That is right, Jewish Americans, common core is insinuating the holocaust is a myth.

[Coyote]

Common Core is not insinuating anything. The assignment is simply to teach critical thinking, research and attempting to put forth a well constructed argument. It could just as easily have picked another conspiracy theory like the JFK assassination.

So the Holocaust is nothing more than a conspiracy theory?

No. But the Holocaust Hoaxers are.

 

[Moonglow]

I wonder is commie core will ever "assign" students to do an 18 page paper on the following topics. I mean, since they are all about "debate" and not about pushing left wing commie propaganda.

1. Will they ever have their students do a paper on the true way the transatlantic slave trade started and who started it?

2. Will they ever assign their students to do a long paper on Roger Baldwin and the ACLU's goal to make America into a communist country and how influenced he was by Emma Goldman and her communist views?

3. Will commie core ever have their students do a long paper on the fact that McCarthy was actually vindicated after the Venona papers were revealed after the left wing commie paradise USSR fell and ex KGB agents confirmed that there were indeed American communists in the media, Hollywood, and in politics?

4. Will commie core ever have their students do an 18 page paper on the myths of man made global warming and how it is a money making scam that has generated billion dollar revenue streams in form of taxes and ridiculous regulations that flow into governments?

Fucking left wing pigs always talk about debate or freedom of expression. They are all so full of shit. Really about everything. They are hypocrites about everything. Brainwashed about everything.

They cannot see how this type of bullshit that they assign their little students is about shaping their minds and it is indeed propaganda.

Fuck you liberals. I see through ALL of your shit.

Coyote, Moonglow and NyC have all supported this, certainly, but until some actual liberals check in, shouldn't you reserve judgement?

Still pretending to be a liberal are you?

What's wrong with teaching critical thinking and research? Conspiracy theories abound and are spread more easily and widely then ever before. Kids need to know how to research and support their positions instead of blindly believing.

And yet you tell us man made global warming is a fact. Don't you? Unless you think is not a fact. I will say this, if you believe it is not a fact, then you are truly open minded as you boast you are.

Of course that would not be the left wing stance, who claim those who do not think it is a fact are knuckle dragging hicks.

Cause the left are always so tolerant and "open minded."

The hypocritical bandwagon of liberals just keeps rolling, doesn't it?

I haven't "told you" anything about global warming. The Holocaust is a good topic because there is a huge body of documentation from which to research.

So, again - what's wrong with teaching critical thinking? You seem to have issues with it. Perhaps you did not do well in that assignment.

Yeah, you missed the point. There is no such thing as a left wing socialist scumbag that is interested in an actual open debate. Not about ANY subject. The most intolerant arrogant bloviated piles of shit is every last person on the left about EVERY subject.

Whether it be about this subject or any other.

If any "open minded" teacher ever put forth an assignment that about the transatlantic slave trade being started by African war lords, then the entire left would be up in arms. Hands across America.

You mean to tell me you did not get the point? I am shocked.

You read a lot of school books?

 

[irosie91]

Common Core is not insinuating anything. The assignment is simply to teach critical thinking, research and attempting to put forth a well constructed argument. It could just as easily have picked another conspiracy theory like the JFK assassination.

I do despise Common Core and will fight it tooth and nail, but however I feel about Common Core, it doesn't mean every assignment in it is some kind of conspiracy.

It's a fact that children aren't taught that history is revised and rewritten to fit prescribed narratives and agendas and having been a victim of public education, I can say that critical thinking skills aren't being taught. If education is nothing more than indoctrination than who's to say that the school's indoctrination is any better than that of White Supremist Nazi groups? Teaching children to find the truth themselves instead of blindly accepting what they're told is true education.

Like Navyvet, I have no problem with this particular assignment.

no problem with this one? How about these

You can guarantee any thread on here with the words "common core" in the title will be full of lies. this one does not break the mould

I have a firm belief that when one posts----FULL OF LIES----
that at the very least that person mention---to which "lies"
he refers. That "full of lies" accusation is meaningless.
Can you cite at least three lies in the post to which you refer?

