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BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)

26 Nov 07 - 12:51 PM (#2202531)
Subject: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Skivee

I just received an e-mail from a friend in Switzerland. I'm hoping that some of our British friends can tell me if it is true, or another example of internet hogwash.
The E-mail starts off with a recap of warning statements various people made about not forgetting the death camps and such and a list of the various groups killed in their millions by the Nazis, followed by:

"This week, the UK removed The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it "offended" the Muslim 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 in to it."

Is this story the real deal or just a chain letter?
Has the academic community in the UK actually removed info about the Holocaust because some Muslims there believe it is a fraud?
Skivee, who does not forget, wants to know the facts.


26 Nov 07 - 01:00 PM (#2202535)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Emma B

"A number of people have contacted the BBC News website querying e-mails they have been sent."

"In fact the government has reaffirmed that in England, teaching children about the Holocaust is compulsory, and it is not banned elsewhere in the UK."

BBC News Education


26 Nov 07 - 01:06 PM (#2202538)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Emma B

Typical Daily Mail (P.C. Scare) headline -

"Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims"

and - several paragraphs down.......

"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'."


26 Nov 07 - 01:25 PM (#2202549)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Skivee

Thanks for the debunking info. I've passed it on to the person who sent it to me.
I must admit that it had the e-mail lacked the ring of truth when I read it right off the bat.
There are enough true terrible things happening in the world. Why do we need people to be making up false ones.


26 Nov 07 - 01:37 PM (#2202562)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Donuel

In school we were all taught that the United States experienced a war between the states. There was no mention of a Civil War in our text book.

Regarding holocaust survivors there is something else going around now.
It is a claim that the origianl estimate of 1.6 million holocaust survivors being upgraded to 6 million.


_________________

I enjoyed the sick humor of Larry David when he had a dinner party with two Survivors. One was a tv show contestent and the other a concentration camp victim.

At a party here someone spoke of knowing a survivor so I asked if he was a TV contestent or a holocaust survivor. Eyes darted, jaws dropped, people melted away backwards...

Thanks Larry ;)


26 Nov 07 - 01:37 PM (#2202564)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: katlaughing

Skivee, you can always try Snopes for info on urban myths etc., NOT that you shouldn't ask here. I found out about Snopes right here on the Mudcat. Both are good sources!


26 Nov 07 - 01:53 PM (#2202572)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Emma B

a copy of the actual chain email:

"In Memorium"

"Recently 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.

It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe
ended.

This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the
20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, six million Jews, and
1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped,
burned, starved and humiliated with the German and other
peoples looking the other way!

Now, more than ever, with Iran , among others, claiming the
Holocaust to be "a myth," it is imperative to make sure the world
never forgets.

This e-mail is intended to reach 40 million people worldwide!

Join us and be a link in the memorial chain and help us
distribute it around the world.

Please send this e-mail to 10 people you know and ask them to
continue the memorial chain.

Please don't just delete it. It will only take you a minute to
pass this along - Thanks!

forwarded by Dov Henis"

a copy of the actual chain email


26 Nov 07 - 02:00 PM (#2202574)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: McGrath of Harlow

Now you always wonder which variety of sick bastards send out lying email like that? Obviously intending to stir up hatred - but hatred against Moslems? Or Jews? Or Christians? Or maybe all three?


26 Nov 07 - 02:20 PM (#2202580)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Emma B

the first reference I could find to this email was from from Dov Henis located in
Hod-HaSharon, Israel and it's validity (or otherwise) has been discussed on other forums where he is an outspoken opponent of Iran.


26 Nov 07 - 02:24 PM (#2202583)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: JohnInKansas

ANY EMAIL CONTAINING

"Please send this e-mail to 10 people you know ..."

is a piece of garbage to be deleted, sent to you by an unthinking, gullible lemming.

That's just my opinion, of course; although I've not seen anything that contradicts it since I noted the connection about 30 years or so ago.

