Charles Ungerleider, Professor Emeritus, The University of British Columbia
[permission to reproduce
granted if authorship is acknowledged]
Integrating Holocaust education or education about the Holodomor famine into secondary school curricula should be approached with sensitivity and awareness that inclusion of curricula about such events may not have the positive outcomes envisioned.
The Belief in a Just World (BJW) is a well-studied cognitive bias that leads people to rationalize injustice, often by blaming the victims for the treatment inflicted upon them.[1] Victim blaming is done to maintain a belief in a fundamentally fair and orderly world. People with a strong belief in a just world find it challenging to reconcile the existence of injustice or suffering without some form of reasonable cause, leading them to blame victims as a means of maintaining their belief in a just world. This cognitive bias can have significant implications in how individuals perceive and react to social and personal injustices.
The implications of belief in a just world can significantly impact how students perceive and process information in the school curriculum about historical atrocities such as the Holocaust and the Holodomor Famine. Learning about massive injustices and genocides can create cognitive dissonance for students who strongly hold the BJW. This dissonance occurs when they are confronted with historical evidence of innocent people suffering catastrophic injustices. In trying to reconcile these facts with their belief in a just world, students might inadvertently engage in victim-blaming or rationalization, which is counterproductive to the educational goals of fostering empathy and understanding historical truths.
The graphic and harrowing nature of topics like the Holocaust and Holodomor can have a significant emotional impact on students. Educators need to be prepared to handle potential distress and provide a supportive environment where students can process their feelings. This is especially crucial in the context of BJW, as students might struggle with the emotional burden of accepting such large-scale injustices in a world that they want to believe is fair.
BJW might lead to oversimplified understandings of complex historical events. Education on these topics should encourage critical thinking, challenging students to understand the complex socio-political factors that led to these tragedies.
Effective education about historical atrocities should aim to cultivate empathy and a deeper understanding of the human impact of these events. This is important in heading off any tendencies towards victim-blaming or detachment that might arise from a BJW reaction. It is crucial that students not only learn the historical facts but also connect with the human stories and suffering involved.
Given the potential for BJW to influence student perceptions, it is important to study and monitor the long-term impacts of such education. This monitoring can inform how these subjects are taught and ensure that the educational goals – such as fostering critical thinking, empathy, and a realistic understanding of history – are being met.
Education about
the Holocaust, the Holodomor Famine, and similar injustices must be implemented
thoughtfully, and its impact continuously assessed to ensure it aligns with
educational objectives and addresses the challenges posed by a Belief in a Just
World.
[1] Lerner, M. J., and G. Matthews (1967). Reactions to Suffering of
Others under Conditions of Indirect Responsibility. Journal of personality and
social psychology, 5(3). 319-325; Hayes, R. M., Lorenz, K., & Bell, K. A.
(2013). Victim Blaming Others: Rape Myth Acceptance and the Just World
Belief. Feminist Criminology, 8(3), 202-220; Janoff-Bulman, R., Timko, C. and L.L. Carli
(1985) Cognitive biases in blaming the victim. Journal of experimental
social psychology, 21(2), 161-177.