Appendix A

Summary of Human Rights and
Genocide in the Curriculum

Knowledge of human rights and the inhumanity of genocide are presented
throughout the History-Social Science Framework for California Public
Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve. As curriculum specialists and
textbook publishers develop their materials, attention should be given to
including understandings of this topic at every grade level. The summary of
where human rights and genocide are addressed in the framework that follows
this paragraph will also assist teachers as they prepare their lesson plans,
select instructional materials, and determine activities for students. Curricu-
lum specialists and teachers should recognize that the framework includes
examples of human rights and genocide at appropriate places in the course
descriptions. This does not preclude districts from including additional
examples or from addressing a recommended example within another course.
Some examples follow:

During the unit on “Linking Past to Present: The American People, Then
and Now” in grade five, the civil rights movement can be part of the under-
standing that the American creed calls on students to value the nation’s
diversity and work for change within the framework of law.

During the unit on “World War II” in the grade eleven U.S. History and
Geography course, students are asked to look once more at the Holocaust and
investigate the response of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Administration to Hitler’s
atrocities against the Jews and other groups. At that time, they could also
relook at the U.S. response to the genocide of the Armenians by the government
of the Ottoman Empire.

During the unit on “Comparative Governments, with Emphasis on Com-
munism in the World Today,” in the grade twelve course, students could again
specifically reflect on the Ukrainian Famine as a commitment by a communist
totalitarian government that considered the Ukrainians a hindrance to the
achievement of that regime’s goals.

Framework Section Summary of Human Rights and Genocide in

the Curriculum

Introduction We want our students to know their rights and

responsibilities as American citizens and to under-
stand the meaning of the Constitution as a social
contract defining our democratic government and
guaranteeing our individual rights. . . . We want
them to develop a keen sense of ethics and citizen-
ship. We want them to care deeply about the quality
of life in their community, their nation, and their
world— We want them to gain a deep understand-
ing of individual and social ethics___We expect our

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