John


26 Nov 07 - 04:38 PM (#2202670)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Skivee

FYI: My friend has sent out a retraction to all who he sent the original post with his regrets. In my experience few people 'fess up in this situation; and he's shown himself to be slightly gullible, but classy.
KatLaughing: I frequently snopes about. I posted here because I thought that I would get an informed response from our UK'ers quickly and closer to the source. Barbara and her hubby have frequently warned people to not blindly trust scorces, INCLUDING THEIR OWN.
Our friend EmmaB replied within 9 minutes, and I sent the info back to my friend. Thanks to all.
The info that it was started by some Iran-flaming ass doesn't surprise me. Of course, we have a few highly placed ones of our own just 10 miles from my home. They work in a big white house. Perhaps you have heard of them?
And that's not by way of that Armadinajhad (sp?) hasn't said enough stupid lies on this subject to invite legitimate scorn.


26 Nov 07 - 05:06 PM (#2202695)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: GUEST,282RA

The only thing I pass around on email besides business stuff are funny/cool clips or photos. Any political and religious matter are never passed on. All the stuff I get is rightwing anyway. Much of it is overtly anti-Muslim and sometimes it's really disturbing--like the one that listed a bunch of reasons why good Muslims can't be good Americans. This stuff has been apread about a lot of groups--Catholics, Japanese-Americans, etc.--and it has never resulted in anything good. It becomes another black mark and there's going to be a few of those given us in the coming decades as historians learn more and more of what we did in this invasion/occupation and why.

And you wonder how many people will receive that email and believe it. That's why I am thankful for the hoaxes--they remind people not to believe everything that gets to them in an email.

But a good rule of thumb is that if an email is informing you of some crazy atrocity somewhere that you never heard of, it's a fraud. Then there's the proselytizing one where it shows some heart-wrenching partiotic moment followed by the caption "Only two people have ever offered to die for you. Jesus Christ died for your soul. A soldier died for your freedom" or some such namby-pamby crap as that. Nothing drives me further from Christianity than something that pathetic, ingratiating and opportunistic.


26 Nov 07 - 05:48 PM (#2202734)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: GUEST,Peter

I didn't realise that there were still people around who even bothered opening crap emails like that.


26 Nov 07 - 05:52 PM (#2202740)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: McGrath of Harlow

So if you received a crap message like that sent on to you by some gullible friend, how would you avoid opening it, Peter?


26 Nov 07 - 06:37 PM (#2202762)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: The Fooles Troupe

"in memory of the 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, six million Jews, and 1,900 Catholic priests"

What about all the OTHER 'classes of people'...

Such hate mongers used to just quote 'The Jews' which led to obvious claims of 'hijacking the holocaust'... I suppose that the fact that SOME other groups are mentioned by name is SOME sorta progress...

Don't forget that many German people had fought in WWI & truly believed that 'if only Der Fuhrer knew about this, he would fix it'...

Thanks for the heads up...


26 Nov 07 - 09:30 PM (#2202865)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Skivee

To Peter, the friendly guest I reply:
The email was from a friend I know with the subject line "In Memorium". Since we have musician friends in common some of whom have died recently, it was reasonable for me to open it. I'll try to be more psychic in the future. I'm sorry not to have been.
On the other hand, what I did do was to refrain from forwarding it, check the factuality of the claim, and with the kind help of others sent believable information that debunked it to the fellow who posted it to me. He in turn retracted it with everyone he sent it to.
How would you improve this situation short of my preferred course...knee-capping the asses who invent crap like this and sent it out to well-meaning people?


27 Nov 07 - 06:42 AM (#2203030)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Keith A of Hertford

It has not been dropped from the National Curriculum, but individual schools, and individual teachers have found that it provokes too much anger among muslim pupils who find that it conflicts with what they are taught elsewhere.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6517359.stm


27 Nov 07 - 06:49 AM (#2203035)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: GUEST,PMB

All the more reason for facing up to the problems! I remember meeting a German many years ago (we were both hitchhiking to Ireland) who got into a terrible tizzy when I mentioned the Holocaust. Nobody had ever told him about it; it was all anti- German lies, he said. He would have been in his early 20s, in about 1970-2.

If Muslim kids are being fed misinformation at home, they need to be enlightened. The problem is how to do this without it becoming part of The Conspiracy.


27 Nov 07 - 06:58 AM (#2203038)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: The Fooles Troupe

Shoot 'em all...

