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[dr_weir_uk]

God I feel sick. I got an email which I have copied and pasted below. I thought someone may have made it up originally because if it's true it'll be like the country is becoming like Nazi Germany. But the petition seems genuine. I'm making this entry public so people not on my flist can read this shocking news and sign up.

*PLEASE SEND TO AS MANY

Comments

[dr_weir_uk]

Ewwww that's revolting! It's something to report to the police! I've got a David star on one of those hands. I used to wear it but not for a long time....

I got a reponse emailed to me today:

The e-petition asking the Prime Minister to "make the teaching of the Holocaust compulsory in secondary schools" is ongoing. This is a response in advance of the closing date from the Government.

The Government is aware that there has been some misreporting on the teaching of the Holocaust in English schools. The e-petition has picked up on these reports, and we are able to say categorically that the Holocaust is a compulsory part of the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum for history and is a very well resourced topic as it has been compulsory for 10 years. Such is the importance of this area of study it will remain compulsory in the new Key Stage 3 curriculum from September 2008.

The Department for Education and Skills commissioned research into the teaching of emotive and controversial issues in history. The Holocaust was mentioned in that research, carried out by the Historical Association, as one of a number of these issues. The report, which can be downloaded from www.history.org.uk, made reference to one school where the Holocaust was not chosen as a topic for coursework at GCSE. History is not compulsory at GCSE and it is for teachers to decide what to teach those students who wish to pursue history beyond 14.

The Holocaust Educational Trust has also been concerned to allay any fears about the place of the Holocaust in National Curriculum and further information can be obtained from them at www.het.org.uk

WTF?!! It's not compulsory?!!! Because it wasn't significant and tragic enough?!!! Also it is intrinsically related to WW2 which is part of British history. So there are kids in Britain who know nothing of that war or know about it but not the holocaust? :S It doesn't make any sense!

[alyssa22]

The world is getting more and more 'politically correct' and one day people are going to realise that it's wrong.

If people don't learn about atrocities, what's to stop the same thing happening again?

I just don't understand it.

[missyvortexdv]

Well it only says it's not compulsory after 14, makes me wonder if it is before that. I'm know I learnt about WW2 before GCSE as I ended up doing RE for GCSE instead of history or geography. I wouldn't worry too much, I think it's more than likley the vast majority of students will still be taught it anyway through either History or RE - for me it was well covered in both, we barely seemd to do any other historical period and oddly WW1 didn't get much coverage enough though you'd think it would be fairly significant to put the development of the second war into context.

Personally I think it's good they're not making it compulsory for GCSE a) because if it's compulsory for Key Stage 2 (or whatever is the first section of secondary school) then it will still get covered and b) there are many other historical periods that are significant and often get ignored. It's good that there might be more choice for GCSE history topics, might encourage more people to take history GCSE perhaps? If you've already done a topic previously then doing another one/two years on it might not be thrilling if you weren't overtly interested in the topic to want to study it more closely than you've already done.

That said, the wording of the reasoning in the petition does sound suspect as to the changes but then after the student loan one that was quite likely blown out of proportion, there being a petition doesn't make me automatically think the reporting of it via that is credible. I'm a bit wary about believing the petition and not sure what exactly is going on.