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Comments from an AP history
and government teacher in Raleigh, NC.
e-mail betsynewmark AT gmail.com
Commissions earned from selling items through Amazon will go towards buying materials for my classes. Thank you.
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Monday, April 02, 2007
Political correctness and teaching history
History teachers have long felt the pull of political correctness in the teaching of history. For some teachers, this takes the form of teaching American history as one long discourse on how despicable white men were to all sorts of groups. In England, concern for the sensitive feelings of Muslim students is causing some teachers to drop whole units from their curriculum lest Muslims take offense.Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Governmentbacked study has revealed.So now Holocaust denial has become an article of faith that teachers must not offend. The inmates really have taken over the asylum if this is the case. I wonder how much this is due to fear of offending some students or actual fear of what the students might do to teachers.
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'.
The study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, looked into 'emotive and controversial' history teaching in primary and secondary schools.
It found some teachers are dropping courses covering the Holocaust at the earliest opportunity over fears Muslim pupils might express anti-Semitic and anti-Israel reactions in class.
The researchers gave the example of a secondary school in an unnamed northern city, which dropped the Holocaust as a subject for GCSE coursework.
The report said teachers feared confronting 'anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim pupils'.
It added: "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."
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'.
The report concluded: "In particular settings, teachers of history are unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged versions of history in which pupils are steeped at home, in their community or in a place of worship."
If we can no longer teach history than we must truly give up on hoping to educate the next generation to face tough questions and issues. We will be one step closer to the type of future envisioned by George Orwell.
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History teachers have long felt the pull of political correctness in the teaching of history. For some teachers, this takes the form of teaching American history as one long discourse on how despicable white men were to all sorts of groups. In England, concern for the sensitive feelings of Muslim students is causing some teachers to drop whole units from their curriculum lest Muslims take offense.
If we can no longer teach history than we must truly give up on hoping to educate the next generation to face tough questions and issues. We will be one step closer to the type of future envisioned by George Orwell.
0 comments
History teachers have long felt the pull of political correctness in the teaching of history. For some teachers, this takes the form of teaching American history as one long discourse on how despicable white men were to all sorts of groups. In England, concern for the sensitive feelings of Muslim students is causing some teachers to drop whole units from their curriculum lest Muslims take offense.
Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Governmentbacked study has revealed.So now Holocaust denial has become an article of faith that teachers must not offend. The inmates really have taken over the asylum if this is the case. I wonder how much this is due to fear of offending some students or actual fear of what the students might do to teachers.
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'.
The study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, looked into 'emotive and controversial' history teaching in primary and secondary schools.
It found some teachers are dropping courses covering the Holocaust at the earliest opportunity over fears Muslim pupils might express anti-Semitic and anti-Israel reactions in class.
The researchers gave the example of a secondary school in an unnamed northern city, which dropped the Holocaust as a subject for GCSE coursework.
The report said teachers feared confronting 'anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim pupils'.
It added: "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."
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'.
The report concluded: "In particular settings, teachers of history are unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged versions of history in which pupils are steeped at home, in their community or in a place of worship."
If we can no longer teach history than we must truly give up on hoping to educate the next generation to face tough questions and issues. We will be one step closer to the type of future envisioned by George Orwell.
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