The Holocaust was a standard part of the curriculum from elementary school through my senior year of high school. As a Jewish kid at a Jewish day school, exposure to the history and impact of the Holocaust wasn’t exactly a surprise.
I didn’t realize the extent of the differences between my private education and the local public schools until I went to college. I knew, of course, that public school students were not taking classes on Hebrew language or Biblical criticism. But I assumed that the secular studies classes – math, history, English language arts, science – were relatively similar.
My assumption was mostly correct. Instruction in math, science, and even history is relatively standard. Students need to learn specific concepts as part of each topic in order to prepare for their futures.
But English is different.
There are obviously standards for vocabulary, grammar and general reading comprehension. Students need to meet a certain ability level at each grade in order to prepare for the next steps in their education.
The tricky part is figuring out which books to use as part of that curriculum.
English isn’t about memorizing formulas or understanding chemical bonds. It’s not about shapes or chromosomes or kinetic energy. It’s not even just about improving a student’s understanding of language and expression.
English class is about art.
It’s about thought.
It’s about culture.
The books taught in school need to expose students to different perspectives. They’re supposed to broaden horizons and bring up alternative ways of thinking. Students – especially adolescents in middle and high school – are so focused on their own lives and social bubbles that they need to be presented with materials that show them what the rest of the world has to offer.
Books are the vehicles that connect people to stories outside of their own experiences.
But, despite my knowledge of the Holocaust, that particular event in Jewish history never felt quite “real” to me.
As I said, I was a Jewish kid in a Jewish day school, so it was always a part of my education. But my family didn’t come from Eastern Europe (at least, not the family with whom I was familiar). My paternal grandfather was born in Canada and my grandmother in Mexico. My mother’s parents were from Calcutta and their heritage was from Baghdad. No one fled Europe to escape the Nazis and no one endured life in a concentration camp. They certainly had stories to tell, but none directly related to the Holocaust.
I heard a number of accounts from people who did survive the Holocaust when I was in fourth grade. The stories weren’t terribly graphic; they focused more on narrow escapes and fortunate coincidences than the violence in the camps (it was fourth grade, after all). The accounts were still riveting but the idea of the Holocaust was still out of reach. I knew it was terrible but I couldn’t quite imagine it.
Then I read Maus.
The genius of Maus is that it is a graphic novel. The text depicts the horrible atrocities that the Nazis committed against the Jews, but the illustrations soften the material just enough for young adults to digest it. The author, Art Spiegelman, takes subject matter that would usually be far removed from modern conception and makes it relatable. I could not envision the terrors of Nazi persecution and torture as a high school student in the 21st century. But I could certainly feel anguish and heartbreak as I followed Spiegelman’s father through Auschwitz and his struggles to adjust to life after the war.
Most high school students, though, did not receive access to the same information about the Holocaust. They did not attend annual ceremonies to commemorate the Jews who perished in the gas chambers. They did not read about the insidious ways in which the Nazis poisoned the minds of their followers. And they certainly did not learn about the extent of Nazi cruelty in the camps.
Most students, I would guess, read “alternative” Holocaust-related texts. The Book Thief, Number the Stars and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, for instance, are all terrific books in their own rights. But, as I saw posted on social media, these books include less of the Nazi violence and brutality and focus more on the efforts of “righteous Gentiles” to help Jews survive. And The Diary of Anne Frank, which is likely the most popular and well-known Holocaust-related book, is more about Anne’s view of humanity’s goodness than about the Holocaust itself.
This year marks almost 90 years since Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany and over 80 years since Auschwitz was built. This year’s high school graduates were born four years after the terrorist attacks on September 11th. They are already separated from an event that happened during this century, in our own country. We need to make sure that young people hear and read accurate accounts and historical materials about the Holocaust, a tragedy that occurred 80 years ago on a different continent.
Otherwise, how will they recognize the signs if it starts to happen again?
I have been looking for a list, or at least some examples, of where Maus IS included in the curriculum. Did your research provide anything that may be of help?