Essay On Should Schools Teach The Holocaust

Should the Holocaust be taught to eighth grade students?

The Holocaust was a very important event in history that students should learn about. Some people believe that eighth grade students just simply aren’t mentally mature enough to learn about the Holocaust. The question at hand is should schools teach the Holocaust to eighth grade students? Are eighth grade students mature enough for the violence, the thinking, and everything that comes with learning about the Holocaust? Schools should teach the Holocaust to eighth grade students because it is important to teach the next generation about the past, the Holocaust confronts adolescents with everyday issues, and how students learn the Holocaust is very important to how they respond to the Holocaust.

Students have access to things like television documentaries, movies, etc. about the Holocaust. It is better for them to learn about the Holocaust from their teachers, rather than television. Television documentaries and movies about the Holocaust will teach about the event without “... intellectually simplifying or emotionally minimizing its tragic content,” for young children. As one source says “... it is better for kids to learn about the Holocaust for the first time from adults who can shape the experience carefully and caringly than for kids to learn about the Holocaust for the first time randomly…” This states that it is better for students to be able to learn about the Holocaust from their teachers and/or adults who can simplify and appropriately explain the events of the Holocaust, rather than them learning about it on their own. Children will come across the Holocaust at one point or another, in our age of advanced technology. It is better for them to learn about the Holocaust from people who can help them understand it better. Despite these descriptive claims for why the Holocaust should be taught to eighth grade students, there is still some doubt as to whether or not it should be