Night Should Be Taught In Schools Essay

A fictional teacher whose name I am not at liberty to disclose has been recorded as making the following comment, “I realize that Night is a powerful, well-written book but I would not use it in class. I would prefer to have students read a more uplifting piece of Holocaust literature, such as The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank or Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars.” I will attempt to refrain from insulting this teacher’s teaching style because I have tremendous respect for all teachers, but these comments cannot be allowed to remain unchecked. I do not support this teaching style. By omitting Night from classroom activities while learning about the Holocaust and literature that has been created from it, this teacher is doing a large disservice to his/her students. To read a more uplifting book is not in itself an inherently bad idea, but to do so purely because teachers believe that Night is a dark book that presents the darker side of humanity at its most real point is to ignore the evil, and cover up the parts of the Holocaust that they don’t like. Night displays the Holocaust at its ugliest face, describing the acts of those

during its earliest beginnings. Our history teachers did not have us read more uplifting books written about slavery. They had us read books that were depressing and sad, but they showed slavery how it really was back then. This is the same thing. We learned about the way slavery was so that we would keep those memories and prevent that from ever happening again. Why then, are teachers opting to not have their class read Night? All teachers should be teaching their students about the Holocaust as it really was to prevent events of that nature from ever happening again. Teaching our students about the Holocaust in its barest form may even help to prevent conception of the ideas that may be employed in a possible plan similar to Adolf Hitler’s appalling Final