STATEMENT TO

RIALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION

JULY 16, 2014
Rabbi Hillel Cohn
Since the initial disclosure of the critical thinking assignment I and so many others
have been disappointed and dismayed at what can only be called extremely poor judgment by
some of the administrators and teachers of this district. And I say this with a bit of reservation
because in the back of MY mind I cannot help but feel that somewhere, somehow one or more
teachers who were involved in creating this horrific assignment were not merely exercising
extremely poor judgment but may have come to this with their own concurrence historical
revisionism, that exercise in which history is distorted and facts and truth are denied.
While I am appreciative of the apologies expressed once the critical thinking
assignment was disclosed I am troubled by the fact that the public was led to believe that the
assignment to the 8th graders of this district had been nipped in the bud before it was carried
out. It now appears that we, the public, were misled because it is now clear that the 2000 8th
graders were not only involved in the project but that it had been carried through to its
conclusion, a project that gave these young people the option of researching and then think
through to the point of actually writing essays two sides to a question for which there is not
another side. The Holocaust is a fact. What is equally or even more troubling - and puzzling - is
why it took the determined effort of a journalist to bring the excerpts of essays to the public. The
reading through of the essays should have been a top priority for the district and the students
who wrote the essays that contained such blatant lies and echoed the most virulent anti-semitic
canards as well as disregarding the historical facts, something that should be alien to any sound
educational process, should have been dealt with immediately. The actions of the district in this
regard are totally unacceptable.
I have wondered whether one would even think of creating a critical thinking
assignment that gave students the option as to defending two perspectives on smoking, one
holding that smoking is hazardous to ones health or the other holding that smoking is highly
beneficial to ones health. The absurdity of such an assignment would, I am sure you agree,
preclude it from even being considered. How much the more so was the very thought of
challenging the veracity of the Holocaust.
I am aware that the assignment, though carried through to its completion, will never be
given again. That is, of course, the right thing to do. I am aware that teachers and other staff have
already been brought together for sensitivity training. That, too, is the right thing to do. And I am
aware that the students - not all but most - have been taken on a field trip to the Museum of
Tolerance in Los Angeles where they could be educated about the Holocaust. That, too, is
meritorious.
But none of this is sufficient. Great and grave damage - irreparable - has been done to the
minds of the 8th graders and, by extension, to their contemporaries and their families. Thus, far
what took place has far-reaching consequences, far greater than any of us can imagine. The very
giving of an assignment such as this cannot help but carry with it for a long time in the future the
imprimatur of the school system, one that students are taught to respect.
How can at least some of the damage be undone? Recognizing the long-term effect, not
just on the 5% of the students who opted to articulate the view that the Holocaust didnt happen,
that Anne Franks diary was a forgery, and that Jews and Israel are bent on dominating the
world, but on ALL of the 2000 8th graders who were assigned this project, it is incumbent on the
district to provide ongoing intensive and effective education about the Holocaust for the full
remainder of the years the students will be in the district, that is through the end of their senior
year. Nothing less is acceptable. This is far too serious a matter to be treated casually or trivially.
This ongoing education needs to involve the few remaining survivors of the Holocaust to the
extent they are able to share their experiences. Intensive teacher re-training must be pursued.
Students who wrote the most blatantly anti-semitic essays need to be given special
attention. we are not talking about any form of brain-washing. we are talking about employing
the most effective educational strategies and techniques.
The district must continue to explore any and all other ways of undoing the damage done.
Let me conclude with a very personal statement. The questioning of the truth about the
Holocaust is extremely painful to me. I was born in Germany. Here is my identity card and those
of my parents that were issued to us. Mine was issued when I was born.. They all contain
emblazoned on the outside a large letter J for Jew. And on the inside the red stamped J
again to identify us as Jews. By a miracle my parents, my sister and I survived and came to
this country. Just weeks later I would have been on my way to be one of the 1,500,000 Jewish
children murdered by the Nazis. Some of the members of my family were not as fortunate. They
- my grandparents, aunts, uncles and first cousins - were murdered by the Nazis. This is a grim
and gruesome fact. Two of my first cousins, young adults, Hella and Ellen, were taken to the
death camps. Ellen went to her death there. By some quirk, Hella survived. A few years ago she
asked me to be the guardian of a bit of the family history. And she gave me one of the
yellow-stars that my cousin Ellen was given to place on her clothing. Ellen did not survive.
Somehow the yellow badge did. The reality, the truth of the Holocaust is not open to question.
I hope that the efforts of this district on all levels to deal with this incident will be
relentless and resolute.