No two sides to the Holocaust, Texas public school educators agree

The majority of published books on Holocaust are for children in the K-12 school age group, and they are fictional or partly-fictional accounts – even famous ones like Anne Frank's Diary.

By Carolyn Yeager

THE HOLOCAUST OCCURRED JUST AS THE POPULAR NARRATIVE, as told in tens of thousands of books for children that have been published in the U.S. alone, says it did. So Texas professional educators and politicians quickly agreed in the wake of an uproar following a Dallas-Fort Worth area administrator's use of the Holocaust to explain how to allow all sides of a Civics issue to be heard, or available, in classrooms.

These non-experts in history assure teachers and public that the Holocaust is 'established fact' and 'settled history,' yet so sensitive that no other side can be presented—ever. Well, you know, they have voters to contend with. And they always need money too.

At the heart of the commotion is a new Texas education law [House Bill 3979*] that requires Social Studies and Civics teachers to present multiple perspectives when discussing “widely debated and currently controversial” issues. 

Gina Peddy, executive director of curriculum and instruction at Carroll ISD in Southlake, Texas (a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth), in a training session with teachers aimed to help them understand and meet the new law's requirements, used the example of 'the holocaust' instead of the law's target: the “currently controversial” race and gender issues that are lately bringing parents to protest at school board meetings.

Peddy was secretly recorded by one teacher as saying: “Just try to remember the concepts of [House Bill] 3979 and make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust, that you have one that has an opposing, that has other perspectives.”

This caused perplexed reaction from the teachers. “How do you oppose the Holocaust?” one teacher asked. Peddy answered, “Believe me, that's come up.”

More teachers in the training session spoke up. One asked if she would have to remove from her classroom library a popular NOVEL for kids, “Number the Stars” by Lois Lowry that tells a fictional story of 'the Holocaust' from the perspective of victims only. In the confusion, no answer was heard from Peddy.

[Most K-12 students are offered fictional books 'to check out' that arouse an emotional reaction in favor of one side and against the other, yet are never examined for accuracy of the historical background. Fiction has traditionally been for enjoyment, but Holocaust fiction has a larger purpose as propaganda. Our schools are thus aiding and abetting this propaganda to unsuspecting children, who are encouraged to accept fiction as fact.]

Peddy is now staying quiet. Another Carroll spokeswoman Karen Fitgerald said the district is trying to help teachers comply with the new state law and an updated version that will go into effect in December: Texas Senate Bill 3. She wrote that “our district will not mandate that books be removed or that classroom libraries be unavailable. Teachers who are unsure about a book should visit with their campus principal or curriculum coordinators about appropriate next steps.” Well, we know how that would pan out— the unquestioned factuality of the Holocaust would be affirmed.

A Texas State Teachers Association union spokesman announced, “We find it reprehensible for an educator to require a Holocaust denier to get equal treatment with the facts of history. That's absurd. It's worse than absurd. And this law does not require it.” State Sen. Bryan Hughes agreed, calling the Holocaust “a matter of good and evil” for which only one perspective was okay. (Except that we know religious beliefs are no longer a “matter of good and evil” but are a matter of belief in today's world. Not so the Holocaust, however—the new religion of the secular Western world.)

Carroll ISD Superintendent Lane Ledbetter posted a statement on Facebook saying that Peddy's advice to teachers was “in no way to convey that the Holocaust was anything less than a terrible event in history” and “we recognize there are not two sides of the Holocaust.”

This is the message from the media, so any other message only confuses people. The media, including Hollywood films and the popular fiction industry, tells us our history, not academic rigor or fair and free debate.

As far as every school district in America goes, and certainly among our politicians, one-way thinking is the norm. They sure can't conceive of anyone deviating from absolute belief in the Holocaust, which they themselves have never questioned.

To highlight how completely duped and indoctrinated the average public school teacher is, the recording device also picked up some comments from teachers gathered in a hallway discussing the situation. “I am offended as hell by somebody who says I should have an opposing view to the Holocaust in my library,” a teacher said with quavering voice. Another replied, “They don't understand what they have done. They are going to lose incredible teachers, myself potentially being with them.”

So if anyone is worried about this school adminstrator's use of the Holocaust as an example of offering two sides or more on a controversial issue, your worries are in vain. It's a tempest in a teapot because you won't find anyone, anywhere in a position of authority to disagree that Holocaust can only be seen one way … despite what the Texas bill might say should be done in the name of education. [This article's source of information on the dispute is https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/southlake-texas-holocaust-books-schools-rcna2965 ]

*The bill requires, among other things, that a teacher who chooses to discuss a topic described by Subdivision (1) shall, to the best of the teacher's ability, strive to explore that topic from diverse and contending perspectives without giving deference to any one perspective.

And: to develop the [student's] ability to analyze and determine the reliability of information sources; formulate and articulate reasoned positions; actively listen and engage in discourse … with those with different viewpoints.