Schools to Get New Holocaust Lesson Plans
Source: The Bergen Record, http://www.bergen.com, October 17th 2000
Schools to Get New Holocaust Lesson Plans
By SHERRY CONOHAN, The Associated Press
TRENTON — The New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education has developed eight new lesson plans to add to the public school curriculum, including a segment on how to recognize hate speech on the Internet.
Commission Chairman Steven E. Some said at a Statehouse news conference Monday that the new lesson plans seek to rebut the fascination some young people have for Adolf Hitler and Nazism.
Some said the lesson on the Internet is aimed at helping students decipher accurate information from hate speech put out by people purporting to be legitimate sources.
“Their objective is to deny history,” he said. “Our challenge is we must keep the history and facts regarding the Holocaust alive.”
The commission also endorsed legislation sponsored by state Sen. Anthony Bucco, R-Boonton, that would appropriate $50,000 to enable the commission to monitor the Internet for hate speech.
Some said the new lesson plans are being distributed to county superintendents and should be available to teachers by Jan. 1. The lessons build on a curriculum on the Holocaust developed by the commission and made available to schools in 1995.
State law requires public schools to teach about the Holocaust. Use of the materials suggested by the commission is voluntary. Some said 95 percent of state school districts use the materials. The lesson plans are aimed at students in middle and high schools.
During the news conference, Some noted the arrest of a student last week at the College of New Jersey on a charge of sending hate e-mail to other students that said all Jews should die.
He also cited an incident last month at Warren Hills Regional High School, where students were distributing material with racist jokes they had downloaded from the Internet.
“I truly believe this is the first step to getting our arms around this issue,” he said of the new lesson plan. “This is not the answer. Sen. Bucco’s bill is not the answer. The answer is that parents working with teachers . . . must take an active role when their children go on the Internet.”
