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Ethnic pressure
EDITORIAL
The Globe and Mail, Canada
455 Words
Monday, May 19, 2008
Page A10
The Toronto District School Board has set a dangerous precedent by
yielding to demands from the Turkish-Canadian community that it
withdraw a book about genocide from the recommended reading list of a
new high school course.
The board's capitulation over the inclusion of Barbara Coloroso's
Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide in a grade 11 history
course called Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity creates the
unsettling perception that individual ethnic groups can dictate the
way we teach history in our public schools.
Other boards across Canada have already shown interest in replicating
the new course, which magnifies the implications of blacklisting
Ms. Coloroso's work.
The complaints stretched well beyond the book to claims that more than
a million Armenian deaths in the early 20th century should be excluded
from genocide studies, echoing assertions by the Turkish state and
some scholars that the victims were casualties of the First World War.
To the board's credit, the course will still classify the massacres as
a genocide while encouraging student awareness of conflicting
opinions, a laudable stance given that the overwhelming mass of
scholarship on the subject has approved the genocide label, as have
Canada, 21 other countries and 41 U.S. states.
But its assertion that the book has been pulled because it is "not a
good example of rigorous historical scholarship" raises questions
about the board's own rigour in choosing the text in the first
place. If it is as historically shaky as now claimed, it should never
have reached the list.
Board documents claim the book was chosen for its relevance to the
course - both focus on the tragedies of Armenia, Rwanda and the
Holocaust - and call Ms. Coloroso "a renowned educator." Reviews of
the book describe her as an accomplished lecturer and an expert in
parenting and education, all of which casts doubt on claims that her
writing is unsuitable for high school students.
The decision also promises to consider a lobbyist's request to include
texts by Bernard Lewis and Guenter Lewy. Some Armenian groups question
the scholarly reputations of both writers for their public denials
that the deaths constituted genocide.
The board softened its stance slightly by allowing that Ms. Coloroso's
text could be useful for a segment of the course, on the social
psychology of genocide, because of its thesis that describes genocide
as akin to schoolyard bullying, another subject she has studied
extensively.
Last week Ms. Coloroso said she is frustrated that the board had been
bullied by a small group. She of all people seems unlikely to use the
term "bully" lightly, and her lament is sure to resonate with those
who treat history as a controversial field that invites debate.
globeandmail.com and The Globe and Mail are divisison of CTVglobemedia
Publishing Inc., 444 Front St. W., Toronto, Canada M5V 2S9
Philip Crawley, Publisher
EDITORIAL
The Globe and Mail, Canada
455 Words
Monday, May 19, 2008
Page A10
The Toronto District School Board has set a dangerous precedent by
yielding to demands from the Turkish-Canadian community that it
withdraw a book about genocide from the recommended reading list of a
new high school course.
The board's capitulation over the inclusion of Barbara Coloroso's
Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide in a grade 11 history
course called Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity creates the
unsettling perception that individual ethnic groups can dictate the
way we teach history in our public schools.
Other boards across Canada have already shown interest in replicating
the new course, which magnifies the implications of blacklisting
Ms. Coloroso's work.
The complaints stretched well beyond the book to claims that more than
a million Armenian deaths in the early 20th century should be excluded
from genocide studies, echoing assertions by the Turkish state and
some scholars that the victims were casualties of the First World War.
To the board's credit, the course will still classify the massacres as
a genocide while encouraging student awareness of conflicting
opinions, a laudable stance given that the overwhelming mass of
scholarship on the subject has approved the genocide label, as have
Canada, 21 other countries and 41 U.S. states.
But its assertion that the book has been pulled because it is "not a
good example of rigorous historical scholarship" raises questions
about the board's own rigour in choosing the text in the first
place. If it is as historically shaky as now claimed, it should never
have reached the list.
Board documents claim the book was chosen for its relevance to the
course - both focus on the tragedies of Armenia, Rwanda and the
Holocaust - and call Ms. Coloroso "a renowned educator." Reviews of
the book describe her as an accomplished lecturer and an expert in
parenting and education, all of which casts doubt on claims that her
writing is unsuitable for high school students.
The decision also promises to consider a lobbyist's request to include
texts by Bernard Lewis and Guenter Lewy. Some Armenian groups question
the scholarly reputations of both writers for their public denials
that the deaths constituted genocide.
The board softened its stance slightly by allowing that Ms. Coloroso's
text could be useful for a segment of the course, on the social
psychology of genocide, because of its thesis that describes genocide
as akin to schoolyard bullying, another subject she has studied
extensively.
Last week Ms. Coloroso said she is frustrated that the board had been
bullied by a small group. She of all people seems unlikely to use the
term "bully" lightly, and her lament is sure to resonate with those
who treat history as a controversial field that invites debate.
globeandmail.com and The Globe and Mail are divisison of CTVglobemedia
Publishing Inc., 444 Front St. W., Toronto, Canada M5V 2S9
Philip Crawley, Publisher