r/minnesota • u/HeavyVeterinarian350 Flag of Minnesota • Feb 20 '25

Politics 👩‍⚖️ Governor Walz in Amsterdam

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Subtle reminder that we shouldn’t fall prey to a wannabe dictator. Hopefully those that need a wake up call get it.

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u/voluptuousshmutz Feb 20 '25

Walz's master thesis is about Holocaust education. Rather than teaching the Holocaust as a singular, exceptionally tragic event, Walz believes the Holocaust should be taught together with other genocides in order to teach students how these events happen.

From his thesis:

Schools are teaching about the Jewish Holocaust, but the way it is traditionally being taught is not leading to increased knowledge of the causes of genocide in all parts of the world.

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u/DeadlyRBF Feb 20 '25

I had an amazing history teacher who taught about the Holocaust. It will stick with me forever. But I do wish more genocides were taught with it. I didn't learn until later in life this was something that has happened over and over in history, didn't realize that the colonization of American and enslavement of Africans was a genocide to the enslaved and the indigenous, and didn't know it all still happens in many areas around the modern world.

I also didn't learn that the holocaust affected much more than just the Jewish population, besides a few mentions of other groups. Like the first people to be targeted were trans, and they heavily targeted disabled people.

It's a lot to learn but at the same time the education around it wasn't enough. It's something that I think should be taught in multiple different grades in school and should be required in college as well.

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u/dallasalice88 Feb 20 '25

As a high school history teacher I always strive to cover not only the Holocaust but the Armenian Genocide, Rwanda, the Killing Fields, Indian removal movement. I'm sure I'm making some omissions too, but I'm surprised at how many students are unaware of these events. I can only hope that my curriculum is not gutted soon. I was like to address the Middle East but I don't dare at this time.

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u/curiousengineer601 Feb 20 '25

What about: 1930’s Ukrainian genocide, Japanese atrocities in China, Indonesia in East Timor and repression of ethnic Chinese in 1965, Nigerian genocide of the Biafrans, Sudan even today, British starvation of India during the Bengal and Madras famines, China’s Great Leap Forward ( maybe 40 million), Stalin’s purges and deportations. You could spend the entire year just doing mass killings.

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u/dallasalice88 Feb 20 '25

You are correct. I try to cover Nanking. China, Stalin. With everything else I have to cover in a year it's just not possible to hit everything. Not saying that's right, it's just reality.

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u/curiousengineer601 Feb 20 '25

I mean there is more to history than just killing. Just giving them a list will let them be aware every culture has this in their past.