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Study finds state order mandating genocide education lacks standards to guide teachers

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While Hotel Rwanda was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful film, it wasn’t necessarily the best way to teach high school students about a dangerous subject like genocide. But without guidance on how to approach genocide throughout history, showing movies in class may become the default for teachers to address difficult and uncomfortable subject matter.

A growing number of states have passed laws requiring schools to teach about the history of genocide. But states that mandate genocide education rarely provide guidance on the standards for how it is taught, and often focus only on the Holocaust, while other historical It turns out that teaching about genocide may be left to social studies teachers. About and how. The researchers argue that this lack of guidance, much like a state without such a mandate, leaves students unable to understand the causes of genocide and how to prevent it in the future.

Anna Jonas, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in KU’s School of Education and Human Sciences, is a co-author of a study that analyzed mandates in 11 U.S. states that include genocide education. Standards for what and how to teach about genocide were compared to non-mandatory national standards.

The study was co-authored with Stephanie Van Hover of the University of Virginia and published in the Journal of Social Studies Research.

“Overall, we found that states are not guiding teachers about what genocidal acts they have to teach. So while it may feel like education has improved, it’s actually “No real changes have been made,” Jonas said. “There is really no difference between them, suggesting that such missions are not achieving their intended objectives.”

Jonas and Van Hover explore obligations and standards through the theory of the null curriculum, in which what is not taught can be just as important as what is taught. By telling schools and teachers that they must teach about genocide, but not which acts of genocide or how to teach it, teachers are teaching them what genocide is, how it starts, and where it happened. or who is the victim. , and how society can prevent and confront the ongoing genocide. All of this flies in the face of the argument that educating young people about the subject can help prevent such atrocities, the researchers wrote.

In their analysis, Jonas and Van Hover found that states with mandates often have a narrow focus.

Three of the 11 states include at least one genocide in their curriculum standards for what should be taught. Similarly, among mandated states, only three include more atrocities than excluded, and of the 11 non-mandated states analyzed, only three states include more atrocities than excluded by the standard. only 2 states had it. General standards also frequently use terms such as “conflict” and “atrocity” rather than genocide. The four mandate states have never used the term genocide. The Holocaust is the event most frequently included in the standards and is most often referred to as a genocide. However, it is explicitly mentioned as such in less than half of the cases in which it is included. Four of the 11 states with mandates use “Holocaust” as a standalone term and do not use the term “genocide.” Other historical genocides, such as those of Armenians, Rwandans, Darfurians, and Cambodians, are rarely mentioned as such. Victims are also mentioned less frequently than perpetrators.

Professor Jonas said: “This study found that while the perpetrators were regularly named, the only victims explicitly named were the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. If we study genocide as a specific event and as a framework, we are missing the big picture.”

In some cases, states with and without mandates provide a list of genocide possibilities that teachers can address, but it is up to each teacher’s choice. Previous research has shown that teachers tend to avoid topics that are difficult to discuss personally for fear of making themselves uncomfortable or upsetting their students.

States are increasingly adopting legislative mandates requiring genocide education in social studies and history classes. However, Jonas and Van Hover found that students in states with mandates do not necessarily learn more about the topic or demonstrate a deeper understanding than students in states without mandates. It cites previous research that shows. This, they argue, is because general standards guide teachers’ decision-making and provide little guidance on which genocides should be addressed and how. The result is a meaningless curriculum in which what is not taught often has more influence than what is taught.

Jonas’ extensive research focuses on ways to help secondary teachers deal with difficult topics effectively. She also recently published personal research on place-based education. There, she traveled to Poland to investigate the legacy of the Holocaust and how it is remembered, as well as her own experiences as someone whose great-grandparents were victims of genocide. This initiative aims to provide guidance to policy makers and teacher preparation programs and support educators, especially beginning teachers, in how to effectively address difficult but important topics such as genocide. The purpose is

Standards, solid teacher preparation, and ongoing professional development help teachers approach this topic with confidence and give students a deeper understanding of the event and its place in world history.

“I argue in this article that standards are not the only factor. Countries should also invest in teacher training and other ways to help address these topics,” Jonas said. Ta. “We want to draw attention to what we can do to improve standards and find ways to ensure teachers are able and willing to teach these difficult subjects.”

Further information: Anna M. Yonas et al., Misleading Mandates: The Null Curriculum of Genocide Education, The Journal of Social Studies Research (2024). DOI: 10.1177/23522798241238463

Provided by University of Kansas

Citation: State mandates requiring genocide education lack standards to guide teachers, study (October 1, 2024) https://phys.org/news/2024-10- Retrieved October 1, 2024 from state-mandates-requiring-genocide-lack. html

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