Plan to add teaching of Holocaust, genocide to science education draws questions from Maine teachers

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Teachers and science advocates are voicing skepticism about a Maine proposal to update standards to incorporate teaching about genocide, eugenics and the Holocaust into middle school science education. They argue that teachers need more training before introducing such subjects that are both sensitive and nuanced. 

While critics of the proposed updates said they are borne of good intentions — the proposal states that science has “sometimes been used by those in power to oppress and abuse others” — they also said that injecting the materials into a middle school science curriculum could distract from conventional scientific principles and could jeopardize science education. 

The proposal states that science education in the state should reflect that “misinterpretation of fossil observations has led to the false idea of human hierarchies and racial inequality.” The proposal also states that “historically, some people have misused and/or applied the ideas of natural selection and artificial selection to justify genocide of various groups, such as Albinos in Africa or Jews in Europe.” 

The proposed updates have drawn the attention of teachers' groups in the state as well as national organizations that advocate for a better understanding of science. The concern in Democrat-controlled Maine contrasts conflicts over education in some more conservative states, where criticism has focused on the teaching of climate change, U.S. history and evolution in recent years.