British schools are avoiding "controversial" subjects like the Holocaust, the Crusades, and the salve trade because they might contradict what children learn in their homes, or because they might cause negative emotional reactions by some. In what sounds like an April Fools' Day parody, but I fear is not, the U.K. Guardian cites A report funded by the Department for Education and Skills [which] said: "Teachers and schools avoid emotive and controversial history for a variety of reasons, some of which are well-intentioned. [....]
The researchers gave the example of one history department in a secondary school in a northern city which decided not to teach the Holocaust as a topic for GCSE coursework.
The report said the teachers feared confronting "anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim pupils". Christian parents at another school complained over the way the Arab-Israeli conflict was taught.
Silly me. I always thought that the purpose of schools was to end ignorance and teach factual knowledge. Now in the UK (and no doubt here in America) the purpose has become to get through a day of warehousing children without causing emotional outbursts.
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