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Have the Brits gone mad ?
Have the Brits gone mad ?
A statement from CJC regarding the teaching of the Holocaust in UK schools
Over the past few weeks reports emanating from the United Kingdom have flagged a report commissioned by the Department of Education and undertaken by the Historical Association of Great Britain. Entitled "Teaching emotive and controversial history" it investigates the challenges of dealing with such material.
Within this study it was observed that "...a history department in a[i.e. one] northern UK city [school] recently avoided selecting the Holocaust as a topic for...coursework for fear of confronting antisemitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim students." (Teaching Emotive and Controversial History Section 4 page 15).
Clearly, the attitudes among these particular students, which led to the school's decision, are disturbing and part of a broader attack from certain quarters on Holocaust education and commemoration. It is worthy of note however that our colleagues at the British Board of Jewish Deputies have successfully worked with the school in question to rescind this wrong-headed policy. This demonstrates that educators in the United Kingdom, no less than their professional counterparts in Canada, are able to reflect and determine the best way of helping their students to learn the facts of history rather than avoid them.
Furthermore and most importantly, this serves to dispel the myth, now circulating through the internet, that UK schools in general have stopped teaching the Holocaust.
Below please find the link to the full report in question. Hopefully this now clears up any false information pertaining to this matter.
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RW100.pdf
