Bearing Witness: The Case For Holocaust Education In Public Schools

The United States is at a crossroads. At a time when anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial numbers are mounting once more, the number of living Holocaust survivors is dwindling. Thus, the responsibility for teaching future generations about the Nazi Holocaust falls to education. However, Holocaust education in public schools in the United States is severely lacking. Only 6 states in the United States mandate Holocaust education, and even those states do not teach the Holocaust the way it should be taught. This paper makes the case for mandatory Holocaust education in every public high school in the United States, and, in doing so, recommends how the Holocaust should be taught, so that students may experience the full impact that Holocaust education in the social studies has to offer. Too often is the Holocaust taught in a five-minute section of a lesson on the effects of World War II. Too often is the Holocaust taught as if it is a horror movie filled with senseless violence. Too often is the Holocaust taught as the forces of evil fighting against the forces of good. The Holocaust was a human event filled with tough moral and ethical questions that each individual had to answer. If students are given the opportunity to come face-to-face with the tough moral and ethical questions of the Holocaust, real and powerful growth and change can occur. Education, at its core, is about making its students better people through personal growth, mastery of the disciplines, and gaining maturity by learning values in the classroom. With Holocaust denial, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism on the rise world-wide, and the number of living Holocaust survivors dwindling, our education system must create moral, ethical, and conscientious citizens that have the courage to act upon the values they hold and to affect positive change in our world.<p></p>