Common Core State Standard L.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: Video of a current news event is presented for discussion to encourage student participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the video. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support.
06/04/2018
Study: US millennials uneducated about Holocaust
A newly released study shows that 41% of American adults don't know what Auschwitz — the Nazi concentration camp in Poland — was. That rises to 66% for millennials (ages 18-34) alone. The study also found 31% of Americans — and 41% of millennials — think 2 million or fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust. In reality, 6 million were killed. Half of Americans also incorrectly think Adolf Hitler took power by force, according to the Claims Conference study.
■Class discussion: What do you know about the Holocaust? When did it happen? Why did it happen? By far, most of the death camp victims were Jews, but who else did the Nazis target? The word genocide was coined to describe the Holocaust. What other mass killings of ethnic groups have been called genocide? Is it important to learn about the Holocaust and other genocides? Why or why not? Does your school teach about the Holocaust and genocide?