Facing History and Ourselves provides a particular scope and sequence as a basis for the curriculum that they write. My unit will utilize the same basic framework. This particular unit will be taught to my 11
t
h
grade Humanities class. The course is an examination of the United States from Reconstruction to the Present Day using both history and literature. By the time take the 11
t
h
grade Humanities course are familiar with the ideas and themes of Facing History.
The unit will have the following framework. It will start with issues of identity. I want students to think critically about how soldiers become soldiers. In one account of My Lai, Ridenhour sees a religious Mormon, a nice guy, turn into a ruthless killer. What causes this transformation to occur? Is it the stress of war? Is the soldier the creation of the army? Is the soldier obligated to give up his humanity? In the early stages of the unit students will investigate group identity as well. Secondly, student will investigate how the enemy is created and how this happens in particular during the Vietnam War. The third part of the unit will be a case study of the incident itself based upon the accounts of the soldiers and the official reports that are filed by the commanders. These three pieces will constitute roughly half of the entire unit.
The second half of the unit will move into issues of judgment and accountability. It will be necessary for students to learn about the rules of war, and an investigation of the Geneva Conventions is required. The goal is to have student learn about how war is to be conducted in the abstract and then apply these ideas to the particulars of My Lai.
It is imperative that whenever and difficult piece of history is investigated, a moment in history when people made poor choices, and atrocities were committed, that students also look at two additional pieces: the roles of bystanders and rescuers. I would like to have student look at the risks and actions that some of the soldiers took that day in an attempt to save villagers.
The final part of the unit will have students read about two contemporary events in the Iraq War -- Hadithia and Abu Ghraib. It would be the goal at this point to have students apply the lessons learned from the My Lai case study to the present day and to evaluate critically the actions of soldiers.
Although the incident at My Lai was planned in advance and covered up in its aftermath by the higher ups of the US Army, individuals carry out the incident by choice. The intent of the unit is to learn what the conditions were that allowed those choices to be made by soldiers not much older than my students. It will hopefully allow students to think critically about the choices that they make each day.