Term: Summer, 2013
Description: The Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance is a unique experiential Museum dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust and to fostering tolerance through educational outreach, community involvement, and social action.
Learning Outcomes: Prior to attending the event, I developed the following learning outcomes:
- SWiBAT Examine racism and prejudice through the history of the Holocaust
- SWiBAT Investigate history through at least two exhibits and reflect on how history affects diversity issues.
- SWiBAT Connect problems of prejudice learned at MOT to college student experiences.
Evidence: Throughout the visit, I took notes of the tour and examined the themes of the museum. For my first learning outcome, I gave myself a score of "4-advanced," second learning outcome a "2-basic," and third learning outcome a score of "3-competent".
Reflection: First time attending the Museum of Tolerance, I did not know what to expect. We watched many short films, looked at pictures, learned about the life of our Jewish child, and listened to a Holocaust survivor tell her story. My biases of the Museum are reflected on my learning outcomes because the Museum of Tolerance is more than just about the Holocaust. I learned about at least three stories of racism and prejudice regarding Jews: Jewish professors and students were expelled from universities, the warsaw ghetto where 4,000 Jews died per month, and the "final solution" plan when six concentration camps were built. Hitler used the Depression to exploit those who felt hopeless and he used the loss of Germany during WWI to build power on those who felt humiliated. He blamed Jews for the results of the Germans' situation. Nazis judged the Jews based on their race. In addition to racism and prejudice from the Holocaust, there were other experiences such as the Chinese killing Tibetans and stating Buddhism is a disease, Blacks living in the 1960's separate but unequal, and the U.S. forcing sterilization for the purpose of eugenics on Blacks and Asians from 1909-1964. In my opinion, racism and prejudice took place because people were scared, people wanted answers to their problems, and people wanted power. That is why, for example, Hitler was able to use Jews as a scapegoat and Nazis did not question his perspectives. The target groups experienced hatred, beatings, and witnessed murders. The agent groups on the other hand, used their power to exploit people, raping women, killing the innocent, and separating families.
My second learning outcome was given a score of "3" because I did not have enough time to explore the museum. My attendance took place during the tour and the Holocaust survivor story but I was unable to attend exhibits. During the tour, I did not participate by asking questions but I was actively listening to the tour guides comments. In addition, during our cohort's discussions, I contributed by giving my point of view and answered the questions asked by the professor. History and the present day share diversity issues as people stereotype and discriminate against those who are considered different. The past affects the present because we are reliving history through genocides, terrorism, and racism.
Lastly, my third learning outcome was given a "basic" because it was difficult for me to distinguish the past's prejudices to today's prejudices. The experiences in the past are to the extreme with fear, torture, and deaths. With this, one prejudice I noticed are stereotypes which determines how people respond to others. Sometimes students segregate themselves because of stereotypes or discrimination even though segregation by law is nonexistent. A coping method to help students overcome obstacles of racism, discrimination, and/or prejudice is to help students voice their thoughts and feelings. Students can create workshops to express themselves and create learning experiences for others. Dialogues between students would help the target and the agent individuals understand one another. This is important because one theme learned from the museum was personal responsibility. The things we learn and problems we see can be fixed to better humanity if we think to ourselves, "what can I do to help this from going on and on?" Helping students help other students is like teaching a man how to fish rather than giving him a fish.