The big one here is the thread title. This assignment was meant to teach common core critical thinking skills, however the subject of tbe assignment itself is a product of the school.

Do you understand? Common core says a student should be able to find and read sources and build an argument from them. So coke better than pepsi, football better than soccer, whatever. Common core doesn't care about the subject

the sources would be holocaust denial----which has been an
islamo Nazi cause since the 1930s. There is extensive islamo Nazi brain washing shit on this very subject----and not
nearly enough on-------"the first entirely comprehensive genocide in history was committed by muhummad----the founder of a creed that has gone on to incessant genocide
over the 1400 years of its existence"-----<<< that would be
a good subject

I am a tireless defender of Jews, Israel, and the truth about what happened when Jews were singled out and systematically murdered by the millions. U.S. troops took extensive video footage of the carnage to record for posterity so never could it be denied what happened and who did it. I'm confident in my ability to take apart propaganda designed to deny the holocaust or mitigate its numbers. My critical thinking skills give rise to that confidence, and I don't have to curse the darkness. This is the point.

I teach critical thinking skills to my own children with our own home based education curriculum. We explore lots of controversial topics and we never are afraid to see both sides of an argument.

you are just slightly naïve A 13 year old kid researching
this question will come up against VOLUME AFTER VOLUME OF EXPERTLY Written islamo nazi shit. That
fact on top of vestiges of anti-Semitism INGRAINED as a
legacy of Christianity -----is unhealthy for a young mind. It
would be ok for a kid NOT raised with such a legacy----maybe yours but not the majority of people I have encountered in
my ---uhm.....lengthy life. Remember JAY-WALKS????

 

[Dogmaphobe]

Kids are going to have to learn to deal with propaganda someday, and sooner better than later. I disagree that shielding them from it keeps them safe. It's a fact that 17-25 year olds are very susceptible to being radicalized by Neo Nazi groups and there's no surprise. In most cases, it's the very first time they were exposed to it and they never were taught critical thinking skills. And now that these groups use the internet, it's virtually guaranteed that kids are going to come across it at some point. Teaching them to defend against it should be a priority and a vital part of their education.

If children are to develop critical thinking skills, the way to do so is to teach them about actual propaganda techniques rather than just steering them towards hate sites regaling all the classic antisemitic stereotypes imaginable and telling them to sort it out on their own. Unless the instruction is backed up by telling them what actually DID happen, and using the hate site to illustrate the techniques, such instruction only acts to legitimize. By staying neutral on the subject and telling the kids "either of these might be true", the school is failing to teach anything at all.

Critical thinking should be taught from the ground up, and not by demanding children reference hate sites. Children should be taught logic, and especially in regards to the more prevalent logical fallacies such as the appeal to popularity and the Tu Quoque argument, both of which leftist antisemites employ with great regularity.

 

[irosie91]

Common Core is not insinuating anything. The assignment is simply to teach critical thinking, research and attempting to put forth a well constructed argument. It could just as easily have picked another conspiracy theory like the JFK assassination.

So the Holocaust is nothing more than a conspiracy theory?

No. But the Holocaust Hoaxers are.

of which there are millions and lots of very able and
convincing propagndaists. Holocaust denial is very
much part of the CORE CURRICULUM in muslim countries--- lots of OIL money has been used to support it.

 

[saintmichaeldefendthem]

Common Core is not insinuating anything. The assignment is simply to teach critical thinking, research and attempting to put forth a well constructed argument. It could just as easily have picked another conspiracy theory like the JFK assassination.

I do despise Common Core and will fight it tooth and nail, but however I feel about Common Core, it doesn't mean every assignment in it is some kind of conspiracy.

It's a fact that children aren't taught that history is revised and rewritten to fit prescribed narratives and agendas and having been a victim of public education, I can say that critical thinking skills aren't being taught. If education is nothing more than indoctrination than who's to say that the school's indoctrination is any better than that of White Supremist Nazi groups? Teaching children to find the truth themselves instead of blindly accepting what they're told is true education.

