Study: 22% of Millennials are unaware or unsure of what the Holocaust is

[blondebanshee]

The study was conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. Eleven percent of U.S. adults haven't heard or are unsure of what the Holocaust was.

Sixty-six percent of Millennials and 41 percent of adults don't know what Auschwitz is.

[link:https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/study-22-of-millennials-are-unaware-or-unsure-of-what-the-holocaust-is|

[Renew Deal]

1. This is why history repeats itself.

Enough time passes that people either forget or are never told or they think they won’t make the same mistakes.

[NYMinute]

2. This should be a required course

in the 9th or 10th grade all around the world.

[tymorial]

4. 20th century history was an elective in high school

Granted that was nearly 25 years ago but I agree with you.

[Caliman73]

19. We studied the Holocaust in both US and World history in high school.

True. I graduated in 1991, but it was part of the basic curriculum then.

[ProudLib72]

48. I had a high school class dedicated the history of to WWII Germany

That was in 1990.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Shocking. What has become of our educational system?

[world wide wally]

7. They focus on standardized testing constantly.

There aren't any questions about the Holocaust

[barbtries]

13. republicans. nt

[EffieBlack]

27. Even if they don't teach it in school, where is the intellectual curiosity to learn it on one's own.

Folks' knowledge in this information age is - or should not be - limited to what they learned in school. Surely much of what millennials know now was never taught in their classrooms ...

Capt. Ross: Corporal Barnes ... Is there no book, no manual or pamphlet, no set of orders or regulations that lets me know that, as a Marine, one of my duties is to perform code reds?

Cpl. Barnes: No, sir. No book, sir.

Capt. Ross: No further questions.

[as Ross walks back to his table Kaffee takes the book out of his hand]

Kaffee: Corporal, would you turn to the page in this book that says where the mess hall is, please?

Cpl. Barnes: Well, Lt. Kaffee, that's not in the book, sir.

Kaffee: You mean to say in all your time at Gitmo, you've never had a meal?

Cpl. Barnes: No, sir. Three squares a day, sir.

Kaffee: I don't understand. How did you know where the mess hall was if it's not in this book?

Cpl. Barnes: Well, I guess I just followed the crowd at chow time, sir.

Kaffee: No more questions.

From "A Few Good Men"

[misanthrope]

30. Just what was intended

by those who see educated lower classes as a hindrance to their selfish aims.

[CrispyQ]

52. Standardized testing.

The GOP has focused on filling positions in Boards of Education since the 1980s. They had a long term strategy & it's paying off.

And sports. This country is sports crazed. It's obscene how much many universities pay their sports coaches. And even at a high school level sports is often emphasized/supported more than academics.

[appalachiablue]

53. Sports, money, competition, military-warfare, sex- all connected

[CrispyQ]

55. All connected to the patriarchy. -nt

[appalachiablue]

58. Yup. Education has taken a real hit in 40 yrs. as planned.

[appalachiablue]

57. Holocaust knowledge is also declining among Europeans, Canadians!!

- A Third Of People In Major European Countries Know Little Or Nothing About The Holocaust. Many Europeans also hold anti-Semitic beliefs, a CNN poll confirms, Huff Post, Nov. 28, 2018.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/holocaust-antisemitism-survey-europe-cnn_n_5bfef9bfe4b0e254c9270726

- Study: Canadians Lack Basic Knowledge of the Holocaust. Like their U.S. counterparts, young adults in Canada show an alarming knowledge gap, a survey shows. US News, Jan. 2019.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2019-01-24/canadian-young-adults-know-little-about-the-holocaust-survey-finds

[Iliyah]

5. I learned about this in school. They don't teach it anymore?

[rownesheck]

6. This is sad.

But with so much information available on an infinite amount of topics nowadays, maybe the brain can only retain so much. Stuff just gets pushed aside.

[Caliman73]

20. It is more than sad, it is educational neglect.

You are right, there is a great deal of information to cover, however WW2 is still a pivotal event in World History and the Holocaust should certainly be a section of study during the unit on WW2. It is quite simple really.

WW2 as a consequence of the failings of the Treaty of Versailles and other Treaties.

The Rise of Hitler & the Third Reich in the context of social and economic upheaval in the 1920's and 1930's.

The Reich's use of antisemitism and the beginnings of expansion into the east.

The failure of European powers to stop the rise of the Nazis and American isolationism in the 1920's and 30's.

The War & The Final Solution.