No, wait on, that didn't work last time...


:-P


27 Nov 07 - 07:42 AM (#2203051)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Emma B

This is the actual report on which the email claims to be based.

This is a 48 detailed report on "The Challenges and Opportunities for Teaching Emotive and Controversial History 3-19"

In part 4 "Constraints to the Teaching of Emotive and Controversial History"
there is subsection 6 "Teachers Avoidance of Emotive and Controversial History"

to quote two paragraphs from this page.......

"Teachers and schools avoid emotive and controversial history for a variety of reasons, some of which are well-intentioned. Some feel that certain issues are inappropiate for particular age groups or decide in advance that pupils lack the maturity to grasp them.
Where teachers lack confidence in their subject knowledge or subject-specific pedagogy, this can also be a reason for avoiding certain content.
Staff may wish to avoid causing offence or appearing insensitive to individuals or groups in their classes. In particualr settings, teachers of history are unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged versions in which pupils are steeped at home, in their community or at a place of worship. Some teachers also feel that the issues are best avoided in history, believing them to be taught elsewhere in the curriculum such as in citizenship or religious education.

For example, a history department in a northern city recently avoided selecting the Holocaust as a topic for GCSE course work for fear of confronting anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim pupils.
In another depsrtment, teachers were strongly challenged by some Christian parents for their treatment of the Arab-Isreali conflict and the history of the state of Israel that did not accord with the teachings of their denomination."

It is indeed extremely selective quoting to extrapolate from this small section and the example of a couple of schools to the scare headlines that appeared in certain UK newspapers following publication of the report.
However this does indeed seem to be the basis of the email quoted above.


27 Nov 07 - 07:47 AM (#2203055)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Emma B

ooops! a 48 page detailed report!


27 Nov 07 - 08:59 AM (#2203106)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Wolfgang

"it was all anti- German lies, he said."

PMB,
that must have been a extremely rare example of a German youngster from that time. I was in my early 20s in 1970 and we all (obviously not all) knew about it, even if it was not mentioned in history in school for being too recent (that has changed now).

This bit a news that has a factual basis but is distorted in the way it is reported, was also mentioned in some German papers, so it is good to read about what led to that story.

Wolfgang


27 Nov 07 - 09:14 AM (#2203112)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: The PA

Not read every thread and apologies if this has already been covered. The Holocaust has certainly not been removed from my sons cirriculum. He's actually studying it at the moment for A level history, and they all watched 'Schindlers List' last week to discuss.


27 Nov 07 - 09:36 AM (#2203125)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Rapparee

MUCH of history should make you not only uncomfortable, but angry that such things happened. Screw political correctness and lowering someone's self-esteem, learn the truth and accept it, then learn from it.

Montserrat, for example. Or Japanese sex slaves. Or the treatment of the followers of Spartacus. Or Sand Creek. Or Thibaw and Supayalat's killing of the Burmese royal family in 1878. Or the world-wide participation in slavery. Or the Nazi medical "experiments." Or...why go on?

"Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it."

And, perhaps more to the point these days, "Those who have no history have no future."


27 Nov 07 - 09:53 AM (#2203142)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Keith A of Hertford

Original inaccurate statement

This week, the UK removed The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it "offended" the Muslim population which claims it never occurred.

True statement
Many UK schools removed The Holocaust from their school curriculum because it "offended" members of the Muslim population who claim it never occurred.

Not much better really.


27 Nov 07 - 10:12 AM (#2203147)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Big Al Whittle

In our school, we had to draw a picture of a medieval village. then we had to do a picture of it after the feudal system.

You got a detention if the fisherman's hut was in the wrong place. Don't know they're bleeding born, kids these days.


27 Nov 07 - 10:23 AM (#2203152)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: GUEST,PMB

True statement
Many UK schools removed The Holocaust from their school curriculum because it "offended" members of the Muslim population who claim it never occurred.