Like Navyvet, I have no problem with this particular assignment.

no problem with this one? How about these

You can guarantee any thread on here with the words "common core" in the title will be full of lies. this one does not break the mould

I have a firm belief that when one posts----FULL OF LIES----
that at the very least that person mention---to which "lies"
he refers. That "full of lies" accusation is meaningless.
Can you cite at least three lies in the post to which you refer?

The big one here is the thread title. This assignment was meant to teach common core critical thinking skills, however the subject of tbe assignment itself is a product of the school.

Do you understand? Common core says a student should be able to find and read sources and build an argument from them. So coke better than pepsi, football better than soccer, whatever. Common core doesn't care about the subject

the sources would be holocaust denial----which has been an
islamo Nazi cause since the 1930s. There is extensive islamo Nazi brain washing shit on this very subject----and not
nearly enough on-------"the first entirely comprehensive genocide in history was committed by muhummad----the founder of a creed that has gone on to incessant genocide
over the 1400 years of its existence"-----<<< that would be
a good subject

I am a tireless defender of Jews, Israel, and the truth about what happened when Jews were singled out and systematically murdered by the millions. U.S. troops took extensive video footage of the carnage to record for posterity so never could it be denied what happened and who did it. I'm confident in my ability to take apart propaganda designed to deny the holocaust or mitigate its numbers. My critical thinking skills give rise to that confidence, and I don't have to curse the darkness. This is the point.

I teach critical thinking skills to my own children with our own home based education curriculum. We explore lots of controversial topics and we never are afraid to see both sides of an argument.

you are just slightly naïve A 13 year old kid researching
this question will come up against VOLUME AFTER VOLUME OF EXPERTLY Written islamo nazi shit. That
fact on top of vestiges of anti-Semitism INGRAINED as a
legacy of Christianity -----is unhealthy for a young mind. It
would be ok for a kid NOT raised with such a legacy----maybe yours but not the majority of people I have encountered in
my ---uhm.....lengthy life. Remember JAY-WALKS????

There is no anti semitism ingrained as a legacy of Christianity and now I'm beginning to conclude you are unqualified to speak authoritatively on the subject of seeing through propaganda and being immunized against it. You set yourself up as the blind leading the blind, and you both fall into a ditch.

 

[saintmichaeldefendthem]

Kids are going to have to learn to deal with propaganda someday, and sooner better than later. I disagree that shielding them from it keeps them safe. It's a fact that 17-25 year olds are very susceptible to being radicalized by Neo Nazi groups and there's no surprise. In most cases, it's the very first time they were exposed to it and they never were taught critical thinking skills. And now that these groups use the internet, it's virtually guaranteed that kids are going to come across it at some point. Teaching them to defend against it should be a priority and a vital part of their education.

If children are to develop critical thinking skills, the way to do so is to teach them about actual propaganda techniques rather than just steering them towards hate sites regaling all the classic antisemitic stereotypes imaginable and telling them to sort it out on their own. Unless the instruction is backed up by telling them what actually DID happen, and using the hate site to illustrate the techniques, such instruction only acts to legitimize. By staying neutral on the subject and telling the kids "either of these might be true", the school is failing to teach anything at all.

Critical thinking should be taught from the ground up, and not by demanding children reference hate sites. Children should be taught logic, and especially in regards to the more prevalent logical fallacies such as the appeal to popularity and the Tu Quoque argument, both of which leftist antisemites employ with great regularity.

I agree that children should not be steered toward hate sites. In educating my own children, my wife and I use material that critiques hate propaganda from a standpoint of truth. They don't need to go to Stormfront to learn what's taught there and it's better they get that information in the right context.

 

[Coyote]

Kids are going to have to learn to deal with propaganda someday, and sooner better than later. I disagree that shielding them from it keeps them safe. It's a fact that 17-25 year olds are very susceptible to being radicalized by Neo Nazi groups and there's no surprise. In most cases, it's the very first time they were exposed to it and they never were taught critical thinking skills. And now that these groups use the internet, it's virtually guaranteed that kids are going to come across it at some point. Teaching them to defend against it should be a priority and a vital part of their education.

