  YES I'M VERY MUCH INTERESTED! To me, historical literature are especially fun to read, especially when it compliments with what we are studying in history. And the holocaust is certainly a dramatic period of history and literture that would sprout out many ideas about morality, wars, politics and the whole theme of race and injustices. I may not be able to speak for the whole class, but it's certainly a great topic to discuss and read about! I'm sure Tristan would be interested in it too! :) And well, since Rob, you've started the pledge of allegiance debate, I have already posted a huge long post about the pledge in the history blog, but I think it's relevant for me to post my argument on this blog too because it touches on the issue of individualism and what is to be an American (the whole themes we've studied all year).
And don't blame me for writing about this thing for so long, but it is inevitable. Of course everyone knows that the 1st Amendments guarantees "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech.......". And then one can debate FOREVER what does that mean, either pro pledge of allegiance, the under God phrase, or opposes it. Either way, both sides can site the constitution to argue for their sides. LOL that's the beauty of our first amendment, even tho it may be concise, it's still very interpretative. And the society is sooooooooo complex that a few words in the constitution can be argued forever into future generations. As a former buddhist, and currently agnostic, to me personally, the "Under God" phrase doesn't offend me.
But the act of conforming is. I have nothing against people saying or chanting Under God at anytime, anywhere, or under any occassion; the constitution guarantees their rights to do so. The thing that bothers me is the act of telling others what to do or not to do. How does that relate to the pledge of allegiance is the fact that little kid six years old have to say the pledge of allegiance.
And did you know all the MEANING of the words in the pledge of allegiance when you were six? To me it's almost ridiculous to impose others to say what they don't even know what they are saying, and what it means......let alone believes in it. So the little kids just memorize the phrase and spew it out like robots. And that's not what America is all about..... What makes America great and the beauty of this country is the fact that it's a country of immigrants, and EVERBODY is different, and the constitution really protects the DIFFERENCE of all individuals.
In fact, individualism is not only protected, but glorified and encouraged all throughout American literature from the declaration of independence and onwards. And from individualism comes with it, differences of ideas, clash of cultures, criticisms, and sometimes stuff that people don't want to hear. What bothers me is when people stop wanting to hear complaints and other points of views. Any criticism, or other radical ideas becomes BAD and immediately shuts off from debates........And everybody has to praise everybody, praise the government, praise all the institutions, all the ideas and so on. And even if you don't, you are somehow peer pressured, or forced to comply with the "majority" point of view. Some of America's greatest writers were critics of the time, and often deemed radicals because of their foiling of the truth......truth that the majority didn't want to admit. Like Mark Twain's Huck Finn realism style writing that foils the true life of the South from a common southern white orphan boy's point of view.
(Of course it's not just happy little child pacifer literature that's all happy and good. Because the society isn't always that good). Seriously think about, what a society would be like if everyone is the same, think the same way, and all are happy with each other with no reason. Everybody would just lose their personality and the society itself will become dumber. And education is really when the clash between conformity and individualism occurs.
In order to preserve the individualisms as America's embodiment, I believe that in schools, since it's a public place, the state or government should have no say in what the kids should say. The kids are just kids, they are learning and developing.........And wheh pledge of allegiance is inserted to thehir curriculum since their first day in school.....And have memorize something they don't even know what it is......it totally defeats the American character. Education is to develop people to become individuals, to become smart citizens with an critical eye, and not to turn everybody into robotic conformists. And as always, I welcome all dissagreements, criticisms, opinions and would like to debate this issue with others. Differences of opinions is good! Thomas Chen 
