Introduction

As I signed up for my senior year classes I noticed Facing History and Ourselves as one of the elective choices. I have always been intrigued by history courses so I considered signing up. To be safe I surveyed some of my friends who had taken the class the semester before and got a narrow range of feedback. My responses ranged from “amazing” to “life changing”. I laughed at the thought of a class being life changing but figured it was worth a shot. I entered the class with an open mind and from day one we were asked to think outside of the box. Not only to reflect on the actions of the individual but also about the actions of a population as a whole. We familiarized ourselves with the differences between bystanders and those who take action. In order to truly convey the point a number of presentations were used. I was captured by movies, documentaries, slide shows, photographs, and packets. The majority of the sources were from first hand accounts of events that occurred. I better understood Hitler’s rise to power and the groundwork he set in order for the atrocities to occur. Before I could understand how the Holocaust could take place, I learned about the horrific events that surrounded the civil rights movement. I developed a newfound respect for different sects of people and began to question the world around me. One day a group of my classmates and me decided to be “doers” and make a change concerning a system we disagreed with. That was the day that I realized just how life changing this class was.