Deer Path Middle School in Lake Forest gave its eighth graders a lot more education about the Holocaust last week than the State of Illinois requires and the students came away with education that will go beyond the classroom.
The students spent a week doing almost nothing but learning about the German atrocities during World War II that claimed 12 million lives, half of them genocide against European Jewry. The state only requires the subject be taught. Deer Path went above and beyond the edict.
“This way the students can synthesize all the information across disciplines,” Principal Renee DeVore said. “The learning is more purposeful when everything is involved.”
Each day began with a speaker including two Holocaust survivors through the week. There were talks by university professors, movies, discussions and a trip to the Holocaust Museum in Skokie. The final speaker talked about conditions in Rwanda, where genocide took place less than 20 years ago.
The program was created by teacher Susie Kullby. Aware this week was a time the Holocaust would be on the minds of others in the United States, Kullby also knew the timing was right for both the subject and an immersion program.
“They just got back from spring break,” she said explaining other learning would continue after the week of intense study. “It’s one week before the Week of Remembrance.” Today is also Yom Hashoah, the worldwide Jewish Holiday commemorating the Holocaust.
The students learned a lot more than the horrors inflicted on a minority in World War II. They came away with a sense of purpose. They felt they would take action if genocide occurs in the world again.
“We’re all citizens of the world,” eighth grade student Jack Armstrong said in response to a question from DeVore. “We have to do something or everyone will end up (doing it again).”
There were also ideas offered by some of the students about what they could do to make a difference. “Communicating (to raise awareness) is important,” Kohlton Perkins said. “We could raise money. We can help out and make a difference.”
Jane Margolis had a more personal reason to help prevent genocide. “You never know when it could happen to yourself,” she said.
In addition to speakers, discussions and a movie, there was also some basic academic instruction explaining how an entire nation like Germany could be led into accepting genocide and participating in it.
“We learned the five steps of the pyramid of prejudice,” Jonathan Panos said. He explained how people can go from a prejudicial attitude to actions like name calling and from there to actual discrimination. He explained that is a short step to violence and then genocide.
Though many of the students knew six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, they were surprised to learn that was only part of the butchery. “It was not just Jews,” Perkins said. “There were 12 million altogether.”