“Why study history?” is a question students ask, not because they lack passion for the subject, but because they seem to be naturally more focused on the present than on the past. The answers I myself would give are myriad, ranging from the importance of building collective memory to that of mastering the skills of inquiry-based learning which history is especially capable of cultivating.
Yet perhaps the most compelling reason to study history for young people, not to mention the rest of us, is probably that which the educational organization Facing History and Ourselves provides: by “facing” history, we are best able to inform the moral choices which we “ourselves” will encounter throughout our lives and in so doing we become better equipped to build the ideal world to which we all aspire. In other words, history teaches us how to become “a humane, well-educated citizenry that practices civility and preserves human rights” both today and tomorrow (www.facinghistory.org/get-to-know-us/history).
Founded outside of Boston in 1976, Facing History and Ourselves began as “one innovative course taught in two classrooms. In practical terms, it was a history class about the ideas and events that led to the Holocaust, but its beyond-the-textbook approach and methods made it about far more. Through discussion, character exploration, primary source material and group exercises, students saw the tragic events from every perspective. In the process, they came to understand that history is the collective result of every individual’s thoughts and actions. They learned not only history, but also the critical thinking skills required to make good choices (ibid.).”
Anchored in this conviction that history is a uniquely instructive lens through which to explore the notion that moral choices lie at the center of the human experience, Facing History and Ourselves has since developed an extensive curriculum around the Shoah, as well as “recent examples of genocide and mass violence” in which students are not the passive recipients of knowledge about the past, but active participants in a process of learning how “to choose knowledge over misinformation, compassion over prejudice or bullying, and participation over indifference or resignation (ibid.).” For further information about this remarkable program, please visit www.facinghistory.org.
It was about the imperative of facing history and ourselves that I found myself thinking last Tuesday morning, as I sat in the school auditorium with our ninth grade classes and listened to the profoundly moving testimony of Mr. Simon Gronowski. Welcomed to the Lycée Français de New York by Director of Student Programs Ms. Vivianne Kurzweil and our Troisième French Department, Mr. Gronowski, born in Brussels on October 12, 1931, survived the Shoah by escaping from the train which would have taken him and did take his mother and sister to their deaths at Auschwitz. He shared his heartbreaking story with exceptional eloquence, leaving everyone who had the privilege of hearing him with images of human tragedy none of us will ever forget, images like that of his sister whispering before she disappeared from his life, “Do you see, Simon, there’s some sunshine today, but it’s not for us.”*
At the same time, Mr. Gronowski urged our students to do their best to know and understand history so that they are fully able to advance the cause of democracy in their own times, reminding us that “democracy is a battle which must be waged each and every day.”** Such is our deepest wish too. May our students have learned from our extraordinary guest that they must not be bystanders, that they must stand up against anti-semitism, racism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination and exclusion, that they must through deliberate action in their daily lives choose to uphold the universal human rights which constitute the very foundation of civilization.
*“Tu vois, Simon, il y a du soleil aujourd’hui, mais il n’est pas pour nous.”
**“La démocratie est un combat de tous les jours.”
About the Author :
Sean Lynch was Head of School at the Lycée Français de New York from 2011 to 2018, after having spent 15 years at another French bilingual school outside of Paris: the Lycée International de St. Germain-en-Laye. Holding both French and American nationalities, educated in France (Sciences Po Paris) and the United States (Yale), and as the proud husband of a French-American spouse and father of two French-American daughters, Sean Lynch has spent his entire professional and personal life at the junction between the languages, cultures and educational systems of France and the United States. In addition to being passionate about education, he loves everything related to the mountains, particularly the Parc National du Mercantour.