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eumeliaI get angry a lot.
No denying it.
But let me tell you what pisses me off.
Really pisses me off.
Cencorship.
And make no mistake that is exactly what it is, deciding to put away "offensive" material. Making sure the public remains ignorant and washing history in order to "smooth" things over.
And I'm afraid that is this instance I will not be excused, no, not one bit.
Ignoring History in order to be "politically correct" is the opposite of what political correctness is.
I'll tell you what I'd like to see, someone insisting that we teach the truth, show courage in the face of bigotry masked as "multi-culturalism".
True tolerance and multi-culturalism would be wanting to study history and learning from it, trying to make sure that what "went around, doesn't come around" again to bit us on the ass.
Dropping a part of Human History in school is an offense to the institute of education.
I'm keen to remind people that the Holocaust is not merely a "Jewish" experience, but a Human one and it is hardly the first genocide to appear in Human History.
In addition, why are they letting religion dictate what is taught and not taught is public schools!? You don't like what your child is learning, then either take them out of the school or phone/write/contact your MP with your complaint and see what they can do. If nothing can be done well, then bummer for you! Seriously, are these people right in the head?!
By the way, does anyone remember Darfur?.
I do.
Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims, by Laura Clark
Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed.
It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.
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.
No denying it.
But let me tell you what pisses me off.
Really pisses me off.
Cencorship.
And make no mistake that is exactly what it is, deciding to put away "offensive" material. Making sure the public remains ignorant and washing history in order to "smooth" things over.
And I'm afraid that is this instance I will not be excused, no, not one bit.
Ignoring History in order to be "politically correct" is the opposite of what political correctness is.
I'll tell you what I'd like to see, someone insisting that we teach the truth, show courage in the face of bigotry masked as "multi-culturalism".
True tolerance and multi-culturalism would be wanting to study history and learning from it, trying to make sure that what "went around, doesn't come around" again to bit us on the ass.
Dropping a part of Human History in school is an offense to the institute of education.
I'm keen to remind people that the Holocaust is not merely a "Jewish" experience, but a Human one and it is hardly the first genocide to appear in Human History.
In addition, why are they letting religion dictate what is taught and not taught is public schools!? You don't like what your child is learning, then either take them out of the school or phone/write/contact your MP with your complaint and see what they can do. If nothing can be done well, then bummer for you! Seriously, are these people right in the head?!
By the way, does anyone remember Darfur?.
I do.
Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims, by Laura Clark
Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed.
It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.
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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no subject
Date: 2007-04-12 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-13 08:06 am (UTC)That being said, yeah I'm not that naive and it hasn't been that long since I was in school, I know there are a huge amount of shitheads in education.
Point is, the teachers are supposed to be the conveyors of knowledge and by allowing religious opinion to dictate what is taught in what is supposed to be a public, multi-population school system is the beginning of hegemony.
England isn't Saudi Arabia, China or any other nation being let by a hegemony, it's a democracy and the people living it unfortunately have to deal with the fact that even though people don't agree with them, they have as much right to thing, say and teach without regard to what they are being taught in their Mosques or Churches.
I have a hard time believing that you'd rather have a subject that is so important in human history put away in the name of nothing more than unveiled convenience.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-13 04:47 pm (UTC)Yes. The way to prevent ethnic conflict in the future is by ignoring the past.
I remember Darfur. I know about Darfur. Its not in the past.
And to think I almost became a history teacher. Maybe I should have.