Introduction

The Facing History and Ourselves course may be the hardest class you ever take at this high school.  Not because there are countless projects and assignments and homework… there is nearly none.  The reason the course is so difficult is because you will be forced to stare directly into the horrifically evil reality that the Nazi’s created during the Holocaust, uncensored and unrefined, while at the same time learning about yourself.  Looking at these unfathomable evils constantly provokes the question why… and you must ask yourself.  The films (shown nearly every day) start off slow, and the first half of the class focuses more on training you to really examine what you are seeing for what it is, and to think about things.  To think about what you would have done, placed in their shoes.  After this skill has been developed, and the films get gradually more real, meaningful, and disturbing, you don’t have to be asked once to really think about what you are seeing. And as you continue to face the truth, the desire to make it all go away fades, and only the need to do your own part to prevent anything like it from ever happening again prevails.  I chose to take this course because I love history, and because all of my friends who had taken it said that they really learned something, and that the class is an experience in itself.  My name is Ethan Kaphammer, I’m 17, I’m a student at Westborough High School, and I have learned more in this class than any other after three full years at this school.