No, TRUE true statement:

Some UK schools removed The Holocaust from their school curriculum because it "offended" members of the Muslim population who claim it never occurred. This was discussed in the report cited, and they elaborated:

Addressing emotive and controversial history effectively
requires an understanding of student misconceptions.
Without this awareness of misconceptions about events
such as the Holocaust, appropriate learning strategies are
rendered impossible. Students often bring misconceptions
and stereotypes with them. For example (in relation to
the Holocaust), the beliefs that all Germans were Nazis,
that the Nazis invented anti-Semitism, that all Jews
were helpless victims and that all the victims died in gas
chambers.


In fact the report states almost the opposite of the attitude described in the chain email.


27 Nov 07 - 10:32 AM (#2203162)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Emma B

in fact the "truth" is as reported in the BBC News item -

"...the government has reaffirmed that in England, teaching children about the Holocaust is compulsory, and it is not banned elsewhere in the UK."

Please read the report Keith A of Hertford, it states clearly that ONE school opted not to select the Holocaust as the coursework project for GCSE for fear of confrontation with some Muslim pupils - no where does it say it was removed from the curriculum!


27 Nov 07 - 06:14 PM (#2203476)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: GUEST,Julian Hill

I suggest you click on or copy this url...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article1600686.ece


27 Nov 07 - 06:19 PM (#2203483)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: The Fooles Troupe

Hmmm vanished post... I'll never be able to recreate the subtlety with which I crafted that.. so

... to reiterate simply - the USA most strongly promoted the 'sub-human' concept to justify their bigotry toward those who had been formally released from slavery, which the Nazis seized on and applied to the Jews...

It's those Bloody Yanks again - I'm not biased...


:-P
    Hi, Robin - I noticed your remark about a "vanished post" in the most recent Holocaust thread (and I appreciated that you didn't get all upset or paranoid about it). I've noticed I've had the problem of vanishing posts a little more frequently in recent times, but I haven't been able to find any common factor in the disappearances.
    Got any hunches about the cause of the problem? If anyone does, please contact me by personal message.
    -Joe Offer-


27 Nov 07 - 06:20 PM (#2203485)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: Emma B

Julian please read the whole report in context and not just edited "highlights"


27 Nov 07 - 07:08 PM (#2203526)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools?
From: M.Ted

You're not the "fake-Tate" Julian Hill, are you?


28 Nov 07 - 03:10 AM (#2203709)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: Keith A of Hertford

Emma, if you read it again you will see that it is acknowledged that the subject is being avoided in schools, and "cites as an example" the one school you refer to.


28 Nov 07 - 12:29 PM (#2203967)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: GUEST

Read for yourselves. This article posted in February of this year in the Evening Standard (UK) backs up initial claims. This IS NOT a hoax. Curriculum covering the Holocaust IS being shelved for less "offensive", more diluted accounts of history.


http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23391188-details/Teachers+drop+the+Holocaust+to+avoid+offending+Muslims/article.do


28 Nov 07 - 02:06 PM (#2204044)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: M.Ted

Having taught in American schools, I pretty much take for granted that, no matter what the subject, there is some group, somewhere, that has an extreme and militant view about whatever is in the curriculum. Furthermore, in compliance with the "Whatever goes around comes around" principle, sooner or later, they are going to show up at the school. Invariably, they will be screaming threats and accusations, and waving something.

Apparently, according to a survey, some teachers in the UK have acknowledged that they avoided or de-emphasized certain subjects with a wish to avoid conflict. Obviously, this is an individual choice, though it may be a reflection of a cultural tendency to downplay conflict, and to avoid confrontations.

As an American, the idea that a teacher would attempt to avoid confrontation and conflict i is counter-intuitive. Why would anyone want to do something like that?;-)


28 Nov 07 - 07:12 PM (#2204284)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: Nickhere

I'm glad to hear students are studying the WW2 holocaust, though it depends on the age of the students. Some might be a bit young to handle it, I don't know what age they study it at (I'm presuming secondary school for a start). When the truth of it began to dawn on me at a young age, I remember being flabbergasted that people could be so inhumane to other people. But then, evil drives people to do dreadful things.

Today what makes me most sad is that in spite of all that, in spite of the blame heaped on Germans for letting it happen, most of us are just as bad. We may not have any influence over foreign governments directly, but we should at least have some control over our own if we are living in a democracy as we claim. Why then aren't we holding them to account for the evil acts they are committing and pressuring them to hold foreign governments to account for the same?

