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by finite_jest 1597 days ago
We don't have a moral duty to make eighth-graders see depictions of everything that is heinous and ugly about the world.
2 comments

Let's just pretend the Holocaust didn't happen. Moonbeams, rainbows, and sunshine all the time. Oh and definitely don't teach the Armenian Genocide, WW1, WW2, The Trail of Tears, or slavery because that would hurt someones feewlings.

Get real or be ignorant.

How do you recommend we teach the Holocaust and the history of other evils to children instead, in a way that is equally or more effective?
Why "teach" the Holocaust? Why make young children carry the burden of a monstrous time in history? How does it make them better at English?
Because learning about it can swiftly disabuse children of dangerous, facile notions like "an all-powerful government is always and everywhere an unalloyed good". This is necessary if you actually want to raise an educated citizenry, which is the foundation of effective democracy.
Are you suggesting that teaching children history is a bad idea? If so, why?

(Also, what does English have to do with anything? We can teach both English and history to children in the same day. I and my peers were taught both when I was in school. Oh, and math and science, too.)

This book was removed from the English Language Arts curriculum. ELA is the common American name for English class in the lower grades.
Every book is about something. The fact that this is historical is a bonus if anything.
That seems like an implementation detail that's not worth getting wrapped around the axle over.
We are talking about this particular event being reported in Mother Jones, not some other, hypothetical, counterfactual event that you're trying to redirect the topic to.
Can't reply to your deeper comments on this thread, but in the meeting minutes they decide they'll replace Maus with a different text about the Holocaust. So it's not really a debate about whether 8th graders should be taught the Holocaust in ELA, but how they should be taught.
I can’t help but wonder if they are really going to replace Maus with something “better” (and if so, how they would make that judgment). I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep kicking that can down the road until the school board is replaced.
Holocaust denialism has no place here.