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Survey finds 'shocking' lack of Holocaust knowledge among millennials and Gen Z

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  • Survey finds 'shocking' lack of Holocaust knowledge among millennials and Gen Z

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/s...gen-z-n1240031

    A nationwide survey released Wednesday shows a "worrying lack of basic Holocaust knowledge" among adults under 40, including over 1 in 10 respondents who did not recall ever having heard the word "Holocaust" before.

    The survey, touted as the first 50-state survey of Holocaust knowledge among millennials and Generation Z, showed that many respondents were unclear about the basic facts of the genocide. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed did not know that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, and over half of those thought the death toll was fewer than 2 million. Over 40,000 concentration camps and ghettos were established during World War II, but nearly half of U.S. respondents could not name a single one.

    "The most important lesson is that we can't lose any more time," said Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which commissioned the study. "If we let these trends continue for another generation, the crucial lessons from this terrible part of history could be lost."

    The lack of Holocaust knowledge demonstrated in the study is "shocking" and "saddening," said the Claims Conference, a nonprofit that works to secure material compensation for Holocaust survivors. The survey's data came from 11,000 interviews across the country, conducted by phone and online with a random, demographically representative sample of respondents ages 18 to 39. It was led by a task force that included Holocaust survivors, historians and experts from museums, educational institutions and nonprofits.

    While most respondents first learned about the Holocaust in school, the survey's findings suggest that education may be incomplete. The Holocaust is associated with World War II, but 22 percent of respondents thought it was associated with World War I. Ten percent were not sure, 5 percent said the Civil War, and 3 percent said the Vietnam War.
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  • #2
    My level of alarm Depends on the metric.

    I don't have great memory of raw facts. For many things, I can't tell you exact dates (or even years). For example, I couldn't tell you when WW1 was except in the 191x time frame without looking. I couldn't tell you how many americans died in the war, etc.

    I know a bit more on WW2, Dec 7 1941 being a date which will live in infamy. Though I can't tell you when VE or VJ days were, or even the year.

    When it comes to the Holocaust, I know of Auschwitz, but probably couldn't name any of the others. I know that the holocaust was a concerted effort to wipe out the Jewish people through mass killings, gas chambers, ovens, etc. Except having heard the metric more recently, I couldn't give you a count of deaths. I could tell you that the Jewish population was decimated by their actions.

    So, I feel that "facts and figures" are, at times, less important than the underlying story of history.

    So, with regards of the poll. The questions that show a misunderstanding of context of the holocaust (can't name one, can't name the correct war, had jews as perpetrators instead of victims, etc.) is more alarming than being unable to recall the correct numbers.

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    • #3
      Isn't this just part of a much broader problem with our education system. Kids are far more dumb today than they were 100 years ago. Just look at an examine of even middle school from 100 years ago, and it puts an examine you'd find even on college level to shame.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by seanD View Post
        Isn't this just part of a much broader problem with our education system. Kids are far more dumb today than they were 100 years ago. Just look at an examine of even middle school from 100 years ago, and it puts an examine you'd find even on college level to shame.
        I bet they all know how evil America is...
        Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

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        • #5
          The lack of knowledge of the past actions of Communists and Socialists is likely intentional. This lack of knowledge make the youth more likely to accept these forms of government and uninformed how to stop revolutions or takeovers from happening. When I speak of "forms of government", I also include the atrocities that are features of these forms of government.
          Last edited by mikewhitney; 09-16-2020, 02:08 PM.

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          • #6
            I'm not the least bit surprised, as the liberals have been in charge of public education for the past 60 years.
            The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
              I'm not the least bit surprised, as the liberals have been in charge of public education for the past 60 years.
              Back when I went to school, American history was taught chronologically. Unfortunately, after spending so much time on the colonies, revolutionary war, westward expansion, the school year was generally over before WW1 or 2 ever got reached, let alone anything after.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by CivilDiscourse View Post
                My level of alarm Depends on the metric.

                I don't have great memory of raw facts. For many things, I can't tell you exact dates (or even years). For example, I couldn't tell you when WW1 was except in the 191x time frame without looking. I couldn't tell you how many americans died in the war, etc.

