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Facing History in Transition as Armenian Genocide Centennial Approaches
COMMUNITY | OCTOBER 31, 2014 10:24 AM
________________________________
By Aram Arkun
Mirror-Spectator Staff
BROOKLINE, Mass. -- Facing History and Ourselves is a unique
international organization which has done yeoman's work in promoting
understanding of genocide, including the Armenian and Jewish cases, as
well as human rights, by training educators since the end of the
1970s. It is at present in a period of transition. Its founding
executive director, Margot Strom, is retiring from the leadership
position, while still remaining involved with the organization. Roger
Brooks, dean of the faculty and chief academic officer of Connecticut
College, and holder of the Elie Wiesel Professorship in the Department
of Religious Studies, will begin in December as president and chief
executive officer.
Peter Balakian, Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor of
Humanities at Colgate University, has been involved with Facing
History since the mid-1990s. He has been a member of its academic
board for the last 15 years. He said that "Facing History has had an
enormous impact on Armenian Genocide education in the US curriculum;
its study guide on the Genocide has done a great deal to bring this
history into the mainstream in a comparative context; this has been
groundbreaking. Facing History is an innovative intellectual and
cultural institution and has done much to advance the state of
education in the US and now globally. It embodies the best of a
progressive American educational tradition."
Margot Strom explained how it all started as a course incorporating
"the ideas and events that led to the Holocaust": "We were at one of
the eight schools in Brookline teaching social studies -- the [John D.]
Runkle school. At one point, roughly in 1976, I, Bill Parsons and
others were invited by a very phenomenal director of social studies to
a conference that he and the superintendent, [Dr. Robert] 'Bob'
Sperber, had been involved in organizing on the history of the
Holocaust. I had a master's in history by then, and a very great
interest in learning how to teach social studies and history through
multiple disciplines. It was at that moment that I really got in
interested in the scholarship and the scholars. I knew nothing much
about the history of the Holocaust then. And I only remember hearing
in graduate school a heated conversation between a professor talking
about the Armenian Genocide and Turkey with a student." A few years
after the conference, probably by 1979, Strom knew that this was the
field for her.
Strom began studying and learning, and each of the conference
participants became mentors to what soon became the Facing History
organization. She received a federal Title IV grant. Strom said, "I am
an adult learner, and when I started teaching in my classroom I began
learning together with my students and their parents. People kept
bringing me new materials. Working with people in a giant network, in
Harvard education, was a benefit. People were likeminded,
interdisciplinary, and valued democracy, and when they looked at
injustice, they said, what can I do. People gravitated to me with the
federal grant. Brookline let us write it, and it turned out to be a
great books course for teachers. We did K[kindergarten] to 12th grade,
and librarians, teachers, Parent-Teacher Organizations, and many other
people were involved."
Strom continued, "I knew other teachers needed to teach this, so I
left teaching and started the organization." By 1982, Facing History
formally turned into a non-profit organization. Today it has 180 staff
members and 10 offices, including several abroad, and an annual budget
of 25 million dollars. It estimates that it reaches over three million
secondary students every year through its programs and the teachers it
prepares.
Adam Strom, Margot's son, who joined the organization in the early
2000s, and now is Chief Officer for Content and Innovation, added that
Facing History did not just provide workshops or curriculums and books
for teachers. It was unique in also assigning a person to follow up
with each teacher.
Adam said, "We believe less is more, preferring to focus on things in
particular to raise larger questions. I would rather see a course that
does a few things in depth rather than a little bit of everything. So,
students look at the relationship between the individual and society
and understand the factors influencing choices people make, especially
about the treatment of other people. They examine issues of
membership--how do nations define universal obligation? They look at
the role that science plays. Facing History is about particular
histories and human behavior, both the universal and the particular."
History can provide some perspective for students to understand
problems in contemporary society involving prejudice and conflict. And
while history is an important part of Facing History, it is approached
in an interdisciplinary fashion. Students must taught to ask moral and
ethical questions while learning particular skills and information.
Facing History deals with many types of prejudice and bigotry. The
Armenian Genocide was an integral part of its curriculum from the very
beginning, and Margot Strom relied on many Armenians who were helpful.
Manoog Young and others at the National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research, Margot Strom said, "began to teach me. They
helped me bring Rev. [Vartan] Hartunian into my classroom, and later
Bill Parsons and I worked on new materials. I still remember Hartunian
-- to see him as a speaker allows you to walk in the shoes of others as
victims, and as new immigrant citizens." Strom later interviewed a
descendant of US Ambassador Henry Morgenthau about the Armenian
Genocide.
She emphasized that "Scholars have been incredibly generous." Richard
Hovannisian, Professor of Armenian and Near Eastern History at the
University of California, Los Angeles, and Balakian spent a great deal
of time helping Facing History develop its resources on the Armenian
Genocide. She said, "They want us to get the story right, and we do
the best we can. We take from the latest scholarship and books, and
always are trying to remain up to date."
