Facing History
and Ourselves was an extremely meaningful class to me. Never in my High school
career had I ever had a class like this one. There are so many factors to the
class I liked from the movies we watched, the class discussions, and just the
general thinking that the class provoked. I like the way the class was
executed. We went from simpler stories such as “The Bear Who Wasn’t” to such an
intense and impactful movie like “The Boy in The Striped Pajamas” and “The Gray
Zone”. Everything fell into place very well, the way the course built up really
made it much better. This class has put into question a lot of aspects of my life;
it has made me realize the meaning behind certain things and has shed new light
on my past experiences. The class is raw and shows us the brutal truth behind
many aspects of history. We need to learn from our own experiences and analyze
the world we live in. We must question our beliefs and the beliefs of others if
we do not agree with them.
One of
the biggest things I felt the course revolved around was the Holocaust, but informing
us about the Holocaust was not the main point. Although it was of great
significance, the course was more about making the student think about what
makes them who they are. In the beginning we are introduced to stories, movies
and articles that didn’t have to do directly with the Holocaust. We talked about
things such as the Armenian Genocide, The Little Rock Nine, 12 Angry Men, The
Freedom Writers, etc. They all dealt with viewing yourself as a person and
looking at what is happening and has happened around you.
At the very
beginning of the course I was excited to see what it was all about. We read a
children’s book called “The Bear Who Wasn’t”. I immediately analyzed the book
and tried to figure out what sort of idea it was trying to prove. The bear was
told over and over that he wasn’t a bear until he started to believe it. It’s
representative of how society lumps things together by things that they have in
common. It’s like saying everybody that listens to metal is a Satanist and
worships the devil; this is obviously untrue and ridiculous. I higher authority
tells you what you are when you should tell yourself what you are.
Another
part of the course showed us the movie “The Freedom Writers”. I thoroughly
enjoyed this movie because it was a bit more modern and relatable. Yet again we
had a smaller group of people defying the higher authority. The teacher in the
movie has just started teaching a class of kids that are already condemned by
the school just because they are expected to fail due to the history of many
classes similar to that one. The teacher manages to get through to each and
every student and in the process making a very personal connection to each and
every one of them. It’s not their fault they have to grow up in such horrible environment.
She shows them the extent of their intelligence and that what they’ve been through
has meaning and should be shared with the world. They are stereotyped for their
appearance and how infamous the image portrayed by them. In the end they became
famous for their stories and what they had to share with the world.
The movie
“12 Angry Men” was another movie we watched that had a great impact on me. How
one man contradicted what the rest of the group thought was correct. The ideas
behind the movie amazed me. Showing all the points and analyzing as many points
of a child on trial for assaulting his father. The film shows how you should
analyze as much as you can when it comes down to deciding whether it’s life or
death for a person. If there is space for reasonable doubt you shouldn’t make assumptions.
I believe anybody that is to be on a jury should have to watch this film.
Some the
strongest and most powerful images, stories, and films I have ever seen came
from the Holocaust section of the course. Seeing all of this shows you the extent
of evil, survival, hope, and so many other aspects that we as people can be
brought to. The acts that took place during the Holocaust are inhuman; the
images I saw resembled something that hell itself would resemble. The method in
which the course took us through the events leading up to the Holocaust, how it
was able to happen, how it began, how it was executed, and how it ended
perfectly put a student to have the most effective experience. How the ideology
set forward by the Nazi’s brainwashed an entire nation. How they systematically
killed Jews and disposed of them in the most horrendous and disgusting ways.
The build
up to the last movie we saw put together so well, teaching us about how the
ideas spread through Germany after WWI. Then how the Nazi’s rose to power and
began to brainwash thousands upon thousands of people. Then the Nazis started
WWII and began throwing the Jews into ghettos. The examples of how the Jews
formed their own militias amazed me, the balls it took to stand up to one of
the most powerful military groups in the world at the time. It truly amazed me
the will to survive those people had. As for the Jews in the concentration camps
there where different stories of sheer bravery. Some of the acts committed by
Jew to fellow Jew in an attempt to survive for even a bit longer where hard to
watch. My stomach was in knots every film we watched.
So in conclusion,
Facing History and Ourselves has been by far one of the best experiences I have
ever had in my High School career. This class has been an amazing experience and
I am extremely glad I was able to take it. This class has furthered defining
myself as a person. It makes me want to have a voice with my community. It has
shown me many aspects and what I should improve of myself. I recommend this
class to anyone I know. It is a great class to take on your way out of high
school being either a Junior or a Senior.
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