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Teaching the Holocaust in Public School?
self | 21 April 2009 | incredulous joe

Posted on 04/21/2009 11:04:12 PM PDT by incredulous joe

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To: wardaddy
I'll have to take my father to see it.
" helluva movie I thought, Fiennes portrayal as a famous aristocratic royalist who finds his own country turning on him and never believes it till too late is really tough to watch..."

My paternal father's cousin made that mistake in Austria. A son of a court JEw who had been a major in the Austro-Hungarian army crippled in the Great War, he refused to see Hitler as a threat. He wrote in his last letter "I am a better Austrian than the ex-patriat corporal."
He was right and beaten to death for it.

61 posted on 04/23/2009 11:26:01 AM PDT by rmlew ( The SAVE and GIVE acts are institutioning Corvee. Where's the outtrage!)
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To: rmlew

that pretty much sums it up ...very close unfortunately

you know there were martial Prussian Jews but that didn’t save them either


62 posted on 04/23/2009 4:17:52 PM PDT by wardaddy (America, Ship of Fools)
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To: wardaddy
All good observations, I think.

Not to forget to mention the very reason that Europeans fled to this continent ~ mostly because of religious persecution. Here in Maryland it is illegal to even mention the religious component in the public school system. This issues raises it's head every Thanksgiving.

I taught in a private school a few years back and we didn't have any real observance of Black History Month in my class and it was not required.

We celebrated the live of the Saints according to the Church calender and if the Saint of the Day happened to have a darker colored skin that might come up if it were relevant; with Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha and St. Martin de Poores race could become a part of the discussion because these people suffered and were persecuted because of their race.

The kids in my school knew about Black History month being taught and promoted in public schools, libraries, in supermarkets and on TV. They recognized it for what it was worth; pandering.

These were pretty straight-laced, no trouble, Catholic students and a few of them actively mocked the patronizing manner of these all month promotions.

I tried tamp down such occurrences and attempted to “accentuate the positive” ~ as the old song goes ~ but I wasn't about to take the children to task too harshly for merely having the wits to recognize the hypocrisy of the prevailing culture.

63 posted on 04/23/2009 10:49:32 PM PDT by incredulous joe
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To: Twink

Yo, Twink!

“Our public high school district is far better than any of the Catholic and Private high schools.”

There are some very good public schools out there. We have a few in our area. Unfortunately, there are some elements within some of our local schools that I would prefer that my children avoid right now ~ hillbillies, cyber-bullies, crazy parents, homosexual school administrators and 5th grade girls performing oral sex on the school bus.

We might run out of cash and energy by high school, but my 2 will have a steady foundation under them by then.


64 posted on 04/23/2009 10:57:14 PM PDT by incredulous joe
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To: Twink

“Seems the parents don’t want their kids to know the details of abortion, and certainly not see an abortion.”

I don’t know that I agree with you here. I think there is a swath of Catholics who really don’t give a damn about abortion, whether it is right or wrong.

They want to put the issue in a box and pretend that it’s really none of their business.

I’ve not been a big fan of gratuitously showing the gore of abortion. If a person can block out the biological facts I don’t think photos will do the trick.

My 2nd grader watched our cat have kittens this year and she could figure it out. It’s the folks on the other side of the abortion issue who have to do all of the mental contortions to arrive at a position they can live with.

Do you remember those kids from UofD about 10 years back??? I think they induced and killed or aborted their baby and they walked. All the press that I read read from Jersey made it look like it was a tragedy and a shame for the couple who killed the baby!


65 posted on 04/23/2009 11:09:09 PM PDT by incredulous joe
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To: markomalley; Twink; wardaddy

We don’t teach from Baltimore Catechism, but I have a good handle on it.

A good many of my church’s catechists are very good, faithful teachers, but I do live in a more traditional parish.

We teach from “Blest are We” published by Silver-Burdette Ginn and they do about the best that they can. It does introduce important themes, vocab and practices and my trusty assistant and I just roll with it.