If children are to develop critical thinking skills, the way to do so is to teach them about actual propaganda techniques rather than just steering them towards hate sites regaling all the classic antisemitic stereotypes imaginable and telling them to sort it out on their own. Unless the instruction is backed up by telling them what actually DID happen, and using the hate site to illustrate the techniques, such instruction only acts to legitimize. By staying neutral on the subject and telling the kids "either of these might be true", the school is failing to teach anything at all.

Critical thinking should be taught from the ground up, and not by demanding children reference hate sites. Children should be taught logic, and especially in regards to the more prevalent logical fallacies such as the appeal to popularity and the Tu Quoque argument, both of which leftist antisemites employ with great regularity.

I disagree. The focus of the assignment should be for the kids to figure out for themselves - with guidance but not actual position taking- how to assess the material they come across. What's important is less the position itself then the ability to critically look at material, assess it, build a position, defend it and if the defense is shattered by counter arguments, reassess it. Though it isn't explicit in the OP, based on my own experiences, I strongly suspect that there is a lot discussion on sources and how to evaluate them.

It's not about that one particular assignment - it's about providing the tools to do this sort of critical analysis across the board so when these kids encounter similar hoaxes, hate sites etc they have the tools they need to properly evaluate their claims.

 

[irosie91]

Common Core is not insinuating anything. The assignment is simply to teach critical thinking, research and attempting to put forth a well constructed argument. It could just as easily have picked another conspiracy theory like the JFK assassination.

I do despise Common Core and will fight it tooth and nail, but however I feel about Common Core, it doesn't mean every assignment in it is some kind of conspiracy.

It's a fact that children aren't taught that history is revised and rewritten to fit prescribed narratives and agendas and having been a victim of public education, I can say that critical thinking skills aren't being taught. If education is nothing more than indoctrination than who's to say that the school's indoctrination is any better than that of White Supremist Nazi groups? Teaching children to find the truth themselves instead of blindly accepting what they're told is true education.

Like Navyvet, I have no problem with this particular assignment.

no problem with this one? How about these

I have a firm belief that when one posts----FULL OF LIES----
that at the very least that person mention---to which "lies"
he refers. That "full of lies" accusation is meaningless.
Can you cite at least three lies in the post to which you refer?

The big one here is the thread title. This assignment was meant to teach common core critical thinking skills, however the subject of tbe assignment itself is a product of the school.

Do you understand? Common core says a student should be able to find and read sources and build an argument from them. So coke better than pepsi, football better than soccer, whatever. Common core doesn't care about the subject

the sources would be holocaust denial----which has been an
islamo Nazi cause since the 1930s. There is extensive islamo Nazi brain washing shit on this very subject----and not
nearly enough on-------"the first entirely comprehensive genocide in history was committed by muhummad----the founder of a creed that has gone on to incessant genocide
over the 1400 years of its existence"-----<<< that would be
a good subject

I am a tireless defender of Jews, Israel, and the truth about what happened when Jews were singled out and systematically murdered by the millions. U.S. troops took extensive video footage of the carnage to record for posterity so never could it be denied what happened and who did it. I'm confident in my ability to take apart propaganda designed to deny the holocaust or mitigate its numbers. My critical thinking skills give rise to that confidence, and I don't have to curse the darkness. This is the point.

I teach critical thinking skills to my own children with our own home based education curriculum. We explore lots of controversial topics and we never are afraid to see both sides of an argument.

you are just slightly naïve A 13 year old kid researching
this question will come up against VOLUME AFTER VOLUME OF EXPERTLY Written islamo nazi shit. That
fact on top of vestiges of anti-Semitism INGRAINED as a
legacy of Christianity -----is unhealthy for a young mind. It
would be ok for a kid NOT raised with such a legacy----maybe yours but not the majority of people I have encountered in
my ---uhm.....lengthy life. Remember JAY-WALKS????

