by George J Elbaum

Methuen High School (MHS) is a public secondary school serving grades 9-12.  It has an enrollment of 1950, of which 46% is minority and 47% from low-income families.  The Holocaust is taught at MHS as part of English Department studies by teacher Jackie Rubino, who organized my presentation at MHS and uses educational materials from Facing History and Ourselves and other sources.  This was my 3rd visit to MHS, and many 9th-12th grade students were gathered in 3 classrooms today for my talk via Zoom.  As last year, the students have already studied much of the Holocaust and Human Behavior book from Facing History, “Schindler’s List,” selections from the The World Must Know, Night by Elie Wiesel, plus   supplemental materials

As in past years, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the students’ questions, and some of their most thoughtful ones about my feelings, hopes, and concerns during the Holocaust have seldom been asked of me in the 330+ talks I have given to date.  I’ve long felt that the Q&A is often the most important part of my talks because it represents our 2-way communication, and I was again pleased with today’s session.

The MHS teachers attending this presentation included history teacher Brendan Cripps, science teacher Jason smith, special education teacher Dan Favreau, and English teacher Lauren Smith

My participation in today’s event was again arranged by Jeff Smith of Facing History and Ourselves.