Holocaust embedded in U.S. curriculum

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- For the past 14 years, Lisa Armstrong has been teaching the literature of the Holocaust to students at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, a Catholic private school in Overland Park, Kansas.

In a state that has few Jews and in a school that has none, she still thinks it is important to teach about the Nazi extermination of six million Jews during the World War Two.

"We teach a Holocaust unit to all our freshmen (aged 14-15) and I also offer a semester-long elective on Holocaust literature for seniors (aged 17-18)," she said.

In recent years the Holocaust has slowly become embedded in the heart of the mainstream American education curriculum, in some states starting in early childhood and continuing all the way through high school.

Holocaust education is mandatory in public schools in six states -- New Jersey, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Illinois and New York -- and strongly recommended in 10 more.

But the subject appears in some form or another in virtually every middle school and high school, whether in the history curriculum, or in literature or social studies or all three.

A decade ago in the United States, there were fewer than 50 organisations involved in Holocaust education. Today there are more than 125, including state commissions, national teacher education programs and resource centres in 32 states, and six major museums.

"There are thousands of teachers involved in teacher training programs and in teaching the Holocaust in classrooms across the country. In the next decade these numbers will grow significantly," said William Shulman, president of the Association of Holocaust Organizations, USA.

Broad interest

This week 180 teachers gathered at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington for a three-day course on how to teach the subject.

They came from places like Trussville, Alabama; Pineville, Kentucky; and Altus, Oklahoma; as well as from major metropolitan and suburban schools.

Many teachers include Elie Wiesel's "Night" as part of their Holocaust curriculum.

"We spent six weeks on the subject in my school," said Lori Jensen, who comprises the entire social studies department at the only high school in Ryegate, Montana, where the student body numbers 40.

"The kids are very interested, especially when they learn about the failure of the United States to do anything to help the Jews in Europe. When they hear that, they get pretty angry," she said.

This was a universal reaction among the teachers -- that students who were often bored or unresponsive to literature or history for some reason became extremely engaged when the subject was the Holocaust. It became a way for teachers to break through the shell of adolescent indifference.

Armstrong said her students responded strongly to Elie Wiesel's memoir "Night" about his experiences as a child in ghettos and concentration camps -- more than to any other book she gave them.

"They come in the next day saying they were up late into the night reading because they could not put it down. That doesn't happen too often with students and many are prompted to go on and read other books by Wiesel as well as by other authors," she said.

Introduced early

Lisa Coia, who teaches high school history in Pitman, New Jersey, said the topic was introduced to children as young as 6 years old in her state through discussion of issues like bullying and the need to be tolerant.

"By the time they get to me the kids are definitely ready to learn. They hear Holocaust survivors speak and they visit the museum. We also try to connect the Holocaust to things happening around the world today. I get feedback from students, many of whom say it was the most meaningful part of their high school experience," she said.

But the subject is also very difficult and requires careful preparation to ensure that students receive material appropriate to their ages, said Todd Hennessey, a history teacher at a middle school in Castle Rock, Colorado.

Hennessey, one of the instructors at the course, said he knew one teacher who only wanted to teach about attempts to rescue Jews in the Holocaust "because those stories had a happy ending and the rest was too depressing for her students."

He had encountered another teacher whose school district refused to allow mention to be made of Nazi persecution and murder of homosexuals in concentration camps, for fear of promoting an "alternative lifestyle."

"That's very unfortunate. You cannot discuss the Holocaust and leave out this important aspect," he said.

Armstrong said many of her Catholic students were shocked to learn of the historic role of the church in anti-Semitism. "A lot of my kids have a very idealistic view of the church. But it's important that they hear the truth," she said.

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