                I know a bit more on WW2, Dec 7 1941 being a date which will live in infamy. Though I can't tell you when VE or VJ days were, or even the year.

                When it comes to the Holocaust, I know of Auschwitz, but probably couldn't name any of the others. I know that the holocaust was a concerted effort to wipe out the Jewish people through mass killings, gas chambers, ovens, etc. Except having heard the metric more recently, I couldn't give you a count of deaths. I could tell you that the Jewish population was decimated by their actions.

                So, I feel that "facts and figures" are, at times, less important than the underlying story of history.

                So, with regards of the poll. The questions that show a misunderstanding of context of the holocaust (can't name one, can't name the correct war, had jews as perpetrators instead of victims, etc.) is more alarming than being unable to recall the correct numbers.
                I agree with the above. Especially as we age, it is difficult to retain raw numbers and even many dates (I am much better with dates than with casualty numbers, though). What comes to mind for me:

                1) Since testing evidence is showing a steady decline in IQ test scores of westerners born in 1975 and forward, it is no surprise that millenials and Gen Z generations are falling behind in basic knowledge.

                2) But should Holocaust details be considered basic knowledge? I don't think so. As WWII recedes further into the past it becomes less relevant for young people to know the raw numbers or the names of concentration camps. I'm sure it was common knowledge to know the names of colonels and prisons in the north and south immediately following the Civil War, but should we have those things committed to memory today?

                3) The survey was sponsored by "The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany." Of course those details would be more important to them than it would be to the average American. And the numbers on American slaves, freed and escaped, murdered and released, wouldn't be of equal importance to Jewish groups so I wouldn't expect them to memorize the raw data there.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by seanD View Post
                  Kids are far more dumb today than they were 100 years ago.
                  It's a well-documented finding that IQs today are much much higher on average than 100 years ago, so your statement seems patently false. The leading theory as to the cause of this is that the average person today spends a greater number of years in formal education.

                  Just look at an examine of even middle school from 100 years ago, and it puts an examine you'd find even on college level to shame.
                  Can you cite an example? In instances where I've personally done this I couldn't see any difference in difficulty.

                  It also might be important to bear in mind that 100 years ago that perhaps only the 5% brightest students would have typically continued onto to middle school, whereas today staying at school right through the majority of high-school is compulsory for everyone in most of the West. My grandfather was judged bright, so he got to go onto high-school, but that wasn't common in his generation never-mind the one before him.
                  "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
                  "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
                  "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                    I'm not the least bit surprised, as the liberals have been in charge of public education for the past 60 years.
                    I've seen plenty of liberals complaining that conservatives have been sabotaging public education in the US for the past 60 years.
                    "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
                    "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
                    "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Starlight View Post
                      It's a well-documented finding that IQs today are much much higher on average than 100 years ago, so your statement seems patently false. The leading theory as to the cause of this is that the average person today spends a greater number of years in formal education.

                      Can you cite an example? In instances where I've personally done this I couldn't see any difference in difficulty.

                      It also might be important to bear in mind that 100 years ago that perhaps only the 5% brightest students would have typically continued onto to middle school, whereas today staying at school right through the majority of high-school is compulsory for everyone in most of the West. My grandfather was judged bright, so he got to go onto high-school, but that wasn't common in his generation never-mind the one before him.
                      Though I have no way of knowing how informative folks were 100 years ago, all I need is Mark Dice's "Man on the Streets" series of videos to know how frighteningly dumb and uninformative folks today are. Even if he is selectively interviewing these folks (that's the accusation used to try and justify something so horrifying, but he's denied this), just the fact there are folks out there that dumb and uninformative in the world of information technology we have available is terrifying.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Starlight View Post
                        I've seen plenty of liberals complaining that conservatives have been sabotaging public education in the US for the past 60 years.
                        And, how can that be, when the liberals and their corrupt teachers unions RUN public education?
                        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I’m skeptical about this news story. I’ll look at it tomorrow.

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