chain mails and all that

Here's something that I've been meaning to post for a long while. I received an email from my friend Tomer on Nov. 19 2007. Here's what it contained (minus the Hebrew):

Disgrace for England !

This week in England every memorial of the holocaust has been removed from the schools study programs, arguing that it hurts the Muslim population that denies the holocaust.

That is a sign of an upcoming worldwide disaster, terrifying evidence of how easily countries can give in to anti-Semitism.

It has been more than 60 years since the end of World War 2 in Europe .

This email has been sent in order to create a chain of memory for those 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1900 catholic priests, that have been murdered, raped, burnt, starved to death, and humiliated by the Nazis.

Now, more than ever, considering the efforts of Iran and others ' denying the Holocaust, it is most crucial to do whatever it takes to ensure that the world never forgets .

This email should reach at least 40 million people in the world.

Join us and become a link in the chain of memory for those who have past in the terrible events of the Holocaust. Help spread this email around the world so others may understand and help as well.

Please send this message to at least 10 of your friends or contacts. Please do not delete this email; it only takes one minute to pass it on. Thank you for your efforts.

And here is my reply:

Dear Tomer:

I was horrified by the email you sent me about English schools removing the holocaust from their education. I went on line to check it out since I thought something like that must have an accompanying news story, and here is what I found:

From the BBC (Holocaust NOT banned, phew)
From The Times
From The Times (criticism of teachers not able to delivery meaningful lessons on difficult subjects, such as the Holocaust)
From The Daily Mail (Criticism of teachers avoiding difficult subjects, such as the holocaust)

The last article, from the Daily Mail specifically reports:

"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."

It doesn't seem like a case of anti-Semitism so much as just general cowardice. If children receive conflicting views about history then they should be taught in formal education that history is not fact - it is interpretation. What's the deal with schools thinking that children need to be taught what to think instead of how to think? Luckily, from what I have read, the comments reacting to these news stories is one of utter outrage at the 'dumbing down' of education, so most people seem to find it ridiculous that teachers would try to avoid teaching emotive subjects for fear of giving offence. In any case, as the BBC reports, there is not 'blanket ban' on teaching about the holocaust in England.

I wonder where this chain of emails started? I think it's a good thing to remain vigilant about cases of anti-Semitism, but I also think that in these politically charged times, it's better to be absolutely accurate about what is being reported. It appears to me, though, however, that these reports have in common the issue of the Muslim community. I'm not really sure how to respond to this except to say that it's a problem when the school (which is an ideological apparatus of the state) is touting a very different kind of ideology from that of the community who sends their children there receive their education. Although many people maintain that public education is non-denominational, I don't think it can be entirely bias-free. Secular education can easily clash with religious teachings, whether if it's the problem of Holocaust/Crusade vs. Islam, or Evolution vs. Creation/Intelligent Design/Christianity.

As a non-denominational, non-qualified observer, I think that children should be presented with a variety of world views. The important thing is to teach them that everything adults tell them aren't necessarily true. I realize that this is problematic for religious upbringings. Not many faithful individuals would present the word of God (any God) to their children and say that it's not the literal truth. But secular education should be able to give a more analytic, critical perspective. To me, sowing the seeds of doubt is the true task of education. So, coming back to the idea of presenting different world views: if children are taught something at home as being indisputable fact, then they are taught at once what to think, alongside a little bit of how (not so much of the latter, I would argue). When they come to school and are confronted with a different version of what to think, alongside with a lot of how to accept that there are many many many people in the world who believe different things, then they are getting a truly important lesson.

Perhaps what I am really promoting is an accepting attitude which at least leaves room for peaceful dialogue even if the things that we believe are different from one another, and we think that everyone else who doesn't believe what we believe is utterly misguided.

This may be something worthwhile to think about for English teachers who cower before challenging subjects.

By the way, I accidentally deleted the original email you sent me with that word file. Can you send it to me again? I would like to hang onto it for reference sake...

love,

A.