mercoledì 20 giugno 2007

Holocaust in British Schools

BH

The widely forwarded message about the Shoah (Holocaust) and the British school curriculum may be only partially true. The message reads: 'In Memorial // Recently this week, UK removed The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it "offended" the Moslem population which claims it never occurred. This is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.'

According to snopes.com, a significant urban legends reference page, all British schools have not stopped teaching about the Shoah. That said, one northern UK school (at least in its history department) did remove the Holocaust from its school curriculum -- ostensibly to avoid confronting anti-Semitism and Holocaust-denial among its students (see snopes.com/politics/religion/holocaust.asp).

P.S. If education is not to confront us with ideas that challenge our beliefs, what does it do?

P.P.S Why are Jews so often about the Holocaust? If they don't want to teach about the Holocaust -- fine -- I'll trade you a week of discussion about the Holocaust for a week of discussion about the 3000 years of Jewish life in Israel, or about the endurance of the Jewish people in exile and our commitment to return to Israel, or about the seven mitzvot Bnei Noach, or about the idea of tradition in Jewish practice.

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