The Book Thief and "Teaching Holocaust Literature"

I really enjoyed reading The Book Thief and would absolutely include it in a unit on Holocaust literature. The point of view was interesting and was an excellent way of keeping the reader on edge. From an educator's perspective; however, I am much, much, MUCH more interested in discussing the article Teaching Holocaust Literature and the video related to that article, "A Class Divided."

Teaching Holocaust Literature contained very important information for adolescent literature teachers. As I was reading this article, I felt quite a connection to this teacher because of the experiences of her students that she was sharing. The "small, rural town" that she described as being as full of racism as an inner city seemed so familiar to me. After finishing the article and noticing that this teacher was from Chambersburg High School, I understood why I felt such a connection. It terrifies me to see the discrimination and racism in this area so frequently. My husband and I often talk about how upsetting it is to see and hear what we do on a daily basis. What saddens me even more is that this article was written 18 years ago--what has changed? Not a thing.

The video "A Class Divided" was a wonderful experience for me as well. I have shared in class what my students and their families are like. I teach a class of all white students in a school of almost all white students. Although these students are still young and "innocent," as the video shows, human nature is quite a beast, and they are already being "corrupted." I hear and see incidences of discrimination and racism on a weekly basis in my classroom. I know that the majority of these viewpoints come from the students' home environments, but that does not diminish the effects of what I hear. I would absolutely love to conduct this experiment with my students, but would genuinely be afraid of the consequences of doing this not only from parents, but from the administration. During Back to School Night at the beginning of this year, I was not allowed to say the words "Obama," "goals," or "President" because of the controversy surrounding the President's speech to school children? How incredibly sad is this? Much like the article, this video states that the original experiment was conducted in 1968... so, in 41 years, how far have we come? I know I need to help, but I often feel so powerless....