Obviously there would be units on the Rise of Japan and expansionism in the Pacific as well, but the Holocaust was a central theme in the European theater of war.

[treestar]

8. Don't even need to learn in school

Just general awareness. There are many documentaries, books, and articles.

[Solly Mack]

9. How is that even possible?

The information is out there. School, documentaries, books, remembrances.

How?

WTF?

How?

Disgusting.

[pnwmom]

34. Because teachers don't want to teach it. When my daughter was in high school

her teacher said she didn't want the history term paper to be on a topic "everybody" already knew about. One of them was the Holocaust.

[Solly Mack]

36. Sounds like a teacher tired of reading bad term papers.

Or an idiot.

[pnwmom]

37. I vote for "idiot." n/t

[Cuthbert Allgood]

10. "Sixty-six percent of Millennials and 41 percent of adults" Um, every Millennial is an adult.

So, not sure who this survey is polling.

[dumbcat]

16. There are other adults that aren't Millennials

such as us Boomers.

So the survey was among a group of adults, not all of whom were Millennials.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

25. Got it--processed it incorrectly as I glanced at it clearly.

My bad.

[dumbcat]

35. No problem

I've been known to do that upon occasion.

[Blecht]

17. It's not complicated

Last edited Wed Apr 24, 2019, 06:51 PM - Edit history (1)

It means what it says.

The idea that all Millennials are adults, but not all adults are Millennials is something you need to bring to the party.

Here is the info about the survey (just two links away):

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany commissioned Schoen Consulting to conduct a comprehensive national study of Holocaust knowledge and awareness in the United States. Schoen Consulting conducted 1,350 interviews with American adults aged 18 and over between February 23–27, 2018. The margin of error is +/- 3%.

[onecaliberal]

11. My god.... words fail.

[barbtries]

12. doomed to repeat.

the dumbing down is nearly complete eh.

[ecstatic]

14. I'm sure this is by design, but I find it disgusting

that those in control of the curriculum/textbooks/etc have systematically whitewashed history with regard to slavery, the Holocaust, Native Americans, etc. Again, I think it's by design, but I don't think it's going to work out the way they intended. When citizens become overwhelmingly ignorant of history, the entire country is at risk of failing, and yes, that affects the 1% as well.

[dugog55]

15. It is a bit strange that Germany,

who were the perpetrators of the Holocaust, have classes in school for all their students on the Holocaust. They do not hide from it, and use it as a lesson for future generations as to just how horrible people can be to other people. It is not a 30 minute slide show, but a detailed, lengthy course. I am sure it is sobering to some children to know that Great Grandpa was a Nazi and participated in such a horrific program.

[TexasBushwhacker]

56. Like the US should have classes on slavery and the genocide of Native Americans n/t

[Trumpocalypse]

18. Unbelievable

My high school had an entire course on the Holocaust.

[Mariana]

24. Exactly. It's unbelievable.

That's why I don't believe it. I believe many of the respondents were pissed off that this idiot pollster was asking them such a stupid question.

[obamanut2012]

38. Yeah, I don't believe it, either

[RobinA]

21. Part Of The Problem

is that kids don't read at all anymore. I don't even remember where I learned about the Holocaust. We read Diary of Anne Frank in 6th grade. I THINK we had it in school, but I could remember falsely. I was a voracious reader and picked up a lot outside of school. I know we covered WW2 many times in Jr. High and High School.

Another odd issue that I discovered was when several of us in my family did DNA testing. It came out that my niece knew next to nothing about genetics. Because she went to the same high school that my sister and I went to, and we had a very good genetics unit, I asked her way she didn't know anything. She said that she didn't remember studying it and if they had she probably wouldn't have believed it. I was floored. It's science. Science progresses, but not believing science you learn in school in the 2000s? She's a millennial, and I had to wonder if all millennials don't believe what they learn in school. I mean, there's healthy skepticism and then there's not believing how cells divide.

[Amishman]

22. I wonder if some if that is trolling the poll taker

I know when I was in my teens, I was a contrary shithead and probably would have gleefully played dumb to mess with their results

[Mariana]

23. The Millennial who lives in my house thinks so.

She and her friends hate polls like this, because the questions are stupid and/or insulting.

Just for the record, there are no Millennial teens. All of them are adults.

[moose65]

29. Millennials aren't teenagers.

The youngest millennials are 22, 23 years old. The oldest ones are in their late 30s.

[Srkdqltr]

26. So 88% are sure and aware of the holocust.

I don't think that is all that bad.

