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Educators sometimes aim to use simulations or role plays when teaching about historical atrocities in order to engage students more deeply, build empathy and teach the topic in an interactive way.
We frequently hear news stories about a classroom lesson that set out to try to help build empathy for the victims of the Holocaust by having students role play situations of either being “persecuted” or “privileged.” We also hear about teachers who have their students participate in a role play to help them “see how it feels to be enslaved.” Some of these simulations have gone so far as to have selected students wear a yellow star for a day and be subjected to enforced rules like forcing them to stand at the back of the class, the end of long lunch lines or barring them from using some bathrooms. There are other stories in which teachers ask students to write essays to defend and advocate for slavery or the Holocaust in order to reflect on the perspective of the perpetrator.
In many cases, these well-intentioned efforts go awry, leading to upset, complaint and distress for students, families and the school community.
While simulation-type activities may appear to be a compelling way to engage students on topics and events involving genocide and oppression such as the Holocaust, slavery, racial segregation, Internment of Japanese-Americans, etc., we strongly caution against using such activities for the following reasons:
While we want students to think about their own choices and decisions, asking students to consider what they would have done under the same circumstances is an artificial question, as there is no way to know what decisions we will make until we are actually faced with them. Such an exercise also inherently judges the decisions that were made by individuals, decisions that were often “choiceless choices” where no decision was a good decision but a choice had to be made. Often these decisions―which had to be made very quickly―could mean the difference between life and death. There is no way to adequately or authentically replicate such situations, nor should we try.
Below are examples of effective and pedagogically-sound methods that can be used to help foster a sense of empathy and help students begin to understand the motivations, thoughts, feelings and actions of those who lived through atrocities like these.
One of the goals for teaching about these horrific historical events is for students to determine their own roles and responsibilities in the world around them. To advance this thinking and learning, we encourage teachers to give students opportunities to consider meaningful actions they can take in their schools and communities when they see injustice or are faced with difficult moral and ethical decisions.