Is this true?

[Pretty in Pink]

I'm not much for forwarded email but I received one from a friend who does not normally send them so I had a look. The email said that the UK recently "removed the Holocaust" from its textbooks because references to it were offensive to Muslims who deny that the Holocaust ever happened. Admittedly I am not as educated on WWII or the Holocaust as I would like to be. I know there are so-called Holocaust deniers but I have never heard reference of Muslims denying the Holocaust.

 

I thought maybe some of our UK members could shed some light on this for me. Surely I would have heard of this if there were any merit to this claim. I'm off to check Snopes now...

 

ETA: Disregard. I did a quick Google search and answered my own question.

Edited December 31, 2008 by Pretty in Pink

[Doran]

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/holocaust.asp

 

 

Snopes is great for sorting out fact from fiction from part fiction. You might want to save the link and send it to your friend.

[Perry]

From the Daily Mail:

 

Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed.

It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.

More....

 

 

• Teachers fear backlash over crackdown in the classroom
  

 

 

There is also resistance to tackling the 11th century Crusades - where Christians fought Muslim armies for control of Jerusalem - because lessons often contradict what is taught in local mosques.

The findings have prompted claims that some schools are using history 'as a vehicle for promoting political correctness'.

The study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, looked into 'emotive and controversial' history teaching in primary and secondary schools.

It found some teachers are dropping courses covering the Holocaust at the earliest opportunity over fears Muslim pupils might express anti-Semitic and anti-Israel reactions in class.

The researchers gave the example of a secondary school in an unnamed northern city, which dropped the Holocaust as a subject for GCSE coursework.

The report said teachers feared confronting 'anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim pupils'.

It added: "In another department, the Holocaust was taught despite anti-Semitic sentiment among some pupils.

"But the same department deliberately avoided teaching the Crusades at Key Stage 3 (11- to 14-year-olds) because their balanced treatment of the topic would have challenged what was taught in some local mosques."

A third school found itself 'strongly challenged by some Christian parents for their treatment of the Arab-Israeli conflict-and the history of the state of Israel that did not accord with the teachings of their denomination'.

The report concluded: "In particular settings, teachers of history are unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged versions of history in which pupils are steeped at home, in their community or in a place of worship."

But Chris McGovern, history education adviser to the former Tory government, said: "History is not a vehicle for promoting political correctness. Children must have access to knowledge of these controversial subjects, whether palatable or unpalatable."

The researchers also warned that a lack of subject knowledge among teachers - particularly at primary level - was leading to history being taught in a 'shallow way leading to routine and superficial learning'.

Lessons in difficult topics were too often 'bland, simplistic and unproblematic' and bored pupils.

 

[Laura Corin]

From the Daily Mail:

 

The Daily Mail is the kind of paper that would make a big thing out of it. It's important to understand one's sources.

 

Laura