Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims

[Burninator]

Came accross this article while browsing the Detroit forum.

Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Governmentbacked 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'.

However a promising outlook is offered up in the article.

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."

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This is really unfortunate and disgusting, I am not sure of the scale of this movement by the teachers, but it reminds of the similar event that happened in the US with the creationism/evolution teaching at school.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Sad when religion gets in the way of reality

[keratosis]

I'm really getting tired of this political correctness crap.

[Clever_Iggy]

That is really scary. Forgetting history is a sure way to repeat it.

Mr. McGovern's comments are dead accurate - human history is filled with wonderful accomplishments and horrifying moments. To teach the former without the latter is doing nothing for our children other than setting them up for a harsh reality when they step into the real world...

[AC]

Wow.

This is really depressing.

I guess the 9-11 million victims of the Holocaust can just be forgotten/ignored.

5-6 million jews, 5.4 million Poles, (3 million Polish Jews), and the millions of others sought out and murdered are just being ignored because Muslim students may be bothered?

[Flash Walken]

On the one hand, history should never be ignored.

On the other hand, the current canadian and american history curriculum is so facile and in large parts innaccurate, that I really don't feel shocked by this.

That they are actually giving a reason for their hesitance to teach on the subject is interesting though. Singling out muslim students as that reason is even more interesting.

[J pold]

History is history weather you want to ignore it or not

A belief cannot change the past the historical relevance of the holocaust cannot disregarded by a persons convictions

[CaptainCrunch]

I have a lot of problems with curriculum lately.

This is just another nail in the coffin.

There's an old saying that those who fail to learn from history are dommed to repeat it.

The holocaust happened, millions died and to deny it because you might upset the Muslims is garbage, they need to learn it. I get it the extreme elements hate the jews and would probably stand up and applaud during any lecture on the Holocaust, but if one or two kids can break through that wall of denial and maybe it changes an outlook or two, then there's hope for the world.

I was shocked that my nephew is learning more about American, and Chinese and Middle East History then Canadian History. Now those subjects are interesting, but to skip over and deny the great events in Canadian history to me is one of the reasons why this country is so quick to abandon its own sense of national pride.

My girlfriend gave up teaching because her associates felt that spelling and math and basic english grammer should take a back seat to making these kids feel good about themselves. So we're raising a generation of outspoken ignorant fools, present company excepted of course.

There's something really wrong with the education system, and I really don't think that we're doing society any favors.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by AnthonyCook

Wow.

This is really depressing.

I guess the 9-11 million victims of the Holocaust can just be forgotten/ignored.

5-6 million jews, 5.4 million Poles, (3 million Polish Jews), and the millions of others sought out and murdered are just being ignored because Muslim students may be bothered?

Not to mention the hundreds of thousands to millions of actual Germans stricken with incurable or terminal disease.

Either way. Disgusting. History must be taught as it happened, not as one would like to believe it happened.

[Calgaryborn]

Originally Posted by Burninator

This is really unfortunate and disgusting, I am not sure of the scale of this movement by the teachers, but it reminds of the similar event that happened in the US with the creationism/evolution teaching at school.

What similar events? I know that today you won't find creation theory taught in many schools or even problems with the theory of evolution. I know when Darwin first published his theory it was debated public ally both in England and America. News papers publish the contents of the debates rather then interpreting the results. From my prospective evolutionist have been far more guilty of silencing the exchange of ideas than creationists.

If you get a chance some time find an old set of encyclopedias dated before 1950. You'll find a huge difference between it and a modern encyclopedia. Christianity's influence on historical events has been omitted or only mentioned when it is seen in a bad light in the last half century..

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

There's something really wrong with the education system, and I really don't think that we're doing society any favors.

100% agree.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

100% agree.

Is that a first?

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Is that a first?

I doubt it, but that's based on the assumption that you also think the edmonton oilers suck.

[FlamesAddiction]

I'm not an expert on Islam by any stretch of the imagination, but is Holocaust denial an actual religious belief or is it a cultural belief held by many people in countries where the people also happen to be muslims?

It's a subtle but important difference.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I'm not an expert on Islam by any stretch of the imagination, but is Holocaust denial an actual religious belief or is it a cultural belief held by many people in countries where the people also happen to be muslims?

It's a subtle but important difference.

as far as i know it seems to be cultural.

[Jayems]

The west seems to fear muslims now.

[octothorp]

At least in Canada, teachers can be prosecuted for teaching their students that the holocaust didn't happen... isn't choosing not to teach it sending the same implicit message? This is the problem with the way history is taught in schools--they pick a handful of events to focus on, and omit the big picture. So if a teacher chooses to leave something out, how are the children to know?
I can remember the first time I read about the firebombing of Dresden, in my early teens. It was something that had never come up in the cirriculum we had on the war... so I was convinced that it must have been made up, as it was well beyond what I was told that our side was willing to do. This initial suspicion was reinforced that the adults I asked (teachers, parents) were reluctant to talk about it. In the mind of a youth, omission and denial are very closely related.

[Reggie Dunlop]

It's the price you pay for having a pluralistic society -- for better or worse. Obviously, your going to encounter less conflicts with groups more amiable to assimilation. That takes a generation or two.

[HelloHockeyFans]

Brutal. The Rape of Nanking is already something that few North Americans know about... now they're going to drop the Holocaust from the curriculum?

[FireFly]

Wow. That's really sad. You can't change history by ignoring, though as has been mentioned, you can repeat it. The thing that really bothers me about this is that it's the UK where this is taking place... somewhere so close to the holocaust, and yet they would avoid discussing it. I would like to say however, that I think many young muslims are aware of, and will continue to discuss the holocaust regardless of whether or not it is taught in school. Still, very sad that they would contemplate such a thing.