[JaneQPublic]

28. Do schools spend much time teaching 20th century history?

Not having kids, I really don't know, but my own high school experience a million years ago was that lots of class time was spent on the Civil War and western civilization, etc., but next to nothing on more recent history.

In fact, my first exposure to Jim Crow laws was on a field trip to Lincoln's New Salem, IL, not from our history teacher but from an African-American classmate who schooled the rest of us on the bus trip home.

I probably first heard the word "Holocaust" from the 1970s TV mini-series by the same name, not in class.

Judging from the poll's findings, nothing much has improved in the eons since I was in high school.

[sarisataka]

31. General history courses

Typically get through the Depression but speed through the rest of the 20th century if they have time. High schools may offer more in depth courses on 20th century history but usually those are electives.

[JaneQPublic]

32. Thanks!

[Captain Stern]

33. It's sad, but I believe it.

Because, for the most part, people don't really give a shit about stuff that happened 'a long time ago' or stuff that doesn't affect their daily life, so they forget it.

I'd bet that most adults can't name the original 13 colonies or tell you what an Isosceles Triangle is......despite almost everyone having learned those things in school.

[bdamomma]

42. You have to understand the past

to move forward in the future. Sad really sad. So people wouldn't give two shits if they living in a dictatorship???

[Captain Stern]

49. I agree. We do have to understand the past to move forward in the future.

But a significant percentage of people don't worry about it because they figure someone else will take care of doing that understanding. If it's not happening right now, and it doesn't affect them directly, they don't care.

That's why one in five millennials are unaware, or unsure of, what the Holocaust was. It's not that it wasn't that they weren't taught about the Holocaust in school. They were. They just forgot it. It was 'a long time ago', so it's about as important to them as stories about the old west, or medieval times, or Alexander the Great.

And, I'm not knocking millennials in particular. The generation behind them is going to be even more ignorant about the Holocaust, and the generation after that even more so.

And as far as people not giving two shits if they live in a dictatorship........Yes, there are people that wouldn't care if they lived in a dictatorship, because they might not even be aware that they live in a dictatorship. There are also plenty of folks that would be perfectly happy living under a dictator, as long as they liked that dictator.

I can practically guarantee you that there are a good amount of people in our country that would prefer to have trump as a dictator to having an elected President who is a Democrat.

[bdamomma]

59. Captain Stern

your comment is chilling. But thank you for your honesty. This POS isn't giving the people anything to better their lives, just blames brown people when it is that top 1% that are stealing from us.

[Spider Jerusalem]

39. "Millennials" are adults, the oldest are in their mid-30's now (n/t)

[bdamomma]

40. That is sad

I guess history isn't being taught in schools, the way to keep the masses ignorant and easier to manipulate.

[Volaris]

41. How the fuck is this POSSIBLE???

Oh wait, Betsy Devos...nuff said, I guess

Still...

[Mariana]

43. DeVos had nothing to do with educating Millennials.

They were out of high school before she was appointed to her position.

[Volaris]

44. Technically that's true...but her and her ilk have been with us in one form or another

Since the founding of the public education system.

One of the questions I'd like her asked in Public:

Would your various companies have made nearly as much money if the workforce you employ, consisted ONLY of rich kids whos parents could AFFORD to teach them to read?

'crickets.'

That's what the fuck I thought.

[Joe941]

45. Where there is ignorance repukes thrive.

[Behind the Aegis]

46. Not surprised.

Nor am I surprised by the defense of that ignorance. There have been other polls where findings were similar. Holocaust denial and revisionism are also on the increase.

[Codeine]

47. I didn't learn about the Holocaust in school either

and I’m irritatingly close to fifty years old. Of course I knew about it because I read books and watched documentaries and was always interested in history, but younger people don’t read or learn much outside of school much in my experience.

[JonLP24]

50. I learned a lot about the Holocaust, Hitler

Read Anne Frank and watched the movie. Learned about how Nazi propaganda used Jewish stereotypes. I remember it well. Also 60 civil rights movement was covered as well. I finished school sometime before 2003 but I learned a lot more after school than I did in school.

[redstatebluegirl]

51. You don't know where you are going if you don't know where you have been.

The lack of historical knowledge and civics with this generation is extremely troubling. I work with them every day so i know what I am talking about.

[appalachiablue]

54. Not just the US. Ignorance is widespread in Canada, Britain, France

among the young and adults according to recent surveys. Shameful.