Matt Hally's Blog

    Before coming into Facing History and Ourselves, I didn’t really know what to expect from the course. Now after having taken the class, it is unlike any other class offered at the high school. In most classes, you read from textbooks and listen to lectures in order to gain knowledge on subjects that will barely help in the future. However, in Facing History and Ourselves, I found that the lessons taught in the class can be functional in almost every aspect of life.
    Another aspect of the course I really liked was that the material was shown in a very interesting way. The numerous films we watched kept the class’s attention, and they were also very effective in getting the point across. Seeing real photographs and events on television is much more valuable than simply reading from a book, as it sends a much more powerful message about what actually happened in the past, and how it affected those involved. For example, the films of personal stories about the Holocaust we watched, such as The Pianist or The Island on Bird Street, allowed me to make a much more personal connection to the events of the Holocaust.
    I chose to take the course because I knew it would discuss past events such as the Holocaust, and I was interested in how something so terrible could actually happen. I did gain a better understanding of how the Nazis were able to do what they did, but on top of learning historical explanations, the course taught me a variety of lessons that no other class has been able to. I would definitely recommend Facing History and Ourselves to anyone considering taking the course.

What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to Me

While progressing through my 12 years of school in Westborough I often found myself sitting in a class and wondering how the subject would ever help me in the future. The combination of disliking a class and knowing it probably would not benefit me are two things that would make me really not enjoy it. However, Facing History and Ourselves is unlike any class I have taken in that no matter what I plan to do with the rest of my life, the things I learn in class are guaranteed to help me. I also enjoyed it because the material was presented in an informative, yet interesting manner. The ways in which the course has benefitted me extends beyond only the classroom, but into the real world.

One of the films I thought helped to teach me a very valuable lesson was regarding the Milgram Experiment, and how different people reacted to the situation. When humans were told to administer shocks to another person for answering a question incorrectly, it was interesting to see the different types of ways the people would respond to being told that there wasn’t even anybody on the other side being shocked. The one person that really stuck in my mind was the man who was nervous to go on with the experiment because he was worried that if something were to happen to the person on the other side, then he would be liable for his injuries. However, once he was reassured that he would not be responsible for whatever may happen to the victim of the shocks, he continued the experiment. This really stuck in my mind because it goes to show what actually factors into the decisions that people make, and that most of the time, people are looking out for themselves. This man came off as completely selfish, and as he didn’t care at all for the person he believed was being put through torcher. This also goes along with one of the main lessons of the course, which is that it is important to avoid being a bystander in a situation you believe is unfair. Being able to imagine yourself in somebody else’s perspective is an essential tendency to develop, as seeing different circumstances from different points of view helps one to understand the severity of an issue, and how you would want others to act if you were put in that predicament. The majority of the people in the Milgram Experiment showed some sense of compassion for the person they believed was being shocked by delaying the experiment, but they didn’t pass the test, because they weren’t intent enough of stopping the person’s misery, as they continued to administer shocks. Although you may think something is wrong, it doesn’t matter unless you do something about it.

This concept is something I believe a lot of people don’t consider when making a decision, that it is not enough to just know that something is wrong, but you have to do something about it. An example of this from the class was from the film we watched about the Warsaw Uprising, and the former German soldier who decided he wanted to help the Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto, instead of helping the Nazi party, who he believed to be unjust and wrong. Although the Jews didn’t trust him to actually help them at first, he gained their trust, and he ended up dying fighting for something he believed was right, instead of going along with what he was told to do, even though it would have been much easier and safer. This man risked his life for help a cause he was sworn to try and defeat, and some people won’t even go a minute out of their way to do any simple thing in everyday life. This lesson also came up during the film The Island on Bird Street, where the doctor across the street helped Alex to get the other adult better after getting shot. Days later, the doctor was taken away by soldiers who had heard that he had been assisting Jews. The doctor helped out the boy because he knew it was the right thing to do, and even though it would have been in his best interest to just ignore the boy and carry on with his business, he didn’t let the way he was expected to act get in the way of the way he knew he should act.

The walls of the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland

One of the final films we viewed, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, showed me a certain aspect of the Holocaust that I rarely considered before. When Bruno’s sister began acting like her father, and she began getting into the Nazi party and putting posters of Hitler in her room, I started to understand one reason why the Nazis got away with what they did. They had instilled the belief within their population that Jews were not humans, and that they shouldn’t be treated like humans, and this made it difficult for people to sympathize with the Jews since they had been told all their life not to. They had developed a somewhat widespread belief that Jews were sub-human, and those that chose to stand out and do something about this deserve credit, as they stepped up against the general opinion. Not only was the Nazi party wrong for attempting to victimize the Jews for no good reason, but they attempted to brainwash their citizens into thinking the same thing. Another aspect of the movie I particularly remembered was at the end when the father went rushing into the camp to look for his Bruno, as he believed he was in danger. This was shocking to me, because this man was aware of the thousands of people that were being killed in this camp everyday for doing nothing wrong, yet he doesn’t have a care at all until his own son is involved. This ties back into the lesson that it is vital to look at scenarios from multiple perspectives, because you have to see a situation from another perspective to really be able to form an opinion. This man didn’t think about everyone who loses their family members day after day in the camp, and he was only concerned about his own life.

The Eternal Jew Nazi Propoganda

I definitely didn’t know what to expect before walking into Facing History and Ourselves, but after taking the course, I am very glad I decided to. It teaches a variety of lessons that can be applied to life any way, and it was done so in an interesting manner. This course definitely positively contributed to myself as both a student and as a person.

Matt Hally's Blog

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Introduction

Make a Difference Essay

Works Cited