For me the only 'danger' in studying the WW2 holocaust is to think that that was the end of it all, evil was vanquished and we all lived happily ever after. As long as it serves to reminding us of how low humanity can stoop, it might hopefully have some influence in preventing same. So far it hasn't had much success there though (Srebenica, Rwanda, Darfur, Pol Pot, Mao's Great Leap Forward etc.,) I think the key is in realising such potential evil is something deep within the psyche of all humans and not confined to any one nation or time.

For what it's worth the first holocaust this century was that of 1,000,000 + Armenians killed by the Turks at the end of WW1. This is hotly denied by today's Turkish Govt and has landed a few historians in jail in Turkey who dared suggest it did happen.


28 Nov 07 - 07:29 PM (#2204298)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: artbrooks

The qualitative difference between the two genocides is that the Ottoman Empire (which, although the Emperor and the central government were predominately Turks, included many other ethnicities) "expelled" the Armenians, basically by driving them out into the desert to die (with exceptions), while those involved in the killing of the Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and others took a more active part in their deaths. The end result, of course, is much the same.


28 Nov 07 - 10:16 PM (#2204387)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: M.Ted

The Armenians were expelled from their homes and driven on "Death Marches"--but much the men, particularly, were systematically murdered, usually in the first part of the march. Eyewitnesses say that the usual pattern was for the victims to be put upon by succeeding bands of Kurdish horsemen, who robbed them and systematically massacred the men. It was actually much more "active" than the WWII Holocaust, which relied heavily on technology--

More detail here: Excerpt from "Survivors-An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide"


29 Nov 07 - 03:33 AM (#2204466)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: Keith A of Hertford

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_and_Namaqua_Genocide

I think that this has the dubious honour of being the first genocide
of the 20th Century.

Is my revised statement on holocaust teaching in UK accepted now as being factually correct, and if not why not?


29 Nov 07 - 03:53 AM (#2204474)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: Liz the Squeak

I'm a school governor, so I get information about the curriculum before it becomes practice.

England HAS NOT taken the Holocaust out of the National Curriculum. I confirmed it my head teacher, it is definately IN the curriculum, as is 'The Diary of Anne Frank' on the preferred reading list. I might add that almost half of her school pupils are Muslim. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own curriculum where teaching about the Holocaust is included but not compulsory.

A FEW schools have chosen to concentrate on other events in history, much in the same way that the Highland Clearances or Irish Potato Famine and mass exodus are not widely taught in English schools.

LTS


29 Nov 07 - 08:32 AM (#2204574)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: Keith A of Hertford

Of course it has not been removed from the National Curriculum.

According to BBC "Some schools avoid teaching the Holocaust and other controversial history subjects as they do not want to cause offence, research has claimed.
Teachers fear meeting anti-Semitic sentiment, particularly from Muslim pupils, the government-funded study by the Historical Association said.

"Some schools" in the context of a nationwide report could be "many" or "a few". Figures are not given.
So this is factually correct:
Many UK schools removed The Holocaust from their school curriculum because it "offended" members of the Muslim population who claim it never occurred.


29 Nov 07 - 08:46 AM (#2204581)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: artbrooks

Kieth A: the article to which you linked cites one school which removed the Shoah from its curriculum. This in an article which, as you say, begins: "Some schools avoid teaching the Holocaust and other controversial history subjects as they do not want to cause offence..." {underlining added}. I really don't see the leap from the "one" to "some" to "many".


29 Nov 07 - 09:02 AM (#2204591)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: Keith A of Hertford

It cites examples to illustrate the issue being addressed.
It is NOT about one school.


29 Nov 07 - 09:22 AM (#2204601)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: artbrooks

"The report gave the example of a history department in a northern city which decided not to teach the Holocaust as a topic for GCSE coursework." {underlining added} Not "some" history departments, but "a" history department...which honestly sounds to me as though one specific teacher was trying to evade classroom controversy. None of the articles that I have seen have come up with more than that specific program in that particular school which changed the curriculum in that manner. I would be glad to be pointed at an article that says "seven" schools or "many" schools have eliminated the Shoah because of a desire to avoid offending Muslim students.


