a Muslim background - not much).

In truth, modern liberal types have learned nothing. The number of innocent British children murdered by the state in the last 40 years, because their mothers didn't fancy facing up to the consequences of their actions? 6 million - the same number of deaths attributed to the "holocaust".

Woah that was a bit unexpected. Surely that's another thread GYF.
Cranking up the indoctrination yes I agree - just why do i feel so uncomfortable with it? I do take hbfac's point - it is very complex and worthy of study. It is not silly to say it is potentially life-enhancing. But I asked DS again today if they were looking at, for example, the psychological angle of it all. He scoffed slightly. I get an impression of them being very worthy and heavy about it which will only have the effect of trivialising it all in the long run.
Well let's hope they choose something more upbeat for the next whole-school experiment.
I really appreciate all your contributions by the way. I am wary of sounding off to other school parents in case I'm thought too critical!

at GYF.

I really dont think yabu! I think it is way over the top and a great way to get people to never want to think about the holocaust ever again.

i don't know.....unsure on this.

my dd year 11 went to Auschwitz with the school in october. she came back 'different'.
she talks about it alot and is obsessive about reading up on holocaust and watching films and documentaries. she also visited flanders and the somme last march.

she loves history....and this is of great interest to her. she's a happy,bubbly girl still. hasnt become depressed or anything...still normal. she's 15

YABU.I dont think our children can be taught too much history.
The 20th century held absolute horrors for so many people. The Holocaust was an evil episode in our history. It has direct links to how we live our lives today.
Isreal would not exist where it not for the Holocaust. Most of the hate in the world now stems from the problems in the middle east.

I think that all school children should visit Auschwitz.
If you stopped teenagers in the street and asked them who were the main protagonist in the 2WW they would struggle!
I think that is unreasonable.

It also is completely irrelevant what your skin colour is and to make it an issue of race or religion is wrong.

ronshar.....have you been to Auschwitz?? i certainly DONT think all schoolchildren should go!! i posted here about how to prepare my dd for her visit....the replies from mumsnetters was so helpful,from people who had history teaching husbands,people who worked in this area,people who had been,people who recommended websites....we did it all,and as a very mature 15 year old,she still struggled.....but is ok!

i think only a certain type of child should go to Auschwitz.....not all.

Actually I think that IS too much

It would be distressing for ME and I'm 35

I think for a 13 year old, it would be too much

GYF- Holocaust did not happen in just one 'foreign country'. And not in the countries Britain was at war with- you do know that Britain was not at war with Poland, for example?
Or did you mean countries Germany was at war with?
I'm Polish so as a matter of course we went on a school trip to Oswiecim ( Auschwitz) when v. young, maybe 8 or 9- it was shocking but we were too young to really understand the enormity of it.
I think 14-15 yo should go- it really doesn't bloody matter of what ethnicity were the more than a million of men, women and children murdered there, as GYF seems to imply.

And obviously it should be taught in schools- although I'm not sure if a full month of it, in every subject, might not have a reverse effect and make kids bored with it.

ronshar has hit the nail on the head i think - in the current climate of extremeism and with the isreal/palestine conflict at the heart of much of the rhetoric it is very important to trace back the routes of israel and understand the holocaust and therefore all of the fallout that we're still living with today.

i do hope that these links are being drawn out by the politics and modern history subject teachers.

'the boy in the blue striped pyjamas' is.i think,part of gcse english. my dd read it.
so can see how the subject can overlap with other subjects.

rasputin....wondered that too.....not quite the same is it

No I havent been. But I want to.
I havent figured out yet if the bleeding heart liberal inside me wants to go there to somehow make me feel less guilty about it all. Not even sure why I feel that way as wasnt even born.
I think it is mostly so I can pay my respects to all of the poor souls who were murdered there. I cry when I see pictures of the babies and the children being taken off the trains.

Who are we to have that kind of power over some body elses life?
I dont care what country it happens in. I would go to Rwanda, Bosnia as well if I had the means.

The more we educate our children about the terrible things humans do to each other in the name of religion or creed or race or tribe, then the less likely it is these things will happen to another generation of children.