by George J Elbaum

California High School (CalHigh), San Ramon, CA, has current enrollment of
2814 students in grades 9 thru 12, of which 64% are minority and 6% are
economically disadvantaged.  CalHigh’s academic record is excellent: while
attaining a 4-year graduation rate of 98%, its US News/Best High Schools Rankings are #1311 Nationally, #205 in California, and #37 in San Francisco Bay area.  This is reflected by student scores of 76% English vs. 47% state average, 52% Math vs. 35% state average, and 50% Science vs. 30% state average – an enviable record.  CalHigh’s demographics are White 38%, Asian 40%, Hispanic 12%, two or more races 8%, and Black 2%.

My presentation was to 55 students in 10^th grade English and History class of teacher Christina Haaverson (English Literature and Positive Psychology) who’ve been teaching World History between the two World Wars.  The students’ Holocaust and genocide history curriculum included the following readings, major topics and events: Maus 1 & 2, Joseph Mengele, Auschwitz history, World War II overview, Pyramid of Hate and stages of genocide.  Teacher Haaverson organized the event while my participation was initiated by Sadie Simon of the JFCS Holocaust Center and concluded by its Office Manager Patrick Dunne.