Introduction

            The Facing History and Ourselves class is considered by many who have taken it as the most influential, most informative and most impactful classes taught in the high school. The class aims to teach students about topics such as bias, racism and prejudice by showing how they have influenced our history. Students study how these forms of discrimination are exercised daily, but are also the causes of major genocides and The Holocaust. The class examines truths about The Holocaust and how Jews have been discriminated and ill-treated throughout history. It delves into the horrors of The Holocaust while teaching about the life choices that the people who lived in Europe during that time period were forced to make whether they were victims, bystanders or perpetrators. I chose to take this course because of the amazing things I had heard about it, and because of the opportunity I would have to learn more about something important to me. I did not take the class because I am Jewish and in no way is the class meant to be for Jewish people. The class teaches about more then how Jewish people have been treated over history, it teaches us lessons in discrimination towards all types of people. Quite often will the class leave you asking yourself “What would I have done in this situation?” and that seems to be the most important lesson of the class. Its goal is to make you think before you act and think about other people other then yourself.