Facing History and Ourselves was a great course that benefited me both as a person and as a student. I learned the ugly truth about many of the events about history and grew more as a person and became more knowledgeable as a student. One of our main focuses during the semester was the holocaust. Before taking this class, my knowledge about this topic was as far as knowing Hitler as a terrible person who killed many Jews. Clearly, I did not know too much about this incredibly important topic. I learned that, although Hitler was a terrible man, he was truly brilliant. He was able to rise to power when Germany was at an economic stalemate. He was an incredible speaker, who could use his powerful words and voice to brainwash an entire country of innocent people. Nowadays, watching Barack Obama speak precisely and intelligently on TV is nothing compared to Hitler back then. Hitler never read off a teleprompter; he would go on for hours speaking clearly and powerfully with no written speech in front of him. This aspect of history made me fascinated with Hitler. This was just one of the few ideas and facts I learned about the holocaust. Also, by watching videos of Hitler speaking, I was shocked how no one stood up or said what they believed in. It seemed like everyone just followed what the Fuhrer, or leader, was telling them to do. I was amazed that everyone just conformed to whatever Hitler said or wanted. I think I've grown a lot as a person by feeling more confident to say what I believe and express my own opinion after learning about Hitler and the holocaust. More importantly, I've learned how significant it is for one to express their own opinion.
One facet of the course that meant a lot to me was watching the movie, Freedom Writers. Freedom Writers was an incredible movie that really touched me. A young, white women decided to be a teacher in a rough inner city school. The inner city school was predominantly African American and it was very difficult for her to get the students to listen to a white woman. However, she decided to stand up against all odds and kept persevering and trying to make a difference in her students lives. Eventually, she was able to adjust her teaching style and relate to the students. She even did a lesson on analyzing poetry through a song that all the kids new, Juicy, by Notorious B.I.G. The students began to respect her more and more and by the end of the year they wanted to continue their junior year of English with her. What I really admired the most about this teacher was how she always put her students before herself. She even got another job so she could pay for them to have new books and to go on a field trip. Most of the time in school, I feel like its always a teacher versus the student relationship. I loved how the teacher in this movie wanted to help these students and be friends with them. She taught them a lot about English, but also how to cope with their personal differences and problems. Many of the students in her class were from different ethnicity's and had disputes with each other because of their different gangs. She taught them to put aside their differences as it was time for them to quit hurting one another emotionally and physically. Ultimately, the was a phenomenon movie as the teacher taught her students to grow as learners and as people. I will always remember this movie and recommend it to my friends, family, or classmates.
Another part of Facing History that meant a lot to me was the film, The Milgram Experiment. This film was very interesting as Yale University psychologist, Stanley Milgram, performed an experiment that showed how obedient people are when facing a higher power. The experiment was designed to measure the willingness of the participants to obey the authority figure that instructed them to send an electrical shock to the subjects each time they answered a question incorrectly. It was truly astonishing to see how each person reacted during the experiment. There was a pre-recorded tape that acted as the subject after each shock of voltage. After a few shocks of voltage, the subject would complain about a certain heart condition. With each shock of voltage, the subject would complain about the heart conditioning becoming worse and exclaimed "Get me out of this thing! I don't want to go on anymore!" This experiment was a true test for each person's moral values. All of the participants at one point or another asked the authority figure if they had to continue. The authoritative figure replied, "yes, the experiment requires you to continue. I take full responsibility if anything happens." Although the participants would hear the subjects screaming, they almost all continued and some of them even finished the test. This showed how people succumb to higher powers just because they are said to be "superior." This is very similar to the holocaust. The holocaust began because of Hitler's terrible and sick mind, but continued because he was able to brain wash the country and make people succumb to his beliefs. This was one of my favorite films this semester as it showed how dangerous power can be.
A third facet of Facing History and Ourselves that meant a lot to me was when we watched the movie,
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. This movie was about a boy and his family who moved near a concentration camp because his father was a Nazi soldier. The boy doesn't understand who the Jews are and why they are wearing "striped pajamas." He only sees the world with people as people and doesn't see any difference from one person to the next. He befriends a small boy when he adventures off and finds the concentration camp. He thinks the little boy enjoys being fenced in the camp and thinks their playing a game with the different numbers on their pajamas. However, the little boy discovers that the camp is no game when he sneaks in there to help his friend find his father. Unfortunately, he sneaks in on the day the Nazis kill all the Jews in the gas chambers. It was heart breaking to see this. However, it reminded me of karma for the little boy's father. He brought his family to a very dangerous place and never saw or stopped to think that what he was doing was disgusting. Unfortunately for him, what goes around comes around and this time it fatally ended in his little boy's death. This movie taught me the importance of knowing what I'm doing at all times and understanding its consequences. It also emphasized the horrible things the Nazi's did to the Jews. Overall, this was a great film that was inspiring. I was glad that we got to watch the whole movie in class.
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