Fox News reported on Sunday that several schools in London, England, have allowed teachers to forego teaching subjects such as the Crusades and the Holocaust. The belief is that teaching these subjects may potentially offend some students or cause friction along cultural and ethnic lines. This, of course, is a valid reason.

Or not.

The fact of the matter is that in not teaching history, we are, as a wise man said, bound to repeat it. Is the simple fact that these issues may be offensive or disturbing reason enough to not teach them?

Does the threat of offense really justify not teaching these subjects?

In 30 years, should we not teach the subjects of Darfur, Rwanda, Sierra Leone or Bosnia?

All of these events have a

legacy of tragedy. Does this mean that they do not warrant intimate knowledge by students?

That is exactly what it does not mean. If anything, the disturbing and tragic nature of these events force us to become intimate with the tragedy. We must know exactly how they occur, so that we may prevent them in the future.

Is the discussion of slavery to be banished from the classroom in fear that it will offend black students? Should the Arab-Israeli conflict be off-limits so that Muslim students are not reminded that Jerusalem is in Jewish hands? Are we to ignore the Civil War so that friction between northern and southern students may hopefully disappear?

Does anyone truly believe that high school students are so

political that they are going to be ripped apart by the teachings of historical facts? Can this serve any purpose other than to limit the scope of rising generations?

These scenarios are as unrealistic as they are ill-advised. The paramount reason that these issues are discussed, is to inform the coming generations of when horrible things have happened, in an effort to avoid their recurrence in the future.

Should we relegate the great tragedies of our time to the same place we have relegated the tragedies of our parents and grandparents.

In a culture where political correctness has hijacked our minds and our lips, the effort “not to offend” each other has taken paramount.

We are fanatical in our desire to protect everyone from being offended. Are we truly headed toward a time when

history and lesson plans are devised because of their propensity for political correctness rather than their educational value?

History is offensive. Life is offensive. We have seen things that we will never forget, and that have changed us irrevocably. But these facts are our reality, our world, and that is inescapable.

Perhaps the reason that we see so much tragedy in the Middle East is because many were never taught the consequences of changing religious belief into political policy.

We remind each other to remember the Holocaust, yet we do not act to prevent further tragedy.

To forgo teaching these horrid and tragic events in an effort to avoid offending children is indefensible.

These topics are disturbing, the acts are offensive, but that is why we teach them, so that we, our children and our grandchildren will never allow these events to occur again.

Staff: - 04/05/07