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WEIGHT OF HISTORY: UPHOLDING GENOCIDE STUDY GUIDE
Worcester Telegram
http://www.telegram.com/article/20100817/NEWS/8170372/1020
Aug 17 2010
MA
A federal appeals court has ruled that Massachusetts education
officials were within their rights to issue curriculum guidelines
that excluded specific references to materials suggesting the Armenian
genocide did not happen.
The ruling is being hailed by some as a major defeat for those who
would revise history to exonerate the Ottoman Turkish government of
its role in the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century;
it is being lamented by others who, whatever their view of that
history may be, believe it marks a loss for First Amendment rights
of free expression.
We believe the ruling was correct, and that neither reaction captures
the subtleties of what the appeals court was saying.
The case began in 1999 when David Driscoll, then state Commissioner of
Education, circulated draft history curriculum guidelines addressing
the study of genocide. After complaints from Turkish groups, officials
added websites and references questioning the Armenian genocide;
following further objections from Armenian groups, most of those
references were dropped before the guidelines were finally issued.
A district court upheld the state~Rs action. Turkish cultural groups
appealed, arguing that their First Amendment rights to ~Sinquire,
teach and learn free from viewpoint discrimination~T had been violated.
The appeals court has now upheld the lower court, finding that states
have considerable discretion in issuing curriculum guidelines, and
noting ~S~E the government~Rs authority to choose viewpoints when
the government itself is speaking.~T
But the critical point to understand is that the court found that
this case simply does not implicate First Amendment rights.
~S~Ethe terms of the Guide,~T the court wrote, ~Sallow teachers to
look beyond it, and its directions to sources with a particular point
of view are not meant to declare other positions out of bounds in
study or discussion ~E~T
The weight of historical fact weighs heavily against the view that
the Ottoman government did not perpetrate a genocide. We believe that
view remains a serious barrier to reconciliation between Turkish and
Armenian populations everywhere.
But this federal court ruling makes clear that Turkish cultural groups
and others remain free to advance their arguments that what happened
to the Armenian people was not a genocide.
Mr. Driscoll~Rs initial wavering on this issue was regrettable,
even if understandable given the intense pressures that attend
this topic. His ultimate decision, however, was sound. The state
guidelines will point students and teachers to solid sources, from
which they will surely learn that this is very contentious history,
indeed. Yet most teachers and students, when viewing the sources with
an open mind, will come to agree with the standard and, we believe,
incontrovertible view that the Armenian genocide is a historical fact.
From: A. Papazian
Worcester Telegram
http://www.telegram.com/article/20100817/NEWS/8170372/1020
Aug 17 2010
MA
A federal appeals court has ruled that Massachusetts education
officials were within their rights to issue curriculum guidelines
that excluded specific references to materials suggesting the Armenian
genocide did not happen.
The ruling is being hailed by some as a major defeat for those who
would revise history to exonerate the Ottoman Turkish government of
its role in the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century;
it is being lamented by others who, whatever their view of that
history may be, believe it marks a loss for First Amendment rights
of free expression.
We believe the ruling was correct, and that neither reaction captures
the subtleties of what the appeals court was saying.
The case began in 1999 when David Driscoll, then state Commissioner of
Education, circulated draft history curriculum guidelines addressing
the study of genocide. After complaints from Turkish groups, officials
added websites and references questioning the Armenian genocide;
following further objections from Armenian groups, most of those
references were dropped before the guidelines were finally issued.
A district court upheld the state~Rs action. Turkish cultural groups
appealed, arguing that their First Amendment rights to ~Sinquire,
teach and learn free from viewpoint discrimination~T had been violated.
The appeals court has now upheld the lower court, finding that states
have considerable discretion in issuing curriculum guidelines, and
noting ~S~E the government~Rs authority to choose viewpoints when
the government itself is speaking.~T
But the critical point to understand is that the court found that
this case simply does not implicate First Amendment rights.
~S~Ethe terms of the Guide,~T the court wrote, ~Sallow teachers to
look beyond it, and its directions to sources with a particular point
of view are not meant to declare other positions out of bounds in
study or discussion ~E~T
The weight of historical fact weighs heavily against the view that
the Ottoman government did not perpetrate a genocide. We believe that
view remains a serious barrier to reconciliation between Turkish and
Armenian populations everywhere.
But this federal court ruling makes clear that Turkish cultural groups
and others remain free to advance their arguments that what happened
to the Armenian people was not a genocide.
Mr. Driscoll~Rs initial wavering on this issue was regrettable,
even if understandable given the intense pressures that attend
this topic. His ultimate decision, however, was sound. The state
guidelines will point students and teachers to solid sources, from
which they will surely learn that this is very contentious history,
indeed. Yet most teachers and students, when viewing the sources with
an open mind, will come to agree with the standard and, we believe,
incontrovertible view that the Armenian genocide is a historical fact.
From: A. Papazian