The kids are up and down, sometimes dragged out by school and sports and schedules, but they do try and we make it interesting. Some of my parents are unchurched or apostate Catholics. So, I take it very seriously that I may be their child’s only “point of contact”. I try to get the kids to re-invigorate the parents and their faith ~ get them back in the pews, at least.

The Diocese has tried to insert a “Family Life” component into the curriculum bt Benzingers and it really has nothing to do with teaching the Catholic faith; liturgy, sacraments, Saints or practices.

I don’t have time. I don’t teach it.


66 posted on 04/23/2009 11:32:41 PM PDT by incredulous joe
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To: markomalley

When you put it that way, I agree.

Yes, I’ve watched the media propoganda over the last 18 years. Sadly. And, still watching it. It’s difficult to fight it but we must.

As a CCD teacher, this is in NJ, it’s fighting an uphill battle with both the parents and sometimes with the Parish. At times, it’s a battle with the Catholic School, too. We have parents strongly opposed, and vocal, to what is taught in 5th grade religion class. Some are on the side that it’s too liberal and others on the side it’s too conservative.

I agree he can plant a seed and help them to think. I just don’t want him to agonize on what he has very little control over. If the parents aren’t teaching this to the kids, there is very little he can do. I teach in public schools and the best we can do is teach them to think but the parents have the most control, imo. Parents have the control when it comes to the media, schools, any outside influences. Sure, we can reach some, but for the most part if parents aren’t parenting their kids, even when it comes to the Catholic Faith, there’s very little we can do. Joe and others could enlighten some, and it makes a difference, but the attitude/bigger picture isn’t going to change if the home life/parents don’t care.


67 posted on 04/24/2009 11:23:15 PM PDT by Twink
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To: incredulous joe

All that you mentioned also occurs in our Catholic k-8 school. We had an incident recently at our Catholic school, and back in my day those kids would have been expelled (and they would have been from the public high school), but expelling no longer happens at our Catholic grade school.

If I told you what went on in the boys bathroom, you’d be shocked that these kids weren’t expelled. This is a Catholic k-8 school. If this had happened in our public high school, those kids would have been expelled (probably because we have a Transitional public high school in our district so the legal issues would have been handled).

Back in our day, these kids would have been expelled for what they did. They got a couple days suspension/slap on the wrist.


68 posted on 04/24/2009 11:40:51 PM PDT by Twink
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To: incredulous joe

Yep. I remember that. :(


69 posted on 04/24/2009 11:45:03 PM PDT by Twink
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To: Twink

A couple years back, probably more than I think (8 to 10) there was an incident at our Regional Catholic HS; 2 kids had a sexual encounter in the hallway.

One of th kids was the son of an NBA star and the girl was the daughter of a prominent TV anchorwoman. The school was also a hotbed for high profile hoops.

They were disciplined ~ can’t remember how ~ and the school went through all kids of hassles just to enforce their rules. The girl’s mother actually called a local FM to argue that she should not have been disciplined ~ it ws surreal!

Anyway, after that school year, the headmaster magically disappeared and was transferred.

At least the high profile basketball program was dismantled.


70 posted on 04/25/2009 3:32:54 AM PDT by incredulous joe
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To: Twink

“Yep. I remember that. :(”

Tough times down in this part of Merlin.

We are not so far from the family that was killed by the father in Middletown. I know a bunch of people in that parish, including some former students of mine.

I sort of promised myself that I wouldn’t follow any of the coverage, but it has been tough to avoid.

What a heartbreak! A lot of folks in this area are really hurting ~ particularly moms and dads of small chikdren. Pleae keep them in your prayers.


71 posted on 04/25/2009 3:38:15 AM PDT by incredulous joe
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To: incredulous joe

“Pleae keep them in your prayers”

Definitely will do.


72 posted on 04/26/2009 3:50:57 PM PDT by Twink
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