OUR COMMUNITY
Students from Ann Arbor Christian School tour HMC.
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Ruth Bergman
Mandate to Educate HMC has transformed the way Michigan students learn about the Holocaust. ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
COURTESY OF HMC
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AUGUST 26 • 2021
hen the state of Michigan passed a mandate in 2016 that required students to receive education about genocide, including but not limited to the Holocaust and Armenian genocide, Holocaust studies were significantly impacted for thousands of educators and students alike. “All school districts have to make choices about what they teach,” says Ruth Bergman, the Holocaust Memorial Center’s director of education. “The mandate was really created to ensure that all students could have appropriate Holocaust and genocide education.” The passing of the mandate, Bergman
says, helped ensure this crucial learning “wouldn’t fall through the cracks.” Now, Michigan’s genocide education mandate requires six hours of Holocaust education for students in eighth through 12th grades. “It adds an incentive for teachers to spend the right amount of time on this subject,” Bergman says. For many Jewish students, especially those who may be grandchildren or great-grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, the subject hits close to home. To ensure that both teachers and students can adequately navigate this difficult and highly emotional topic, crucial resources like the Holocaust Memorial Center step in to guide schools.
