What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to Me

During my tenure at Westborough High School I have learned many, many things, but nothing I learned was more important than what I learned in Mr. Gallagher’s, “Facing History and Ourselves” course. This class teaches students more than what textbooks teach you and there are a plethora of life lessons to be learned in this class. There is no other class like this at Westborough High School which makes the course even more enjoyable.

The “Facing History and Ourselves” course really benefited me in many ways. I learned so many life lessons that will stay with me throughout my life. One of the biggest things that Mr. Gallagher preached was not to be a bystander. A bystander is someone who doesn’t do anything when he or she sees something wrong. For example, if a bystander saw a kid being bullied they wouldn’t step in and intervene in the conflict and they would just walk right past the incident. I used to be a huge bystander and not intervene when I saw a problem, but after watching many videos in the course I can’t see myself not interfering. All of the films we saw in the course were so powerful and so touching that they made we want to do something and make a change. Also, all of the films we watch are for a purpose, we don’t watch films to kill time, there is a purpose to everything we do in the course. For example, we watched a first hand account of what happened in the Nazi death camps. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I saw Jews being beaten to death and out to death in the gas chambers by the Nazi’s. One thing that really stood out to me was the people who were dying of starvation. To be honest, the people who were starved to death looked so unreal almost like something you would find at a Halloween outlet store. That’s how bad the Jews looked at the Nazi death camps and I was so mad because I couldn’t believe people could do such a thing. This film really made me want to do something and make a change in the world we live in today. The course benefited me as a person because now when I see something wrong I will not be afraid to intervene and I feel like I have an obligation to the right thing.

Another lesson I learned was to look past a person’s race or ethnicity and to see them as another person. The movie “Freedom Writers” really helped enforce this lesson. In the beginning of the movie everybody in the high school is friends with their own race and the African-American’s hate the Mexican’s. In the end of the movie every race and ethnicity come together and become friends and you see the African-Americans mingling with the Mexicans and everybody is one big happy family. What this movie did for me was that it opened up my heart and now whenever I walk down a street or even a hall in school and see a group of Asians or any other race I don’t see them as their race, I see them as a human being. Before this course I used to be judgmental about certain groups of people, but after the film and the course, I have changed and am satisfied that I did so. We also watched the civil rights movement that took place in Little Rock, Arkansas. This really had me captivated because of the seven African-American kids that had the guts to go to an all white school. Again, this made me feel like I had to change this world for the better and I so badly wanted to stop racism. Even to this day the seven African Americans didn’t leave my mind and never will because of their courageous and brave act. The “Freedom Writers” movie as well as the Little Rock, Arkansas film really had an impact on me and inspired me to not judge a person based on their skin or ethnicity but to get to know who they really are.
Not only did this course help me become a better person but it also made me a better student.

As a student I learned to respect every single person who speaks, know matter how much I disagree with that person. For example, the very fist exercise we did about “The Bear That Wasn’t” really emphasized that point about respect. One of my classmates disagreed with the rest of the class and said that the book was nothing more than a children’s book. He was the only one in the class to say that but we respected his opinion even though we didn’t agree with it. Another way I maturated as a student was by learning to get the facts separated from opinion. Mr. Gallagher always said that if you think someone is telling you false information you need to research the topic and then speak up if you know you are right. This was really helpful because next year in college many professors will try and shove their opinions down our throats and we must separate the facts from opinions. I also learned how to listen attentively and to listen to everyone. I can’t even explain how beneficial it is to listen to everyone. It is just so helpful because you get to hear so many different points of view which eventually will help you formulate your own opinion.

Overall, I really did benefit from this course as a student.Facing History was by far the most beneficial course I took at Westborough High School. I learned so many life lessons that will help me make decisions in the future. Being a bystander is not acceptable and whenever I see something that is wrong I will make sure to do the right thing. Also, respect and listening are two huge acts people must do in order to be successful and to look past people’s skin color and/or ethnicity and to get to know them before you judge them based on a stereotype. With the new tools acquired from Facing History and Ourselves I will be on a mission to make the world a better place to live.