Facing History's main resource book for teachers, Facing History and
Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior, is centered on the Holocaust.
However, it also looks at other instances of genocide, and contains
several sections on the Armenian Genocide. It shows some of the
parallels and connections between the Armenian case and the Holocaust.
In 2004, Facing History published a resource book specifically
focusing on the Armenian Genocide: Crimes Against Humanity and
Civilization: The Genocide of the Armenians. Adam Strom said, "We
don't just care about these histories because they are ethnically
identified. This is why we gave our book this title. We had great
mentors in the Armenian community. Richard Hovannisian and Peter
Balakian read every single page, literally. We feel very privileged.
Both have been incredibly kind to the organization."
Developed through a grant from the Armenian-American philanthropist
Carolyn Mugar, this 198-page volume according to Samantha Power
accomplished what Facing History "does best: bring history to life,
gather moving portraits of suffering, indecision, and heroism, and
force young and older readers alike to ask what we would have done if
we had faced such wrenching moral dilemmas." Facing History has lesson
plans for teachers who wish to cover the Armenian Genocide in their
classes, and provides various additional resources on this topic,
including a list of speakers.
Margot Strom said that the general resource book and the lesson plans
were in the process of being updated, including the treatment of the
Armenian Genocide, as new research will allow going deeper into
issues. Among other things, more is known about how the coiner of the
term "genocide," Raphael Lemkin, understood the Armenian Genocide.
This year, new video interviews of scholars on the Armenian Genocide
will be conducted and older materials will be digitized. Audio
versions will be made from some of the key readings in the Armenian
resource book.
Adam Strom said, "We will have an online workshop for education which
will use the Armenian Genocide as a particular case study to raise
general issues. We hope we can run it again and again. It will be live
and interactive. Probably we will video some sessions."
Aside from these efforts, for the centennial of the Armenian Genocide,
Facing History will organize workshops in regional offices, and
partner with community events. There are a few things in the works
that will be announced later. Adam Strom declared, "Facing History
wants to be a good partner in the anniversary. We think our role is
education."
In the meantime, Facing History continues to expand. It is striving to
double the number of teachers and students it impacts as part of a
five-year plan, and expanding the use of modern technologies to
leverage its teaching capabilities during a period in which issues of
religious intolerance appear more and more frequently.
http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2014/10/31/facing-history-in-transition-as-armenian-genocide-centennial-approaches/
COMMUNITY | OCTOBER 31, 2014 10:24 AM
________________________________
By Aram Arkun
Mirror-Spectator Staff
BROOKLINE, Mass. -- Facing History and Ourselves is a unique
international organization which has done yeoman's work in promoting
understanding of genocide, including the Armenian and Jewish cases, as
well as human rights, by training educators since the end of the
1970s. It is at present in a period of transition. Its founding
executive director, Margot Strom, is retiring from the leadership
position, while still remaining involved with the organization. Roger
Brooks, dean of the faculty and chief academic officer of Connecticut
College, and holder of the Elie Wiesel Professorship in the Department
of Religious Studies, will begin in December as president and chief
executive officer.
Peter Balakian, Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor of
Humanities at Colgate University, has been involved with Facing
History since the mid-1990s. He has been a member of its academic
board for the last 15 years. He said that "Facing History has had an
enormous impact on Armenian Genocide education in the US curriculum;
its study guide on the Genocide has done a great deal to bring this
history into the mainstream in a comparative context; this has been
groundbreaking. Facing History is an innovative intellectual and
cultural institution and has done much to advance the state of
education in the US and now globally. It embodies the best of a
progressive American educational tradition."
Margot Strom explained how it all started as a course incorporating
"the ideas and events that led to the Holocaust": "We were at one of
the eight schools in Brookline teaching social studies -- the [John D.]
Runkle school. At one point, roughly in 1976, I, Bill Parsons and
others were invited by a very phenomenal director of social studies to
a conference that he and the superintendent, [Dr. Robert] 'Bob'
Sperber, had been involved in organizing on the history of the
Holocaust. I had a master's in history by then, and a very great
interest in learning how to teach social studies and history through
multiple disciplines. It was at that moment that I really got in
interested in the scholarship and the scholars. I knew nothing much
about the history of the Holocaust then. And I only remember hearing
in graduate school a heated conversation between a professor talking
about the Armenian Genocide and Turkey with a student." A few years
after the conference, probably by 1979, Strom knew that this was the
field for her.
Strom began studying and learning, and each of the conference
participants became mentors to what soon became the Facing History
organization. She received a federal Title IV grant. Strom said, "I am
an adult learner, and when I started teaching in my classroom I began
learning together with my students and their parents. People kept
bringing me new materials. Working with people in a giant network, in
Harvard education, was a benefit. People were likeminded,
interdisciplinary, and valued democracy, and when they looked at
injustice, they said, what can I do. People gravitated to me with the
federal grant. Brookline let us write it, and it turned out to be a
great books course for teachers. We did K[kindergarten] to 12th grade,
and librarians, teachers, Parent-Teacher Organizations, and many other
people were involved."