29 Nov 07 - 09:32 AM (#2204608)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: Emma B

Art, as you point out, Keith is quoting an ARTICLE - a selectively summarized piece of journalism.

I have been crticised before by referring back to a previous link even when it is obvious that it has been completely ignored in order to keep a spurious contention going but the Full report is available.


29 Nov 07 - 09:38 AM (#2204613)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: manitas_at_work

I'm not sure why they should worry about offending 'Muslim' students. It's not exactly one of the Pillars of Islam that the Holocaust never happened, is it? In which case, there are no religious sensibilities to be offended - just personal or political ones.


29 Nov 07 - 10:20 AM (#2204671)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: Keith A of Hertford

Please do read the report.
If only a few schools were "avoiding" contentious subjects, the report would not even have been necessary to prepare!
The individual schools were cited as EXAMPLES of the problem.


29 Nov 07 - 11:20 AM (#2204722)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: Emma B

"This publication is the result of research carried out by The Historical Association and supported by a grant from the Department of Education and Skills. The project has been entitled T.E.A.C.H. (Teaching Emotive and Controversial History) and covers the 3-19 age range.

The National Curriculum for History and GCSE and AS/A2 specifications often touch on social, cultural, religious and ethnic fault lines within and beyond Britain. A premise at the start of this project was that many teachers often avoided controversy in the class room when focussed on history. At the same time, there is widespread recognition that the way many past events are perceived and understood can stir emotions and controversy within and across communities.

……..There was also an acceptance that emotion, sensitivity and controversy can be affected by time, geography and awareness. For example, an issue or person could have been extremely emotive and controversial at the time but no longer has such a resonance, or that something may be felt much more strongly in some places and among some groups and individuals than others, or there are issues that continue or now have contemporary significance or personal resonance.
Likewise the strength of feeling about certain issues can be affected by the age of the students
Thus there are historical issues that, at the time, aroused strong emotions and were subjects of great controversy . Simultaneously, there are issues that are emotive and controversial because they continue to have general contemporary significance or personal resonance for students"

- So the premise or the preliminary or explanatory statements of the document was that many teachers avoided "controversy" in the class room (for the many reasons touched upon in the report including age appropriate material) and then proceeded to examine if this was the situation or not and, if so, what steps could be taken to ammend it.

But certainly NOT

"Many UK schools removed The Holocaust from their school curriculum because it "offended" members of the Muslim population who claim it never occurred.


29 Nov 07 - 11:55 AM (#2204749)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: artbrooks

I suppose it is because, as a sometimes historian, I pick up on people using citations to say things that the original documents do not say. It is entirely true that the report - and I read the entire thing several weeks ago - says that there is a trend to avoid teaching "controversial" subjects, for a number of reason. This is certainly nothing new, in England, the US, or (probably) anywhere else. I apologize if my insistence that the report says nothing about any significant number of schools including the Holocaust among the topics avoided offended anyone.


30 Nov 07 - 03:27 AM (#2205321)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: Teribus

Perhaps they might run school trips to the warehouse where those "WWII Archives Cleared for Public Release" are stored. Then those denying that the holocaust ever took place can explain to pupils how those records came into being.


30 Nov 07 - 03:39 AM (#2205330)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: The Fooles Troupe

Ah Mr T, it's all a conspiracy....


06 Dec 07 - 03:59 AM (#2209688)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: GUEST,Dom

An article dated April 05 (!) will tell you exactly what you want to know : http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1173879237570
Regards.


06 Dec 07 - 04:02 AM (#2209690)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: Big Al Whittle

about what........


07 Dec 07 - 04:33 PM (#2210833)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: GUEST,JA IN USA

Check the BBC website. Read...then understand.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6517359.stm


27 Jan 08 - 05:52 PM (#2246503)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: GUEST,Joe R

In the USA it is very important that we demonize a group or culture before we send in an army to murder them. You see, it is not possible to murder a demon.
Joe


28 Jan 08 - 02:10 PM (#2247200)
Subject: RE: BS: Holocaust Out of UK Schools? (Hoax?)
From: goatfell

how can The Holocaust of world war 2 offend the only the Muslims, it surely should offend everyone.