What is Taught and What is Not

     I am grateful for the strong and creative education I received growing up in Garden City, New York.  Many of my teachers are still dear friends of mine, and I was encouraged by them to nurture my strengths and learn how to accept constructive criticism.  The eighties were an era before No Child Left Behind and Core Curriculum; they were a time where all teachers in Stewart School could share their own passions.    I am glad I grew up where I did, and when I did.

My happy days in Stewart School where the arts were integrated with education
and passion was encouraged for students and teachers alike.

    There were a few major gaps in my education, however.  First of all, we were not a very diverse town.  (This is a major understatement.  As one of the few Jewish families in town back then, I felt like the representative minority in most of my classes!  I'll never forget the one African American classmate I had in all my years in Garden City.  He left around sixth grade, but I will never forget Kenny's big, toothy smile.)  Secondly, even though I graduated high school in 1992, the Viet Nam
War was never taught through all my years of formal education.

    Recently, I realized that I was born as close to the end of the Viet Nam War as my parents were born to the end of World War 2.  I asked them if the world war was covered in their education, and without stopping to think or even breathe, my mother's response was clear:  "Constantly!"    It is probably because our actions in both world wars were less questionable than our actions in VietNam, but when I pushed my mother further, I learned that even our actions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were taught to children in the fifties.

Even today, a quick look at the Core Curriculum Standards for Social Studies shows that the war in Viet Nam is not covered until high school, and it is not named in the Timeframe Table.  (In separate strands, it is specifically mentioned.)  What would it mean if students learned that we don't always win, that it isn't always clear "what is right" and that it takes time for cultures to heal?

One of my best friends is a German radio announcer who grew up in East Germany and fled to the west just months before the wall fell.  Dorothee really touched my heart by learning Yiddish when we became friends, and introducing me to German children's literature.  We have spent lots of time together in Hamburg, Berlin, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Weimar and her home town of Jena, and I have learned a lot about her culture, too.   It has been interesting to hear about her experience of Holocaust education; the mix of information and cultural sensitivity is planned to prevent such atrocities happening ever again, but it leads to emotional insecurities and often a societal rage of "It's not our fault what previous generations did!".  

I spent some time this morning reading through websites about Holocaust Education in Germany.  One website that stood out to me  gave this important message:

" Holocaust education is in a state of constant evolution. As generations grow up and new ones are born, as distance from the Holocaust increases, it is necessary to reform the methods in which its history is taught. As survivors die and the third generation slowly drifts out of the Holocaust’s shadow, education must be buttressed with an understanding of the applicable lessons and principles that may derive from the Holocaust. For this education to have any meaning, those mechanisms that allowed the Holocaust to take place must be fully understood. History must empower pupils with the understanding of various choices they must make and their ultimate impact on society. "

History must empower pupils.

Empower pupils.

Empower.  

We need to teach empowerment to children.  Empowerment to understand the world, to help the world, to heal the world.

It begins by making them want to learn.  We model passion and children develop passion. We model inclusion, and children feel included and invested.  We model curiosity, and children ask questions.  Don't fear the questions or the answers.  Knowledge is, ultimately, power.  We need to teach empowerment to children.