The Rialto School District located in Southern California received intense criticism last December for assigning a Common Core essay assignment titled “Is the Holocaust a Hoax?” to 2,000 eighth graders. The assignment asked students to explain whether they "believe the Holocaust was an actual event in history or merely a political scheme created to influence public emotion and gain."
In many countries, including Germany, any person who denies that the Holocaust happened is committing a crime. In America, the attitude toward the Holocaust should be no different.
The Common Core state standards, which have been adopted by 45 states, “emphasize critical thinking in students, which is what the assignment is intended to teach,” according to Rialto District school board member Joe Martinez in a local news report.
Critical thinking is a noble goal, but it was carried out in an absent-minded way. The assignment was part of a unit focusing on the “Diary of Anne Frank,” the story of a young girl who, along with her family, was a Jewish victim of the Holocaust. The Holocaust is one of the most documented events in world history, with thousands of primary and secondary sources verifying the tragedy. Denying it happened is ignorance beyond comprehension.
Asking junior high students to prove that the Holocaust was real or simply a made-up event for propaganda purposes is not critical thinking — it is anti-Semitic.
Those in opposition to Common Core are frequently reassured that there is nothing controversial about the program; it is intended to better prepare students for college by honing their critical thinking skills.
This particular case of letting students choose whether an atrocity such as the Holocaust ever happened is not a standalone case.
It is just one of several recent examples of schools that landed in hot water as a result of newly implemented assignments dealing with sensitive issues.
In Washington state, a middle school was criticized after assigning students to pick cotton as a way to learn about slavery. Parents of students sued the district.
Fourth graders in Texas were given homework involving the topic of marital infidelity, and Detroit middle-school students were tasked with writing an essay on whether they'd rather be slaves or factory workers.
Last spring, a New York high school reportedly issued a persuasive writing assignment from a Nazi perspective. All of these assignments were meant to encourage critical thinking in keeping with new Common Core standards.
What those implementing Common Core must realize is that just as personal religion is not an openly discussed topic in public schools, race and historical persecutions should also be treated with the same sensitivity. Simply discussing race and historical persecutions is perfectly fine if discussion does not encourage students to take sides in patently ridiculous debates.
Teachers and students must remember to separate fact from opinion, as well as politics from learning. Common Core is not a bad change, as long as educators handle the new standards with sensitivity — and common sense.
