Tweet
NEW STANDARDS FOR HOLOCAUST, GENOCIDE STUDIES IN TX HIGH SCHOOLS
By LESLIE CONTRERAS
Jewish Herald-Voice
http://www.jhvonline.com/clients/jhvonline/new-standards-for-holocaust-genocide-studies-in-tx-high-schools-p9515-96.htm
Aug 13 2010
The Texas Education Agency has set new state standards for Texas
social studies and history classes that include the teaching of the
Holocaust and other genocides in the Texas Essential Knowledge and
Skills criterion.
The new standards, which are now mandatory for the first time, were
proposed and created by the effort of the recently formed Texas
Holocaust and Genocide Commission, with help from Holocaust Museum
Houston and the Houston Independent School District. The standards
went into effect in June.
The curriculum for high school social studies classes now includes
education of topics including the teaching of the Holocaust, the
liberation of concentration camps, and mass murders in Cambodia,
China, Latin America and the Soviet Union. Other topics that are now
mandatory in the curriculum criterion are identifying examples of
genocide, including the genocide in Armenia, the Balkans and Rwanda.
Social studies classes that these new standards will affect include
U.S. history studies since 1877, world history and world geography.
The commission presented testimony on all proposed changes to
TEKS, including rationale for why the changes should be made by the
TEA. One of the key points was emphasizing the need for the stories
of liberators and rescuers.
~SWhat we want to create in these young minds are positive role
models that they can aspire to, so they will not be bystanders,~T said
Pete Berkowitz, commission chairman. ~SIt~Rs really important that
(students) take individual responsibility for the collective actions
of society.~T
The commission has hired educational vendors, including Holocaust
Museum Houston, to teach one-day workshops to educators throughout
Texas so that they can learn the new curriculum content and begin
teaching it immediately.
Over the next year, all 20 TEA regions will have at least one workshop
to cover Holocaust and genocide topics, said Berkowitz. There will
be 13 total educator workshops taught in Houston, he said.
At a recent workshop in Midland, Texas, which the education department
of Holocaust Museum Houston conducted, educators learned the eight
stages of genocide. Prof. Gregory H. Stanton, founder and creator of
Genocide Watch, created the definitions of the genocidal process.
According to the definition, the first stage is classification, in
which ~Sdifferent categories of people are treated differently.~T Next,
society uses symbols to identify those differences or classifications.
Classification and symbolization become steps towards genocide when
these elements are combined with dehumanization, or denial of the
humanity of other people.
The next steps in genocide are organization, such as through militias
or hate groups, as well as polarization and preparation to kill certain
people. The most violent stage of genocide is the extermination itself,
followed by denial.
Joyce Baumann, a reading and language arts teacher for seventh and
eighth grades at Coahoma Junior High, said the workshop in Midland
was ~Svery informative.~T
~SI learned how to use novels and other information that can spark
my students~R interest and get them to thinking about how people are
treated around the world,~T she said. ~SThere are still people being
mistreated by their government or by other ethnic groups. It~Rs real
~E it~Rs not just a story.~T
Baumann said although she knew much of the information presented,
the workshop allowed her a fresh perspective on how to get students
engaged with the material.
~SIt got me thinking a lot about intolerance,~T she said. ~SI would
like to get my students thinking a little bit more~T about treating
others with respect and fairness, she added.
Kathryn Ann Crozier, a sixth-grade teacher in Monahans, Texas, at
Sudderth Elementary, also attended the one-day workshop.
~SIt opened my eyes to other forms of genocide that I did not
know existed and exists still today,~T Crozier said. ~SI find
it unbelievable that I graduated in 1995 and did not learn about
the Holocaust, Hilter or genocide until I was in college,~T she
added. ~SThe workshop introduced me to more information and resources
that I can give my students.~T
This new curriculum is dedicated to Holocaust survivors Siegi Izakson
and Mady Deutsch, said Holocaust Museum Houston Executive Director
Susan Myers. ~S[Izakson and Deutsch] made it a point to always
emphasize the importance ~E of Holocaust education being able to
continue long past their lives,~T Myers said.
~SIt has been my goal since 2002 to see a commission for the state of
Texas that can work as the umbrella for Holocaust education and museums
to ensure the voice of the victims and survivors are heard,~T she said.
The commission, which was started by the impetus of Holocaust Museum
Houston, was established in June 2009 when Gov. Rick Perry signed
Senate Bill 482.
The commission~Rs main purpose is to provide resources to the public
regarding the Holocaust and other genocides, including implementing
Holocaust awareness programs and exhibits, memorializing the
Holocaust, compiling a list of volunteers who have useful knowledge,
and soliciting and accepting gifts from public and private sources.
In addition to looking at how to create awareness of the Holocaust
in grades K-12, the commission also is working with universities to
create an accredited ethics-based studies course that would be taught
at all Texas universities. The commission is currently working with
the University of Houston to create such a course.
Holocaust survivor and doctor Anna Steinberger, who serves on the
commission along with Berkowitz and 16 other members, said that it
is important that people learn about genocides in order to prevent
possible future occurrences.
She said that it~Rs ~Simportant that teachers, as well as their
students, learn more about these events because after the Holocaust
the motto was ~Qnever again.~R Unfortunately, ~Qnever again~R keeps
happening.~T
The commission~Rs next step in affecting high school education is
making sure that the textbooks reflect the new TEKS requirements.
During the next two years, the TEA, along with the help of a special
task force on the commission, will ensure that the new textbooks will
incorporate information on genocides and the Holocaust.
The reason why changing the textbooks is particularly important,
Berkowitz added, is because they are only changed every 10 years.