There is no anti semitism ingrained as a legacy of Christianity and now I'm beginning to conclude you are unqualified to speak authoritatively on the subject of seeing through propaganda and being immunized against it. You set yourself up as the blind leading the blind, and you both fall into a ditch.

yes there is------my family moved into a WASPISH community when I was just short of five years old-----
I learned that I am a jew from some local girls who threw rocks at me and claimed that I had murdered some guy named "jesus" ------the town was very genteel----all middle to
upper middle class people-----every family in a private home---everyone spoke standard English and SUNDAY was go
to church day-------even I attended "sunday school" several
times--- I did grow up and interacted with more people
in the area and even served in the navy for a time------your
statement is entirely untrue. Six year old girls do not "know"
that "jews killed jesus" from birth------they get it from their
Christian parents and even from church. ----depending on who the lady teaching "sunday school" that day might be.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

If this were about blacks instead of Jews, the very same politically correct supporters of the agenda involved would be screaming bloody murder.

.....and you can take that one to the bank.

If this thread is a display of any concept at all, it would be the tyranny of the majority. Liberals understand such a concept, and so take note when a large majority singles out a small minority for persecution. Non liberals like the leftists in this thread simply add their voice to the majority in persecuting the minority, however, and so create specious arguments that seek to distance themselves from that which they are really supporting.

The only reason people think this is o.k. is because it is Jews, and because antisemitism is now so politically correct. All the blathering sophistry people offer so they can support the agenda without appearing to support it is moot because we all know they WOULDN'T be offering all these excuses if it were targeting black people.

Heck, there would be blood in the street if it were blacks instead of Jews.

 

[Coyote]

Kids are going to have to learn to deal with propaganda someday, and sooner better than later. I disagree that shielding them from it keeps them safe. It's a fact that 17-25 year olds are very susceptible to being radicalized by Neo Nazi groups and there's no surprise. In most cases, it's the very first time they were exposed to it and they never were taught critical thinking skills. And now that these groups use the internet, it's virtually guaranteed that kids are going to come across it at some point. Teaching them to defend against it should be a priority and a vital part of their education.

If children are to develop critical thinking skills, the way to do so is to teach them about actual propaganda techniques rather than just steering them towards hate sites regaling all the classic antisemitic stereotypes imaginable and telling them to sort it out on their own. Unless the instruction is backed up by telling them what actually DID happen, and using the hate site to illustrate the techniques, such instruction only acts to legitimize. By staying neutral on the subject and telling the kids "either of these might be true", the school is failing to teach anything at all.

Critical thinking should be taught from the ground up, and not by demanding children reference hate sites. Children should be taught logic, and especially in regards to the more prevalent logical fallacies such as the appeal to popularity and the Tu Quoque argument, both of which leftist antisemites employ with great regularity.

I agree that children should not be steered toward hate sites. In educating my own children, my wife and I use material that critiques hate propaganda from a standpoint of truth. They don't need to go to Stormfront to learn what's taught there and it's better they get that information in the right context.

That depends though. Eventually - when you aren't around, they are going to encounter hate sites. Isn't it better that they do so when you are there (or a teacher is there) to help them evaluate what they are encountering?

I think the way I see this assignment is the same way I see dog training in the classes I teach. I provide my students with the tools to not only fix the immediate problem but also to be able to use those tools to address different problems that might arise. For example, they are going to come across propoganda that endorses shock collar training (which is controversial yet beguiling to the uninformed as a quick fix). I would rather they come across that when I'm there and able to encourage them to really think about it by asking them questions that make them think about whether that is really the right way to go.

