Introduction

My name is Kevin Ruhl. I am a graduating senior at Westborough High School and I am just finishing up the Facing History & Ourselves course taught by Mr. Gregory Gallagher. I took this course for a few reasons, many of my friends had told me how interesting and educational the course is. Also, I enjoy history, especially learning about the World Wars. This Facing History course is largely based on the Holocaust, and how the Holocaust came to be. Throughout a semester in this class you will see things that you may not want to see, but you will learn so much about not just the Holocaust but also about yourself. In taking a course like this, your really only going to get out what you are willing to put in. If you go into the class with a good attitude and are ready to learn, then I personally guarantee that you will enjoy your time here. Throughout the course of half of one school year I have grown and matured exponentially, a large percentage of that growth is due to the Facing History course. I’m not going to sit here and say that every minute of every day of this course were fun and interesting, but every part of the course is necessary. At the beginning of the course I just wanted to get into the action and learn about the holocaust. But instead for about a month we learned about people in general. I didn’t understand why we were doing this at first, but as the course carried on I realized there was a purpose behind it. You can’t learn about others and the reasons behind their actions without first knowing yourself and who you truly are. I think that the Facing History course is one that every high school senior should take, it teaches you a lot about history and the holocaust, but more importantly you learn a whole lot about yourself. Whether you like it or not, your flaws and your stronger qualities come out through out the course of this class. I believe that Facing History has been one of the many factors that has made me a better person over the course of my high school career. Thank you again to Mr. Gallagher, for doing a great job teaching the course and for being such a kind and considerate person. I hope for the best with you and your family in the future. And I am sure that we will keep in touch.

What Facing History Meant to Me

 Facing History and Ourselves has been one of the more influential courses I have taken throughout my high school experience. As it’s a course only available to seniors, I have been interested in getting into the class since I was first told about it my sophomore year. I learned of the class from my tenth grade history teacher, Mr. Gallagher, I also talked to many of my friends from the class of 2010 who had told me several times that it’s a great class that teaches you a lot about the holocaust and yourself. On the first day of second semester, sitting in Mr. Gallagher’s classroom, he addressed our class and told us that we must first learn who we truly are before we can learn why others did what they did. For a long time we talked about people, why they do, and the reasoning behind the decisions that they have made. This course has helped me to be more careful with the way I act. For example, before second semester began I used words like gay, faggot, jew, and retard pretty loosely. Not ever really considering the way my words could affect people who were around me. I didn’t know if someone standing behind me was gay, or knew someone who was gay, or if they had a sibling who was mentally disabled. Seeing other people do terrible things make you question yourself, it makes you ask yourself why you do what you do. There have been a very few times in my life where I have honestly gone out of my way to make someone feel bad about themselves, or make them feel lower than they should. Looking back on that now, I regret it entirely. Watching the videos we saw in Facing History and Ourselves and seeing the ways that people treated Jews during 1940’s made me feel sick. I remember in one of our classes we talked about being a victim, a perpetrator, a bystander, and resistance. On the first day that I walked into Facing History and Ourselves I would have considered myself a bystander. I would never really be the instigator in a situation but I wouldn’t do anything to stop someone from getting bullied. After being enrolled in this course for a semester (it should be a full year course) I think my perspective on that subject has changed. I think that I would be more likely to step in and help someone who was being picked on after taking Facing History and Ourselves.

A few aspects of this course that I found particularly interesting were a few of the films that we saw. The first inside look at the way Jews were treated leading to the holocaust that our class got was watching the movie The Pianist. This movie was very hard to watch at times, I didn’t understand why some of the Jews were treated the way that they were, or why Jewish police officers were helping the Germans in moving their people. Another film that I thought impacted the way I thought was the movie, Uprising. It amazed me the endurance and fight that those Warsaw Jews had. They never gave in, they talked about giving up, and accepting defeat, but never actually gave into it. I was also impressed with the way that they were willing to die for their cause. They didn’t want to be remembered as the people who went without a fight, I think that to have an attitude like that, takes an enormous amount of courage. My third and final favorite film from the Facing History course was The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I thought that this film was special because it showed you that not all of the Germans were monsters. Bruno’s mother was devastated when she found out what was going on in her backyard. It was relieving to see that not the entire German nation had been brainwashed by Hitler and his Nazis. Another reason that I liked this film was that it gives the perspective of a young child. Bruno had no idea what was going on around him, he thought that to be in the camps the Jews were held in was like a vacation or some sort of privilege. This film gave me some insight on how fooled Hitler and the Nazis had all of Germany. I thought that the ending of this movie was very sad and unfortunate, but it was almost nice to finally see someone other than Jews suffer in these movies. Not to say that I was happy that Bruno died, but I was almost glad that something like this had happened to his father. Those Germans were unnecessarily cruel to the Jews, for example, the potato peeler, there was no need to beat him the way he did after he spilled the glass of wine.

 As a whole, the Facing History and Ourselves course has facilitated a great deal of change within me in the last semester. Coming into this class a bit self centered, and unaware of my surroundings, I have learned a lot. Now, when I speak I take into consideration who is around me and their feelings, and I choose my words much more carefully. I had never noticed how greatly my actions and words could affect others; in the past it’s mostly been about how my actions and words affect me. This course has taught me to care for others and to be considerate about their feelings. This course has also taught me not to be a follower, don’t do something just because other people are doing it. If you want to do something do it for a good reason, not for some pointless laugh that you’re going to forget about in ten minutes. I believe that every high school senior should take this class; I’ll even go as far as to say it should be a graduation requirement. I think that this course teaches students a lot about themselves and the other people living around them. I think that it’s a course worth taking before one is about to head out on their own in the real world. I can honestly say that throughout senior year I have become a better person. Through my experiences with other teachers, my fellow students, and in the Facing History class, I have grown exponentially. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be ready to leave when the time came, but I have grown up a lot in the past eight months, and can honestly say it’s my time to go. Thank you for the experience and the time you put into this great course Mr. Gallagher, you do a fantastic job teaching the class. I can’t thank you enough for being such an influential person throughout my high school career. Keep on keepin’ on. You’re the man!

Works Cited

Warsaw Uprising. Google Images. Images. 18 May 2011.

A Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Google Images. Images. 19 May 2011.

The Pianist. Google Images. Images. 19 May 2011.

Holocaust. Google Images. Images. 19 May 2011.

Nazi Germany. Google Images. Images. 19 May 2011.