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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | August 5, 2024 02:25 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Joe Webster |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Requiring Holocaust Education in Schools |
I plan to introduce legislation that would require all Pennsylvania schools to teach about the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights violations. Schools would be able to utilize educational instruction and resources already developed and provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to teach this material in an age-appropriate way. Ensuring that Holocaust education is taught in schools will promote learning about empathy, acceptance of others, and ethical responsibility. Currently, schools are not required to instruct students on the Holocaust that killed six million Jews and millions of other persecuted individuals, nor about its continued implications for the world today. As a result, more than one in ten young adults (in a recent study) report never having heard the word “Holocaust” before. Antisemitism and other forms of discrimination are as relevant today as they were in decades past. As survivors of the Holocaust are dying their stories are being lost. It is important for children to learn what led to the Holocaust, the effects of it, and how to prevent it from happening again. Please join me in this effort to ensure all students learn about the Holocaust in Pennsylvania’s schools to make sure these victims’ stories aren’t forgotten for future generations. |