These things don't happen in a vacuum - it's not just the student taking the assigment, taking a position, and looking at these sites and that is it. There is the teacher interaction and guidance which helps the student on his own - form the right opinion. The OP doesn't go into any of that it just takes the written assignment in isolation. What I've found in dog training, and I think this works in learning in general - is that when a student figures something out on his own that lesson sticks as opposed to just taking the position he is told.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

I disagree. The focus of the assignment should be for the kids to figure out for themselves - with guidance but not actual position taking- how to assess the material they come across. What's important is less the position itself then the ability to critically look at material, assess it, build a position, defend it and if the defense is shattered by counter arguments, reassess it. Though it isn't explicit in the OP, based on my own experiences, I strongly suspect that there is a lot discussion on sources and how to evaluate them.

It's not about that one particular assignment - it's about providing the tools to do this sort of critical analysis across the board so when these kids encounter similar hoaxes, hate sites etc they have the tools they need to properly evaluate their claims.

So, now, you are on record as indicating schools should take no position on whether or not the Holocaust actually happened.

Why even call them schools, if so?

 

[Coyote]

If this were about blacks instead of Jews, the very same politically correct supporters of the agenda involved would be screaming bloody murder.

.....and you can take that one to the bank.

If this thread is a display of any concept at all, it would be the tyranny of the majority. Liberals understand such a concept, and so take note when a large majority singles out a small minority for persecution. Non liberals like the leftists in this thread simply add their voice to the majority in persecuting the minority, however, and so create specious arguments that seek to distance themselves from that which they are really supporting.

The only reason people think this is o.k. is because it is Jews, and because antisemitism is now so politically correct. All the blathering sophistry people offer so they can support the agenda without appearing to support it is moot because we all know they WOULDN'T be offering all these excuses if it were targeting black people.

Heck, there would be blood in the street if it were blacks instead of Jews.

If you could make a good assignment about blacks it would work as well. The Holocaust works because there is a huge body of well documented evidence supporting the existence of the Holocaust. There is very little that is subjective. It's easy to support one position and easy to deconstruct the other.

 

[irosie91]

Kids are going to have to learn to deal with propaganda someday, and sooner better than later. I disagree that shielding them from it keeps them safe. It's a fact that 17-25 year olds are very susceptible to being radicalized by Neo Nazi groups and there's no surprise. In most cases, it's the very first time they were exposed to it and they never were taught critical thinking skills. And now that these groups use the internet, it's virtually guaranteed that kids are going to come across it at some point. Teaching them to defend against it should be a priority and a vital part of their education.

If children are to develop critical thinking skills, the way to do so is to teach them about actual propaganda techniques rather than just steering them towards hate sites regaling all the classic antisemitic stereotypes imaginable and telling them to sort it out on their own. Unless the instruction is backed up by telling them what actually DID happen, and using the hate site to illustrate the techniques, such instruction only acts to legitimize. By staying neutral on the subject and telling the kids "either of these might be true", the school is failing to teach anything at all.

Critical thinking should be taught from the ground up, and not by demanding children reference hate sites. Children should be taught logic, and especially in regards to the more prevalent logical fallacies such as the appeal to popularity and the Tu Quoque argument, both of which leftist antisemites employ with great regularity.

I agree that children should not be steered toward hate sites. In educating my own children, my wife and I use material that critiques hate propaganda from a standpoint of truth. They don't need to go to Stormfront to learn what's taught there and it's better they get that information in the right context.

a kid who googles "did the holocaust really happen" is going to get a lot more than just "stormfront" to refute
the facts -----a 13 year old does not have to be "steered"---
such a kid would have to be CONTROLLED in order to
shield him from hate sites. I have never come upon
holocaust denial stuff from a site that labeled itself "HATE
SITE"

 

[saintmichaeldefendthem]

I do despise Common Core and will fight it tooth and nail, but however I feel about Common Core, it doesn't mean every assignment in it is some kind of conspiracy.

It's a fact that children aren't taught that history is revised and rewritten to fit prescribed narratives and agendas and having been a victim of public education, I can say that critical thinking skills aren't being taught. If education is nothing more than indoctrination than who's to say that the school's indoctrination is any better than that of White Supremist Nazi groups? Teaching children to find the truth themselves instead of blindly accepting what they're told is true education.

