Reply #120: You say you don't want your daughter to lose hope,

[Ms. Toad]

But all I have seen you doing is railing at the reality she was shown. That is not helping your daughter realize/continue to believe that she can make a difference. Do some research, or encourage your daughter to do some research into the individuals who did make a difference in the Holocaust - in small or large ways. There are many.

Even in the face of great evil, people can and do make a difference. Complaining about the manner in which your daughter was exposed to the evils of history will only feed the feelings you say you are concerned about - you've just added one more evil to the pile - the teacher who hurt your child.

From your description I suspect graphic content the 15+ presentations was under the control of the 15+ students who gave them. So long as the teacher did not dictate the content of the (probably required) visual aids, the students' selections of what visual/audio aids to use is not her fault. Showing two graphic films (similar to what I was shown at that age) is far different from the teacher selecting and presenting nothing but graphic visual/audio depictions of the Holocaust.

Yes, I think you are being over-protective - but if your perception is that the student presentations on top of the introductory material from the teacher were too intense, you might suggest that the teacher find ways to make it less intense. Perhaps she could consider giving some additional guidance regarding the content (perhaps other topics) of the presentations and/or the content of the visual/audio aids: Additional holocaust topics might include: individuals who made a positive difference, oral history of a holocaust survivor, economic and political conditions in Germany and other countries that permitted Hitler's ascent, Denmark, why the US was so reluctant to get involved. Visual aids could be limited to a single picture per presentation, could be required to be personally created (which would minimize the graphic nature and allow the students to pour some of their feelings about the matter out in a creative way). Student presentations could also be spread out over a period of a couple of weeks, rather than concentrated in a four day period.

For perspective, I have a 17 year old daughter, and I was a high school (9-12) teacher for 11 years. I have no problem at all with my daughter's graphic exposure to the reality of violence - but I still screen her from some R and some PG-13 movies which use graphic violence for entertainment. My daughter has been encouraged to believe she can make a difference AND has been exposed to the (graphic) harsh realities of the world. The two are not incompatible, and the gap between 14 and voting is very short - it is not too soon for her to understand the very real consequences of selecting a dictatorial, egotistical, cruel leader.