EREVAN, JULY 14, ARMENPRESS. The U. S. Genocide Education ProjectThe U. S. Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, organized an extensive ten-day progression program in Armenia for an organization of American educators.
The executive director of the genocide schooling project, Armenian-American Roxanne Makasdjian, told ARMENPRESS that the organization was founded about 20 years ago through her and two friends. It is an independent initiative to present and teach American teachers the history of the Armenian Genocide so that they can begin training their students about the Genocide.
“The program takes place in the convention hall of the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide in the form of a practical lecture-training. Participants will be presented with the historical, legal and socio-psychological perspectives of the Armenian Genocide, while they will appear the long-term effect of this crime, its impunity in the existing political and economic scenario in Armenia,” he said.
Roxanne Makasdjian said there is also a separate course on the Artsakh factor, and that the program has a special cultural component that will raise awareness among educators about Armenians, the history of Armenia and Armenia.
“15 educators from 15 U. S. states. U. S. citizens will participate in the program this year. Most of them have more than 20 years of experience as coaches in the humanitarian sector, some of them have edited or participated in the publication of collections on the Genocide, as well as the progression of the educational systems of other museums,” said Roxanne Makasdjian.
She said program participants will then organize such education systems and courses in their states with GenEd’s.
Justin Bilton, an English instructor at the Essex North Shore Technical and Agricultural School, said that before participating in this program, he was already training on genocide at one of the best schools and universities and understood that to teach the genocides of the twentieth century you need a foundation. , and that will be the Armenian Genocide.
“In fact, I didn’t have many documents about the Armenian Genocide and I started looking for number one resources through which I could teach about the Armenian Genocide. Meetings were initiated with the Armenian community, the Genocide Education Project, links were established with the members and organizers of the program. After that, I made a stopover in Armenia, which is very vital to my activity because after a stopover in Armenia, I understood what the Armenian Genocide means for the identity of Armenians today,” he said.
He said the stopover in Armenia was very vital to him.
“Walking to the Genocide Memorial, the state near the Flame for the first time was very emotional for me because it helped me more to see an individual in this non-unusual crime that we cannot convey through books and videos to our students,” Bilton said.
Amy Perkins, a social studies professor most recently at Lakeshore High School in Stevensville, Michigan, said her wisdom about the Armenian Genocide comes from the University of Michigan where she studied, and that lately there is also a branch of Armenian Studies and that she continues ties with them.
“I will use the wisdom I have gained about the Armenian genocide through this program in 3 main directions. First, as a global history teacher, second, I am working with the Armenian network in Detroit to expand the pedagogical rules that all schools in the state will begin to use, and third, this year, a primary convention with history teachers will be held in Philadelphia in December, where the main theme of my report will be armenian Genocide training. “Amy Perkins said.
He said he would continue to maintain links with the genocide schooling project, its resources and fabrics provided through the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.