Thursday, January 9, 2014
Introduction
Facing History and ourselves is a high
school course about WW3. Hitler controlled millions of people and convinced
those people to murder one third of their population, the Jewish race. Facing
history is focused mainly on how such a horrible man like Hitler could lead
millions of people. It focuses on mob mentality, and the roles of being an up
stander, bystander, the victim, the hero, and the prosecutor. This course tries
to help the individual student, understand what it means to be a hero and help
the student apply it to their life, even when the class is far over. It is
taught through many powerful films, depressing pictures, and fearful stories. I
chose facing history because I heard about it from previous juniors who took
it. Last year, as a sophomore, I sat next to a junior who took the class. She
would talk about facing history all the time, even though she seemed depressed
before she walked into class, she changed throughout the year. She became nicer
and happier. If a class could mentally change a student in such a drastic way,
I thought that it had to be impacting and amazing. So I decided to take a
chance. I also thought that it would good to take because my whole life I have
always considered myself and up stander and I wanted to expand on what that
meant. I would always help people when they needed help. Like if I saw a
special needs girl in the cafeteria franticly looking for a chair, I would go
get her one. I would always try to include people in conversations when they
look left out. I do community service and volunteer with my grandma at the
Hudson senior center. I have always tried to help people, I love making
someone’s day a little better. When I was a child I would always compliment
strangers and hold doors, my mother tried to get me to not talk to strangers,
but I just loved the feeling of knowing you make someone smile. Yet I am shy
myself and tend to keep to myself. I have always wished that someone would do
the same things as I do others. I still believe that somehow the universe will
return the favor someday.
What does Facing
History mean to me?
School shows us how to become a better student
and get a good education, although In math class, students always ask the question
“when will we use this?” I don’t really need to know how many people were In
the Montgomery bus boycott, or what Washington did before he was president. The Borhs model is useless unless I want to
become a chemist. All these “skills” that school claims to teach us, are never
going to help me survive in the world. The lessons I learn in Facing history
and ourselves, are life skills that should be carried with me for my entire
life. I have learned to be a better person, and walk in other peoples shoes.
Even though the course is directed around the holocaust, the movies The movies
we watch in class are very powerful and inspiring, like the movie Uprising.
Uprising changed my entire view about the war, people, and just overall
perspectives. In History class we never really talked about revolt from the
Jewish community. All we talked about was the Nazis killing millions of people.
Before Facing History I always thought that the Jewish community just sat by
and never took action. I was wrong. Uprising broadened my knowledge of the
Jewish community and what really happened during the Holocaust. It was movies
like that and the books like the Bear That Wasn't and activities we have all helped
me become a better person. By learning from the past, and seeing what other’s
actions can do to one another. To me Facing History is the only class that
truly matters in school. The Facing History course has meant giving me a chance
to: better the community, be an individual, and understanding myself and who I
am.
By doing the honors project requirement, with
community service, I was able to help people in need. For my assignment I chose
to help an autistic boy, named Evan. He is four years old and is the sweetest
kid I have ever met. I am so glad I had to opportunity to meet him and help his
family out, through the sun-rise program.
This class has giving me an opportunity to meet new people and become
more involved in the community. If I have not taken this class, then I would
have probably never put myself out there, and never would have become a better
person.
Facing History has helped my
have a better attitude towards life and myself. The pictures we got to hold in
class helped me realize who I really am. Before the pictures the holocaust
movies and information never really affected me as heavily, and I believed that
I was a bully because I was not as affected, by the movies, as much as I should
have been. People would tell me that those movies were terrible and they cried,
but I just sat and watched. I never felt any real emotion towards them, but
when I held those photographs in my hand and got a closer look, I was appalled.
The photograph with the happy commanders eating blue berries on the bridge,
made me furious. I just wanted to hit them all. The fact that those people were
smiling and having fun, when they knew that they were murdering innocent people
made me very upset. I was angry and that helped me realize that I’m not a bully
at all. I was never a bully towards people, and I cared. It’s not just the
material that made me realize who I am. The people in the class have also
influenced me. I made friends and have become more outgoing and friendly
towards people. Although I was never mean before I was just sometimes shy and
now I am not scared to talk to new people or initiate a conversation. The Stories Mr. Gallagher mentions are a key
importance to my newfound behavior. The story about the door and doing
something nice because it the right thing to do, not for praise. That story go
to me because I do nice things all the time for strangers and I never get a thank
you or anything, and sometimes I would upset that I even did it in the first
place, but then I realize why I did it. Just to be nice and help someone out,
not to be recognized for it.
Towards the beginning of the
year we talked about being an individual and doing what you think is right.
Like in the movie 12 angry men, the man truly believed that the kid should not
have been convicted due to reasonable doubt. The man ended up saving that boys
life by convincing the entire mean to believe that they should not convict him.
That movie taught me to stick up for what I believe in, no matter what everyone
else thinks. By sticking up for myself I am proving that I am an individual.
The Milgram experiment also influenced me to be an individual, because of the
ruthless actions people do when they don’t do what they believe in, or just
because someone tells them to do something. In the experiment the teacher knew
that the learner could be dead, but they kept shocking him. Being an individual
is the better choice because you trust yourself.
Contributing
to the community, realizing who I am, and becoming an individual are all life
skills that I could not acquire by learning how to multiply number. Facing
history have given me something I will never forget. I have truly become a
better person throughout the semester. I have gained so many amazing experiences
through the opportunities that I have taken because of this class. To me facing history and ourselves is more
than a class. In all my other classes I do what I have to pass and excel.
Facing history is different, I enjoy the material and I know that when I leave,
everything I have learned will always stick with me. To me Facing History means
a life lesson.
Works Cited:
google images. images. Jan 9 2014.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQY2J-7y5OcIhuuUgvzu3a9fY2h4__RUiFMGfs3FRwXJXp505I_gBaGfm1E
google images. images. Jan 9 2014. https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRc50z9vwmfztwlZFBThtIJdhL1IaN8v2FrCbqFaQmla-hV-1N3
google images. images.Jan 9 2014.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTBa4JvFhzYKFQFr_9SLnMvORwKchxWiI7tLxwZcm6WZ4rqEyDF
google images. images. Jan 9 2014.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQQfkG_CLvMbT1cneNYVocDWzVQUTmDekrjRS4WImc7SUekZYou
google images.images. Jan 9 2014. https://encryptedtbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRVmqye24sAqou73E4OosZWO3esuvktUDjCD0ccrnrZES4d7W
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