Antisemitism has been on the rise in Kentucky and across the U.S. since 2016. We are appreciative that Governor Andy Beshear has taken this trend seriously by establishing the Kentucky Antisemitism Task Force.
Furthermore, we commend the foresight of the Kentucky General Assembly for passing the Ann Klein and Fred Gross Holocaust Education Act in 2018. This act mandates Holocaust and genocide education for all Kentucky middle and high school students, putting Kentucky at the forefront of Holocaust education in the U.S. as one of the earliest of the now more than 23 states that require it.
Educating students about the Holocaust is complex in terms of how it is taught, the context in which that teaching takes place, and, of course, the emotional toll it can have on all those involved, leaving a gap between this requirement and teachers’ preparation and confidence in their expertise to implement it.
To address this gap, the University of Kentucky, with support from the Jewish Heritage Fund, established the University of Kentucky-Jewish Heritage Fund Holocaust Education Initiative in 2021. This initiative aims to ensure Kentucky educators have the necessary support and resources to implement this vital work in their classrooms effectively.
UK-JHFE Holocaust Education Initiative uses knowledge as power
Our initiative is unique in its collaborative approach, bridging divides between campus and broader communities, across disciplines and among Jewish and non-Jewish communities to create wider networks of individuals familiar with Jewish ideas, culture and history. The result is an improved ability to recognize and intervene in everyday acts of antisemitism.
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Using a “teachers-teaching-teachers” model to empower educators to teach about the Holocaust with empathy, our initiative has worked with two cohorts totaling 41 teacher leaders selected from a competitive pool representing 20 counties from Pikeville to Paducah. Teacher leaders undergo extensive training over the summer and across the academic year to prepare them to conduct workshops for other Kentucky educators.
This collaborative model creates two essential aspects of Holocaust education—a network of highly trained educators equipped to be leaders within their geographic region and exemplary teaching materials mapped to state standards, accessible on our website, and tied to Kentucky-specific examples. We are committed to ensuring that Holocaust education is not the only opportunity for Kentucky students to learn about Jewish people, history, heritage and culture.
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More than simply providing a “how-to,” our initiative empowers teachers to embrace complexity, delve into nuance and create networks with other teachers both in their specific initiative cohort and in their local schools, districts and regions.
Together, we face this difficult task of creating teaching materials that require us to acknowledge the repeated failures of communities to recognize the humanity of others, in the Holocaust and other genocides. This educational effort works toward creating the Kentucky that we all want to be part of, and this positive educational effort deserves additional public and private support.
To learn more, or if you are an educator interested in participating in one of our spring workshops, please visit https://holocausteducation.uky.edu/.
Janice W. Fernheimer, Ph.D., is co-director of the University of Kentucky-Jewish Heritage Fund Holocaust Education Initiative, Zantker Professor of Jewish Studies, and professor of writing, rhetoric, and digital studies at UK. Karen Petrone, Ph.D., is co-director of the UK-Jewish Heritage Fund Holocaust Education Initiative and professor of history at UK. Jeff Polson is the president and CEO of the Jewish Heritage Fund, a grantmaking organization focused on improving adolescent health outcomes, strengthening Louisville’s distinction as a center for leading-edge medical research and fostering a robust and dynamic Jewish community.
The opinions that Fernheimer and Petrone have expressed are their own, not those of the University of Kentucky.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Holocaust Remembrance Day: UK empowers school teachers in education