[Prev] [Next]   [Index]   [Thread Index]

01513: Holocaust teaching scandal. Clarification.

From: Georges Metanomski <zgmet(at)yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 08:56:15 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Holocaust teaching scandal. Clarification.

An old English friend, whom I first met during the
WWII, while cooperating with the Intelligence Service,
told me with respect to the Holocaust teaching
scandal: "In the good old days I never thought that
I would be ashamed to be English and it occurs now for
the second time".
The first time was when the British Government forbid
the Katyn monument, pulling its knickers down before
the Soviets.
Now it's worse. In the Katyn case the Government
swallowed the shame, but now, while de facto pulling
its knickers down before Muslim settlers, it tries to
save its face with empty verbiage, shifting the
trouble and the dangers on the shoulders of terrorized
teachers.

The Department for Education and Skills expressed its
stand in a report stating among other things:

"Teachers and schools avoid emotive and controversial
history for a variety of reasons, some of which are
well-intentioned."
G: Leading reason being the fear to smile the "Smile
of Allah" (throat slitting from ear to ear).

"Staff may wish to avoid causing offence or appearing
insensitive to individuals or groups in their
classes."
G: They better do, if they don't like to smile.

"In particular settings, teachers of history are
unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged
versions of history in which pupils are steeped at
home, in their community or in a place of worship."
G: "unwilling" is nice, but "terrorised" meets better
the case.

The report gave as an example a history department in
"a northern city" (G: read a Pakistani settlement)
which "recently avoided selecting the Holocaust as a
topic for GCSE coursework for fear of confronting
anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some
Muslim pupils".

The government said there was scope for schools to
make their own decisions on what to teach within
England's national curriculum.
G: Nice assertion in muddled face-saving English. In
Basic English it means that Holocaust is out of the
compulsory curriculum.

French press is full of the scandal, having the moral
right to blame the British, as the French, while not
always over-courageous, had at least the guts to
forbid the hijab in schools and to send riot police
in cases of trouble, rather than to shift the burden
and the dangers on the shoulders of headmasters and
teachers.

The email blaming the scandal met with some hostile
comments of anti-semites and pro-islamists who, for
some reason abound in the chat and prattle lists.
The present does not answer them; they know my answer.
It is meant to clarify the issue for the others.

Georges.


[Prev] [Next]   [Index]   [Thread Index]