It has come to my attention that a Government-backed survey in 2007 found that many schools no longer teach their pupils about the Holocaust in case doing so offends those Muslims who choose to deny that it ever happened. I vehemently oppose the airbrushing of history in order to avoid offending anyone. History tells us what happened, despite the attempts by some to deny things that don't happen to suit them.
Of course, denying that the Holocaust existed is a popular pastime amongst certain members of the populace, although I have to say that, in my humble opinion, anyone who does so must either be sick or stupid, or possibly both. After all, if we allow history to be airbrushed like this how long will it take to airbrush out of existence the various terrorist atrocities carried out by Islamic extremists, and by other groups such as the IRA in the past? Airbrushing things out of the history books supports claims of denial, and that can never be acceptable.
Thankfully Dwight Eisenhower made a point of having as many photographs and as much film taken as possible in order to ensure that the records of the atrocities of the Holocaust would be there for people to prove its existence for themselves.
The study, which was funded by the Department for Education and Skills, looked into 'emotive and controversial' history teaching in primary and secondary schools, and found that some teachers are dropping courses covering the Holocaust at the earliest opportunity over fears that 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', adding that "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." In other words, the teachers, afraid of upsetting the local Muslim community, decided to airbrush history to suit. This is unacceptable.
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."
But Chris McGovern, history education adviser to the former Tory government, said: "History is not a vehicle for promoting political correctness. Children must have access to knowledge of these controversial subjects, whether palatable or unpalatable." Thank goodness that there are some voices of reason prepared to speak up.
I have refrained from posting any holocaust pictures here, not because I do not have access to them but because the atrocities committed under Hitler's regime are too horrific to simply stumble upon.
In a few days time we will be remembering the fallen comrades who gave their lives up for this country, and we will be wearing red poppy's in order to show our solidarity on Remembrance Sunday. It is good to remember, for it is only by remembering that we can avoid the same terrible events happening again.
Never think for one moment that the Holocaust did not happen --- IT DID.
Never think for one moment that it could never happen again --- IT COULD.
Just because part of our history offends someone somewhere is no excuse to pretend it never happened.
One of the important things about history is that it taches us lessons that we need to learn if we are to help create a better world.
No comments:
Post a Comment