Like Navyvet, I have no problem with this particular assignment.

no problem with this one? How about these

The big one here is the thread title. This assignment was meant to teach common core critical thinking skills, however the subject of tbe assignment itself is a product of the school.

Do you understand? Common core says a student should be able to find and read sources and build an argument from them. So coke better than pepsi, football better than soccer, whatever. Common core doesn't care about the subject

the sources would be holocaust denial----which has been an
islamo Nazi cause since the 1930s. There is extensive islamo Nazi brain washing shit on this very subject----and not
nearly enough on-------"the first entirely comprehensive genocide in history was committed by muhummad----the founder of a creed that has gone on to incessant genocide
over the 1400 years of its existence"-----<<< that would be
a good subject

I am a tireless defender of Jews, Israel, and the truth about what happened when Jews were singled out and systematically murdered by the millions. U.S. troops took extensive video footage of the carnage to record for posterity so never could it be denied what happened and who did it. I'm confident in my ability to take apart propaganda designed to deny the holocaust or mitigate its numbers. My critical thinking skills give rise to that confidence, and I don't have to curse the darkness. This is the point.

I teach critical thinking skills to my own children with our own home based education curriculum. We explore lots of controversial topics and we never are afraid to see both sides of an argument.

you are just slightly naïve A 13 year old kid researching
this question will come up against VOLUME AFTER VOLUME OF EXPERTLY Written islamo nazi shit. That
fact on top of vestiges of anti-Semitism INGRAINED as a
legacy of Christianity -----is unhealthy for a young mind. It
would be ok for a kid NOT raised with such a legacy----maybe yours but not the majority of people I have encountered in
my ---uhm.....lengthy life. Remember JAY-WALKS????

There is no anti semitism ingrained as a legacy of Christianity and now I'm beginning to conclude you are unqualified to speak authoritatively on the subject of seeing through propaganda and being immunized against it. You set yourself up as the blind leading the blind, and you both fall into a ditch.

yes there is------my family moved into a WASPISH community when I was just short of five years old-----
I learned that I am a jew from some local girls who threw rocks at me and claimed that I had murdered some guy named "jesus" ------the town was very genteel----all middle to
upper middle class people-----every family in a private home---everyone spoke standard English and SUNDAY was go
to church day-------even I attended "sunday school" several
times--- I did grow up and interacted with more people
in the area and even served in the navy for a time------your
statement is entirely untrue. Six year old girls do not "know"
that "jews killed jesus" from birth------they get it from their
Christian parents and even from church. ----depending on who the lady teaching "sunday school" that day might be.

Ah, anecdotal evidence. If there were any doubt that you lack critical thinking skills and the ability to evaluate claims from an objective viewpoint, it's been removed. I've experienced racism from white kids growing up. That doesn't cause me to conclude that racism is "ingrained as a legacy of White culture". I'm a thinker. You're just pretending to be.

 

[Coyote]

I disagree. The focus of the assignment should be for the kids to figure out for themselves - with guidance but not actual position taking- how to assess the material they come across. What's important is less the position itself then the ability to critically look at material, assess it, build a position, defend it and if the defense is shattered by counter arguments, reassess it. Though it isn't explicit in the OP, based on my own experiences, I strongly suspect that there is a lot discussion on sources and how to evaluate them.

It's not about that one particular assignment - it's about providing the tools to do this sort of critical analysis across the board so when these kids encounter similar hoaxes, hate sites etc they have the tools they need to properly evaluate their claims.

So, now, you are on record as indicating schools should take no position on whether or not the Holocaust actually happened.

Why even call them schools, if so?

My position is this:
What's important is less the position itself then the ability to critically look at material, assess it, build a position, defend it and if the defense is shattered by counter arguments, reassess it.

I think what is important is that the teacher helps the student find the right position rather than just telling him.

 

[irosie91]

I disagree. The focus of the assignment should be for the kids to figure out for themselves - with guidance but not actual position taking- how to assess the material they come across. What's important is less the position itself then the ability to critically look at material, assess it, build a position, defend it and if the defense is shattered by counter arguments, reassess it. Though it isn't explicit in the OP, based on my own experiences, I strongly suspect that there is a lot discussion on sources and how to evaluate them.

