Introduction

Facing history was the most influential class I’ve ever taken.  It is a class designed to help you understand how some of the greatest tragedies in human history were caused by racism and prejudice, and how racism and prejudice comes about.  It gives you the tools to use this information in making decisions regarding racism and prejudice in your everyday life.  Facing History uses various films to provide a greater emotional connection with what’s going on and to allow you to actually see what has gone on in human history.  I chose to take this course because my tenth grade history teacher recommended it, as did most other students who had taken it.  They told me about how it really did change them as people and how some of the films were really eye opening, especially the ones about the Holocaust.  I’m a junior at Westborough High School and my name is Sean Anderson.  I like being active and doing something, so sitting a desk in normal classes all day isn’t what I usually want to be doing.  Facing history is one of the best classes I’ve ever taken because it was a completely different class atmosphere, where we were actually free to speak our minds, and rather than being lectured all class, we were able to watch videos, read articles, and have group discussions about what we thought.  I liked how the class encouraged us to form our own opinions about topics and to give us the freedom to dictate our own discussions.