tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057784862632486139.post3578054976176246579..comments2023-11-03T04:49:42.477-04:00Comments on au soleil levant: Election wrap upau soleil levanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11064160087622989411noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057784862632486139.post-79978142381599391902008-11-03T11:45:00.000-05:002008-11-03T11:45:00.000-05:00Thanks David and Rochelle, I appreciate both of yo...Thanks David and Rochelle, I appreciate both of your viewpoints. I'm sure the powers that be who develop the educational curriculum have the same debate! It's an important topic that needs to be dealt with delicately. <BR/><BR/>On that note, I found this week when doing touristy stuff in Soissons with my friend visiting from the States that the renovations at this little part of an abbey that's left in centre ville were to make a memorial of the people killed in Nazi camps. So when the kids finally do learn about the Holocaust, they can go visit it.au soleil levanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15677297462884684534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057784862632486139.post-16981809608625994402008-11-03T10:50:00.000-05:002008-11-03T10:50:00.000-05:00College as in 11 onwards. Not as in university.College as in 11 onwards. Not as in university.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057784862632486139.post-37234169809202826152008-10-29T08:46:00.000-04:002008-10-29T08:46:00.000-04:00First year of college!!!!????You're kidding, right...First year of college!!!!????<BR/><BR/>You're kidding, right?David in Setouchihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09895289419248698831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057784862632486139.post-6512532376812631512008-10-29T08:43:00.000-04:002008-10-29T08:43:00.000-04:00I think it's okay that they know there was a world...I think it's okay that they know there was a world war with Germany (and Japan etc) but I think at that age, details of the Holocaust are way too early to learn. First year of college is more appropriate. It's traumatic information and it's important to learn and know about it and pay tribute to it but they don't have the emotional maturity or understanding to be able to process that kind of information yet. Or maybe I'm under estimating children?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057784862632486139.post-67177998515489166962008-10-28T16:50:00.000-04:002008-10-28T16:50:00.000-04:00Just try to remember how it's like for you...When ...Just try to remember how it's like for you...<BR/>When you're in primary school, you hear about all of those things, but it's kinda blurred.<BR/>As a French kid in the late 70's (so just 30 years after the events, not 60 years like today) I knew there had been two major wars with Germany (I heard about the 1870 war much later), that the Germans were the bad guys and killed a bunch of people some of them in some camps...<BR/>What were these camps and why some people were sent there to be killed was very blurred to me. I'm not even sure I knew what was Judaism at that time.<BR/><BR/>It all came clearer and clearer little by little as I learned more about it and also as I gained the necessary maturity to understand the whole thing.<BR/><BR/>And I assume that it's the same for pretty much anybody, including these kids.David in Setouchihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09895289419248698831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057784862632486139.post-60198270244369054252008-10-28T16:42:00.000-04:002008-10-28T16:42:00.000-04:00Thanks for all the comments guys. I guess you're ...Thanks for all the comments guys. I guess you're right, before CM2 is a little early for school kids to be learning about the Holocaust in the classroom. I guess my surprise came from more of what Eileen said, like "pop culture" Holocaust knowledge. I just find it hard to believe that none of them ever heard anyone say anything or saw something on TV or read about anything that would have taught them about it or caused them to ask a question. And I know that last year this class (or the school, not sure which) did a whole thing on Martin Luther King and racism in America. <BR/><BR/>There are a lot of ugly historical things to learn about, but it's necessary. I'll let you know if I end up forcing Anne Frank on my kids.au soleil levanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15677297462884684534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057784862632486139.post-68568583567875268002008-10-27T19:42:00.000-04:002008-10-27T19:42:00.000-04:00I didn't know about the Holocaust or WWII until si...I didn't know about the Holocaust or WWII until sixth grade either, when I read number the stars. New York State social studies curriculum in elementary school is focused on NYS history, basic geography, and some US history.<BR/><BR/>It's astounding what children don't know that we, as educated adults, take for granted.Rosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01505803724868714116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057784862632486139.post-9510954186758153552008-10-27T03:35:00.000-04:002008-10-27T03:35:00.000-04:00Hi,Your kids behaved and listened to your "boring"...Hi,<BR/>Your kids behaved and listened to your "boring" class because this is the way classes are when they're taught by French teachers, this is what they're used to.<BR/><BR/>About the Holocaust, from what I remember, I was taught about it in CM2 (my memories are quite blurred though, I was in CM2 in 1982) but I had a vague idea of what it was before that (but I've been a history buff for as long as I can remember). <BR/>Nowadays I don't know when it's taught, but I'm pretty much sure before that is a bit early. I'm pretty much sure it's still being taught in CM2 though, as there was this "Guy Môquet scandal" with Sarkozy last year.David in Setouchihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09895289419248698831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057784862632486139.post-20605885246003609872008-10-26T17:25:00.000-04:002008-10-26T17:25:00.000-04:00I'm surprised the kids haven't heard of the Holoca...I'm surprised the kids haven't heard of the Holocaust... When I was at school in France, not that long ago, we had a lot of lessons about it. We had camps survivors who came to talk about it etc. And I can't remember exactly when it started (i.e which grade) but I'm sure it was in the école primaire.<BR/><BR/>That said, WW2 history is a very sad and traumatic part of our past. It is important to talk about it but meanwhile, they are kids... starting with Le Journal d'Anne Franck etc. may be the les traumatic way to start on the subject. History is important but I must admit that as a French kid, I felt like a lot of horrors were being thrown in our face: slavery (le commerce triangulaire... I'm from Nantes, the infamous harbor where the slaves were shipped), the war in Algeria, Vichy etc. Part of our history but some concepts are hard to grasp when you're young.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057784862632486139.post-60503759734154250252008-10-26T16:52:00.000-04:002008-10-26T16:52:00.000-04:00I do think it's odd, or at least different from th...I do think it's odd, or at least different from the U.S.... I think I got most of my Holocaust education in late elementary school/junior high--4th to 7th grade I guess. But I seem to remember learning about it a lot through fiction or popular nonfiction (e.g. Anne Frank) rather than in history. I think that's most of how we learned about U.S. racism too. But then I was a kid who liked to read and I did go to a private school.<BR/><BR/>But then, the U.S. is the country with the biggest Jewish population outside of Israel so maybe it is obviously more important to us. At the same time I don't think that makes much since because the Holocaust actually happened in Europe....<BR/><BR/>On the other hand I think it might be early for them to have a good grasp of what led to World War II and what Hitler's big ideas were. I THINK I did that in junior high. It's hard to remember.<BR/><BR/>Anyway it puts an interesting spin on that weird proposal of Sarko's awhile ago to match every little French kid with a kid from the past affected by the Holocaust. Do you remember that? And then someone mocked it by suggesting matching every little French kid with a kid affected by Sarko's immigration ideas.Eileenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01698619723127920555noreply@blogger.com