It's not about that one particular assignment - it's about providing the tools to do this sort of critical analysis across the board so when these kids encounter similar hoaxes, hate sites etc they have the tools they need to properly evaluate their claims.

So, now, you are on record as indicating schools should take no position on whether or not the Holocaust actually happened.

Why even call them schools, if so?

the amount of individual attention needed to accomplish
the task coyote describes would be impossible to attain
unless each kid had his own private very intelligent tutor

 

[Coyote]

Kids are going to have to learn to deal with propaganda someday, and sooner better than later. I disagree that shielding them from it keeps them safe. It's a fact that 17-25 year olds are very susceptible to being radicalized by Neo Nazi groups and there's no surprise. In most cases, it's the very first time they were exposed to it and they never were taught critical thinking skills. And now that these groups use the internet, it's virtually guaranteed that kids are going to come across it at some point. Teaching them to defend against it should be a priority and a vital part of their education.

If children are to develop critical thinking skills, the way to do so is to teach them about actual propaganda techniques rather than just steering them towards hate sites regaling all the classic antisemitic stereotypes imaginable and telling them to sort it out on their own. Unless the instruction is backed up by telling them what actually DID happen, and using the hate site to illustrate the techniques, such instruction only acts to legitimize. By staying neutral on the subject and telling the kids "either of these might be true", the school is failing to teach anything at all.

Critical thinking should be taught from the ground up, and not by demanding children reference hate sites. Children should be taught logic, and especially in regards to the more prevalent logical fallacies such as the appeal to popularity and the Tu Quoque argument, both of which leftist antisemites employ with great regularity.

I agree that children should not be steered toward hate sites. In educating my own children, my wife and I use material that critiques hate propaganda from a standpoint of truth. They don't need to go to Stormfront to learn what's taught there and it's better they get that information in the right context.

a kid who googles "did the holocaust really happen" is going to get a lot more than just "stormfront" to refute
the facts -----a 13 year old does not have to be "steered"---
such a kid would have to be CONTROLLED in order to
shield him from hate sites. I have never come upon
holocaust denial stuff from a site that labeled itself "HATE
SITE"

Exactly - its all over the place. Anyone can claim anything with equal authenticity on the internet. That's why kids need to learn the tools to deconstruct the claims and do their own research.

 

[Coyote]

I disagree. The focus of the assignment should be for the kids to figure out for themselves - with guidance but not actual position taking- how to assess the material they come across. What's important is less the position itself then the ability to critically look at material, assess it, build a position, defend it and if the defense is shattered by counter arguments, reassess it. Though it isn't explicit in the OP, based on my own experiences, I strongly suspect that there is a lot discussion on sources and how to evaluate them.

It's not about that one particular assignment - it's about providing the tools to do this sort of critical analysis across the board so when these kids encounter similar hoaxes, hate sites etc they have the tools they need to properly evaluate their claims.

So, now, you are on record as indicating schools should take no position on whether or not the Holocaust actually happened.

Why even call them schools, if so?

the amount of individual attention needed to accomplish
the task coyote describes would be impossible to attain
unless each kid had his own private very intelligent tutor

I think it can be done with well thought out assignments. If you don't, you're really failing the kids because eventually they will encounter the propaganda and as you can see across the boards with a variety of propaganda - people readily believe it.

 

[defcon4]

What's wrong with teaching critical thinking and research? Conspiracy theories abound and are spread more easily and widely then ever before. Kids need to know how to research and support their positions instead of blindly believing.

Nothing is wrong with that but one need to choose the subject wisely. There is the taboo factor. If you chose a subject on Jews, Blacks, some women issues and homosexuals you are automatically branded as bigoted.
bigot,noun
dogmatist, partisan, sectarian, prejudiced person; racist, racialist, sexist, homophobe, chauvinist, jingoist, anti-Semite; informal male chauvinist pig, MCP.