~STexas is the largest purchaser of textbooks in the nation,~T said
Berkowitz. ~SBecause Texas is the largest ~E the other states will
follow suit.~T
From: A. Papazian
By LESLIE CONTRERAS
Jewish Herald-Voice
http://www.jhvonline.com/clients/jhvonline/new-standards-for-holocaust-genocide-studies-in-tx-high-schools-p9515-96.htm
Aug 13 2010
The Texas Education Agency has set new state standards for Texas
social studies and history classes that include the teaching of the
Holocaust and other genocides in the Texas Essential Knowledge and
Skills criterion.
The new standards, which are now mandatory for the first time, were
proposed and created by the effort of the recently formed Texas
Holocaust and Genocide Commission, with help from Holocaust Museum
Houston and the Houston Independent School District. The standards
went into effect in June.
The curriculum for high school social studies classes now includes
education of topics including the teaching of the Holocaust, the
liberation of concentration camps, and mass murders in Cambodia,
China, Latin America and the Soviet Union. Other topics that are now
mandatory in the curriculum criterion are identifying examples of
genocide, including the genocide in Armenia, the Balkans and Rwanda.
Social studies classes that these new standards will affect include
U.S. history studies since 1877, world history and world geography.
The commission presented testimony on all proposed changes to
TEKS, including rationale for why the changes should be made by the
TEA. One of the key points was emphasizing the need for the stories
of liberators and rescuers.
~SWhat we want to create in these young minds are positive role
models that they can aspire to, so they will not be bystanders,~T said
Pete Berkowitz, commission chairman. ~SIt~Rs really important that
(students) take individual responsibility for the collective actions
of society.~T
The commission has hired educational vendors, including Holocaust
Museum Houston, to teach one-day workshops to educators throughout
Texas so that they can learn the new curriculum content and begin
teaching it immediately.
Over the next year, all 20 TEA regions will have at least one workshop
to cover Holocaust and genocide topics, said Berkowitz. There will
be 13 total educator workshops taught in Houston, he said.
At a recent workshop in Midland, Texas, which the education department
of Holocaust Museum Houston conducted, educators learned the eight
stages of genocide. Prof. Gregory H. Stanton, founder and creator of
Genocide Watch, created the definitions of the genocidal process.
According to the definition, the first stage is classification, in
which ~Sdifferent categories of people are treated differently.~T Next,
society uses symbols to identify those differences or classifications.
Classification and symbolization become steps towards genocide when
these elements are combined with dehumanization, or denial of the
humanity of other people.
The next steps in genocide are organization, such as through militias
or hate groups, as well as polarization and preparation to kill certain
people. The most violent stage of genocide is the extermination itself,
followed by denial.
Joyce Baumann, a reading and language arts teacher for seventh and
eighth grades at Coahoma Junior High, said the workshop in Midland
was ~Svery informative.~T
~SI learned how to use novels and other information that can spark
my students~R interest and get them to thinking about how people are
treated around the world,~T she said. ~SThere are still people being
mistreated by their government or by other ethnic groups. It~Rs real
~E it~Rs not just a story.~T
Baumann said although she knew much of the information presented,
the workshop allowed her a fresh perspective on how to get students
engaged with the material.
~SIt got me thinking a lot about intolerance,~T she said. ~SI would
like to get my students thinking a little bit more~T about treating
others with respect and fairness, she added.
Kathryn Ann Crozier, a sixth-grade teacher in Monahans, Texas, at
Sudderth Elementary, also attended the one-day workshop.
~SIt opened my eyes to other forms of genocide that I did not
know existed and exists still today,~T Crozier said. ~SI find
it unbelievable that I graduated in 1995 and did not learn about
the Holocaust, Hilter or genocide until I was in college,~T she
added. ~SThe workshop introduced me to more information and resources
that I can give my students.~T
This new curriculum is dedicated to Holocaust survivors Siegi Izakson
and Mady Deutsch, said Holocaust Museum Houston Executive Director
Susan Myers. ~S[Izakson and Deutsch] made it a point to always
emphasize the importance ~E of Holocaust education being able to
continue long past their lives,~T Myers said.
~SIt has been my goal since 2002 to see a commission for the state of
Texas that can work as the umbrella for Holocaust education and museums
to ensure the voice of the victims and survivors are heard,~T she said.
The commission, which was started by the impetus of Holocaust Museum
Houston, was established in June 2009 when Gov. Rick Perry signed
Senate Bill 482.
The commission~Rs main purpose is to provide resources to the public
regarding the Holocaust and other genocides, including implementing
Holocaust awareness programs and exhibits, memorializing the
Holocaust, compiling a list of volunteers who have useful knowledge,
and soliciting and accepting gifts from public and private sources.
In addition to looking at how to create awareness of the Holocaust
in grades K-12, the commission also is working with universities to
create an accredited ethics-based studies course that would be taught
at all Texas universities. The commission is currently working with
the University of Houston to create such a course.
Holocaust survivor and doctor Anna Steinberger, who serves on the
commission along with Berkowitz and 16 other members, said that it
is important that people learn about genocides in order to prevent
possible future occurrences.
She said that it~Rs ~Simportant that teachers, as well as their
students, learn more about these events because after the Holocaust
the motto was ~Qnever again.~R Unfortunately, ~Qnever again~R keeps
happening.~T
The commission~Rs next step in affecting high school education is
making sure that the textbooks reflect the new TEKS requirements.
During the next two years, the TEA, along with the help of a special
task force on the commission, will ensure that the new textbooks will
incorporate information on genocides and the Holocaust.
The reason why changing the textbooks is particularly important,
Berkowitz added, is because they are only changed every 10 years.
~STexas is the largest purchaser of textbooks in the nation,~T said
Berkowitz. ~SBecause Texas is the largest ~E the other states will
follow suit.~T
From: A. Papazian