Introduction
Hi bloggers, my name is Christopher Clancy, I’m 18 years old
and I am a Senior at Westborough High School.
I am very involved at WHS as I am on both the varsity Indoor and Outdoor
Track teams, I’m a Student Ambassador, and an active member of Interact
Club. Although I have enjoyed my time
here at WHS I am ready to move on. This
coming fall I will be attending East Carolina University as a Kinesiology major. But enough about me, what you bloggers really
want to know is what this class Facing
History and Ourselves is all about.
What is this class with such a strange name? Well that’s what I’m here to tell you about,
what this class is all about. The class Facing History and Ourselves is a semester
course that focuses on the effects of being the bystander, segregation, racism
and really zooms in on the Holocaust.
These topics are discussed primarily through the use of watching videos
and documentaries. After viewing you are
required to blog about what was watched in class that day and are free to
express whatever you want on the subject instead of having to take quizzes and
tests on the material. I choose to take
Facing History and Ourselves because students who had previously taken the class
said it was an opportunity I shouldn’t pass up on. A number of the videos and documentaries are
tough to watch as they are very realistic of the times and make you sick to
your stomach that some of these events especially The Holocaust for myself happened. They really make you think, if America wasn’t
a bystander during The Holocaust could it have been stopped sooner? It is things like these that make you think
in a different way about certain events in history like you never did before. This is why I’m grateful that Mr. Gallagher
fought for this class so that students at WHS could gain this new sense of
thinking. The course also taught us to not only apply this new way of thinking
to the historical events we learn about in class but apply it to our everyday
lives, to not be that bystander and to be leader.
What Facing Hisotry and Ourselves Meant To Me
Last year while I was looking through thee program of
studies online on the Westborough High School Home Page to fill my Senior
Schedule I knew I wanted a history class to balance out my schedule Although I
knew this I wasn’t sure what history class I wanted to take even after reading
the descriptions of the classes over and over again. History and Ourselves was the one I was most
interested I learning more about because of the good words I had previously
heard from Seniors, but I decided to ask them personally so I could make a more
informed decision. The overall feedback from the Seniors was the class was a
blow off; you blog about a video shown
in class, no quiz’s or tests. This is
why I decided to take this class, but soon found out it was not a blow off and
that I actually leared more than I did in my regular history classes because I
wasn’t forced to learn the information but learned it by interest.
The first day of class, Mr. Gallagher had music playing on
his portable radio. I had no idea what
to expect from this teacher because of that.
Most teachers at Westborough are anti fun so things were looking good. Those first few weeks we talked about
ourselves. We wrote down characteristics of ourselves on paper. When we presented our thoughts of ourselves
to Mr. Gallagher he responded with “So all of you would have joined the Hitler
Youth.” I didn’t understand what he
meant at first because he didn’t explain himself until five minutes later so we
could really think about what he said.
He then explained that we would do what ever the majority would do to
“fit in”and that we are all bystnders, one of the main topics discussed in the
class. I realized that I probably would
have joined the Hitler youth in order to protect my family and I despite it
killing other people. This really made
me question my personality “am I a follower?”
I decided that from now on I will no longer be a follower but a leader
and stnd up for what I think is right, so now I wouldsay I would have not
joined the Hitler Youth.
In the following weeks we discussed racism and
segregation. The most powerful movie we
watched that really got the point aross of racism andsegregtionwas “A Class
Divided.” The teacher set up a scenario
where her class was only allowed to play outside at recess with certain kids
with similar physical characteristics as them and were not allowed to play with
children that were not even if thy were friends. I was amazed that the kids were so easily
persuaded to think one way and became racist bullies while the day before they
didn’t have those thoughts. Society has
made it so that we are unaccepting as we are not born have these feelings of
hate. I realized I personally judged
others by their backgrounds inside my head, never to them. I erealized that stereotypes aren’t always
true, they are just stereotypes and I should be basing my opinion on someone by
the content of their character not their background.
We later moved onto the Holocaust, which we spent the most
time on talking about in class. I
couldn’t believe this event actually took place. How people could be so cruel. The Jews are not different from anyone
else. In fact I almost think this all
started because Germans were jealous that Jews were s successful. I began to develop a hatred for injustice
even more than I already had. What’s
right is right. Unarguably the most
powerful and hardest movie to watch was the video at the end of the course
where we saw actual potage of the death
camps. I couldn’t believe what I was
seeing, it was too hard to watch. I got
quivers up and down my spine. I don’t
think I’ll ever watch a movie ever again that will make me that sick to my
stomach.
At the end of this course I felt like a changed man. I stopped judging others based on things they
couldn’t control and no longer even joke about things that could be taken
offensively. Iam no longer the bystander
and will always stand up for what is right.
When I signed up for this course I was ready to slack off, take a nap,
pull a Senior Slide, but Mr. Gallagher made this class so intense that even the
slackers in school well couldn’t slack.Now that I’ve completed class and so
haven’t my other twenty odd some clas mates I feel it is our responsibility now
to spread the word of History and Ourselves, to not be a bystander, to face
challenges and to never let these events such as The Holocaust ever happen
again. I will be a different Senior from those prior to me and say that this
class is not a blow off like everyone says but an intense class where you learn
so much that it changes your life.
Christopher Clancy. Google
Images. Online Images. January 12, 2014
A Class Divided. Google
images. Online Images January 12,
2014
Concentration Camps. Google
Images. Online Images. January 1, 2014
Nystander. Google
Images. Online Images. January 12, 2014
Peace On Earth. Google
Images. Online Images. January 12, 2014
