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| You are here: 2000 / Workshops, Panels and Seminars / Panel 1: Holocaust Education - Where Are We Going? / Presentation by Dr. William L. Shulman | |||||||||
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Report from Panel 1 on Holocaust Education - Where Are We Going? Presentation by Mr. Ben Helfgott Presentation by Dr. Samuel Pisar Presentation by Mrs. Hédi Fried Presentation by Dr. Dalia Ofer Presentation by Dr. William L. Shulman Presentation by Mr. Stuart E. Eizenstat Presentation by Dr. William L. Shulman Shulman, William L. Presentation by Dr. William L. Shulman A decade ago, in the United States, there were less than 50 organizations involved in holocaust education. Today, there are over 125 including state commissions, national teacher education programs, holocaust resource centers in 32 states, and six major museums. In addition, there are thousands of teachers involved in teacher training programs and in teaching the holocaust in classrooms across the country. In the next decade these numbers will grow significantly. However, this bright picture of success and growth is shadowed by several problems and developments: There is a lack of adequate funding, and a lack of any long-term commitment to adequate funding at every level for holocaust education. While holocaust/genocide education is mandated in a handful of states and recommended in some 16 more, those states provide little or no funding for the most important element in the process, namely, teacher training. There is only one doctoral program. At Clark University in Massachusetts, to train Scholars, and only one masters degree program, at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, to train middle and high school teachers. This is inadequate to meet the needs. There is also a need for funds for schools to purchase books, videos and cd-roms so students can have the materials at hand when they engage in the study of the subject. It is now politically correct, indeed politically advantageous, for our elected officials to give verbal support to holocaust education. But, as the legislation which mandated holocaust education in the state of new york stated, there will be no financial burden on the state treasury to support the process. Putting aside the problem of funding, there are other factors that will have a serious impact on holocaust education in the next decade in the united states, and indeed everywhere else that the subject is taught. The next decade will see a fundamental change in holocaust education because increasingly teachers will no longer be able to bring survivors to class to bear live witness to the events. No video, no book, no picture can adequately substitute for a survivor recounting his or her experiences, answering questions and making the history come alive for the students. Therefore, it will be much more difficult to make the holocaust believable in an environment where the facts will continue to be distorted by the mass media. Which brings me to the next point – the impact of the media on the perception and teaching of the holocaust. Let me quote from Rebecca Rovit’s introduction to the book theatrical performance during the holocaust. In commenting on the media’s handling of the subject she wrote: …standards of strict accuracy are often undermined by the more primary urge for sensation, cathartic release, and satisfaction of one’s own emotional or financial investment. In fact, cinematic, theatrical or literary works inpired by the holocaust more often than not have been first shaped out of our present-day culture and then honed according to the historical past. This too often results in representations only loosely based on the facts of the holocaust. On the one hand the mass media, particularly film and television, do engender greater interest in the subject. On the other hand, the inevitable distortions in the presentations result in what Franklin Littell has termed "soft denial." Educators now, not only have to teach the factual history of the subject, they have to correct the misinformation and subtle and not-so-subtle distortions that have captured the popular imagination and are accepted as the reality. Let me briefly mention two other concerns – the impact of the internet and the problem of evaluating holocaust education. The world-wide web is filled with all kinds of information about the holocaust, from verifiable historical material provided by holocaust museums and resource centers to material denying the holocaust provided by those groups and individuals eager to advance their views and agendas. The challenge for holocaust educators is to teach their students, who at best will only be a small percentage of those who will view those sites, to discern the differences. Finally, there is the problem of evaluating teacher training and holocaust education. We are at the very beginning of that process. This is not an area where I have any expertise, so i don’t know to what extent that this is possible. I do know that the effort to do so is very important and one of the major challenges facing those involved in holocaust education. If I have spent more time raising questions than lauding past accomplishments or projecting a rosy future, it is because the enormously successful effort that has taken place in the United States over the past decade has given rise to a very complex and challenging decade to come in holocaust education. >> Back to top |
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Introduction Opening Session: Messages and speeches Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches Workshops, Panels and Seminars
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| For information about this production and the Stockholm International Forum Conference Series please go to www.humanrights.gov.se or contact Information Rosenbad, SE-103 33 Stockholm, Sweden | |||||||||