Strom continued, "I knew other teachers needed to teach this, so I
left teaching and started the organization." By 1982, Facing History
formally turned into a non-profit organization. Today it has 180 staff
members and 10 offices, including several abroad, and an annual budget
of 25 million dollars. It estimates that it reaches over three million
secondary students every year through its programs and the teachers it
prepares.
Adam Strom, Margot's son, who joined the organization in the early
2000s, and now is Chief Officer for Content and Innovation, added that
Facing History did not just provide workshops or curriculums and books
for teachers. It was unique in also assigning a person to follow up
with each teacher.
Adam said, "We believe less is more, preferring to focus on things in
particular to raise larger questions. I would rather see a course that
does a few things in depth rather than a little bit of everything. So,
students look at the relationship between the individual and society
and understand the factors influencing choices people make, especially
about the treatment of other people. They examine issues of
membership--how do nations define universal obligation? They look at
the role that science plays. Facing History is about particular
histories and human behavior, both the universal and the particular."
History can provide some perspective for students to understand
problems in contemporary society involving prejudice and conflict. And
while history is an important part of Facing History, it is approached
in an interdisciplinary fashion. Students must taught to ask moral and
ethical questions while learning particular skills and information.
Facing History deals with many types of prejudice and bigotry. The
Armenian Genocide was an integral part of its curriculum from the very
beginning, and Margot Strom relied on many Armenians who were helpful.
Manoog Young and others at the National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research, Margot Strom said, "began to teach me. They
helped me bring Rev. [Vartan] Hartunian into my classroom, and later
Bill Parsons and I worked on new materials. I still remember Hartunian
-- to see him as a speaker allows you to walk in the shoes of others as
victims, and as new immigrant citizens." Strom later interviewed a
descendant of US Ambassador Henry Morgenthau about the Armenian
Genocide.
She emphasized that "Scholars have been incredibly generous." Richard
Hovannisian, Professor of Armenian and Near Eastern History at the
University of California, Los Angeles, and Balakian spent a great deal
of time helping Facing History develop its resources on the Armenian
Genocide. She said, "They want us to get the story right, and we do
the best we can. We take from the latest scholarship and books, and
always are trying to remain up to date."
Facing History's main resource book for teachers, Facing History and
Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior, is centered on the Holocaust.
However, it also looks at other instances of genocide, and contains
several sections on the Armenian Genocide. It shows some of the
parallels and connections between the Armenian case and the Holocaust.
In 2004, Facing History published a resource book specifically
focusing on the Armenian Genocide: Crimes Against Humanity and
Civilization: The Genocide of the Armenians. Adam Strom said, "We
don't just care about these histories because they are ethnically
identified. This is why we gave our book this title. We had great
mentors in the Armenian community. Richard Hovannisian and Peter
Balakian read every single page, literally. We feel very privileged.
Both have been incredibly kind to the organization."
Developed through a grant from the Armenian-American philanthropist
Carolyn Mugar, this 198-page volume according to Samantha Power
accomplished what Facing History "does best: bring history to life,
gather moving portraits of suffering, indecision, and heroism, and
force young and older readers alike to ask what we would have done if
we had faced such wrenching moral dilemmas." Facing History has lesson
plans for teachers who wish to cover the Armenian Genocide in their
classes, and provides various additional resources on this topic,
including a list of speakers.
Margot Strom said that the general resource book and the lesson plans
were in the process of being updated, including the treatment of the
Armenian Genocide, as new research will allow going deeper into
issues. Among other things, more is known about how the coiner of the
term "genocide," Raphael Lemkin, understood the Armenian Genocide.
This year, new video interviews of scholars on the Armenian Genocide
will be conducted and older materials will be digitized. Audio
versions will be made from some of the key readings in the Armenian
resource book.
Adam Strom said, "We will have an online workshop for education which
will use the Armenian Genocide as a particular case study to raise
general issues. We hope we can run it again and again. It will be live
and interactive. Probably we will video some sessions."
Aside from these efforts, for the centennial of the Armenian Genocide,
Facing History will organize workshops in regional offices, and
partner with community events. There are a few things in the works
that will be announced later. Adam Strom declared, "Facing History
wants to be a good partner in the anniversary. We think our role is
education."
In the meantime, Facing History continues to expand. It is striving to
double the number of teachers and students it impacts as part of a
five-year plan, and expanding the use of modern technologies to
leverage its teaching capabilities during a period in which issues of
religious intolerance appear more and more frequently.
http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2014/10/31/facing-history-in-transition-as-armenian-genocide-centennial-approaches/