Teaching Genocide in High School Classes
Developing Curricula that Educate and Offer Resolution and Hope
Teaching genocide in the high school curriculum should be strongly considered, given the fact that ethnic cleansing is still very much a part of human experience in many parts of the world. Whether as an extended unit, possibly in conjunction with the Holocaust, or as a semester elective, genocide studies, if properly formatted into overall curriculum goals and objectives for a particular course, can achieve long term, meaningful results and responses.
Affected Disciplines of Study
History or social studies would seem the natural discipline to incorporate genocide studies, yet other classes might benefit as well. This includes English. Some English curricula already address the Holocaust, focusing on readings like Elie Wiesel’s Night [Hill and Wang, 2006] or the Diary of Anne Frank. Some high schools facilitate courses in philosophy, ethics, and even religion, all prime candidate courses for the inclusion of genocide studies.
Need for Genocide Studies in High School
The high school years are a time students are strongly encouraged toward community service and volunteerism. Students are impressionable and when confronted with needs, tend to “go all out.” Incorporating genocide studies not only provides a historical trend and chronology, but leads to contemporary genocides such as in the Sudan. Whereas the German Holocaust of World War II represents the ultimate force of evil and is still fiercely debated in terms of why it occurred, it is part of a human trend that continues through today.
Modern Genocides since the 19th Century
The African genocide in the Belgian Congo, documented by Adam Hochschild in his book King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa [Mariner Books, 1999], is a good place to start. Detailing Leopold II’s atrocities, Hochschild describes an orgy of suffering and torture involving millions of innocent people. This historical account can be paired with Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness [Prestwick House, 2004] that gives a more literary approach to the Congolese genocide.
Peter Balakian’s book, The Burning Tigris:The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response [Harper Perennial, 2004], describes the first major European genocide of the 20th century in which hundreds of thousands of Armenians were systematically massacred by the Turks during World War I. Still denied by the Turkish government, Balakian details the extent and the horrors of the killings as well as United States’ response. It was one of the few times thousands of Americans rallied to support the victims of genocide.
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang is a “must read” by any student seriously interested in knowing the how and the why of mass killing. Occurring in 1937 in China, The Rape of Nanking documents the brutality of Japanese invasion, often so horrible that even the Nazi officials in the Nanking German embassy recoiled in disgust.
And then there is the European Holocaust, Nazi Germany’s systematic plan of “final solution,” the murdering of every Jew in Europe. This Holocaust also involved other “undesirables” like homosexuals and Jehovah Witnesses. Unlike the Armenian genocide, few Americans took notice even as the US government refused to grant immigrant visas to thousands of desperate Jews seeking asylum.
Human Nature has not Changed in Terms of Genocide
The greatest single question that must be posed in any study of modern genocide studies seems to be why they are permitted to happen again and again. If developed nations can use every available effort to stop nuclear proliferation or work together toward global environmental reform, why can they not exercise those same energies in preventing and stopping the genocides that litter recent history?
Cambodia suffered a recent genocide, immortalized in the film the Killing Fields. Smaller acts of ethnic cleansing have occurred in the Balkans, East Timor, and India. The Rwanda genocide is still fresh in collective memories. Genocide studies fit into the purpose of education as a way to document evil on the grandest scale while permitting analysis geared toward resolutions and preemptive action.
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