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A prominent auckland school is investigating claims one of its history teachers has been promoting wild conspiracy theories in the classroom - including denials around the lunar landing and the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.
A Jewish family has lodged a complaint with Takapuna Grammar School
about history and social sciences teacher Kirsty Gillon, the wife of former Alliance MP Grant Gillon. The complaint follows claims from Year 10 students that Gillon told them in class that:
The Apollo Moon landing was an elaborate hoax filmed in Area 51 and that astronaut Neil Armstrong was a fictitious character invented to deceive the masses.The number of Jews killed in the Holocaust had been exaggerated. A commercial airliner did not crash into the Pentagon during the September 11 attack on the United States. Alien life forms were living on Earth.
Gillon told the Herald on Sunday she was merely trying to promote "critical thinking" among her students.
Academics have condemned the practice of offering conspiracy theories for the purpose of promoting critical thinking. They say these types of theories have no place in any learning environment.
Dean of Education at the University of Auckland John Langley said he found Gillon's actions "quite disturbing" and believed she "needed to be spoken to and counselled very strongly".
Principal Simon Lamb said he had had a brief discussion with Gillon, but had yet to talk to students in her Year 10 class.
"There are obvious differences in interpretation which I need to investigate further," he said. He had told Gillon not to comment further until the matters had been fully looked into.
John Hunter, an American of Jewish heritage, lodged a complaint with Takapuna Grammar on Friday after hearing of Gillon's conspiracy theories from his 14-year-old daughter Rachel, a student in her social studies class.
He said Gillon's theories around the lunar landing, 9/11 and the Holocaust were "scary and narrow-minded" and had no place in any classroom.
Hunter was shocked when told by his daughter that Gillon had questioned the number of Jews killed during World War II.
"These types of remarks condemn everyone involved with the Holocaust to die a second time round. When you deny it, you commit the crime all over again," he said.
He added that Gillon's theory NASA had filmed the Apollo moon landing was simply ridiculous. Last week Gillon played her Year 10 students a television documentary supporting these claims and then asked students whether they now believed the 1969 Nasa mission was a hoax. Most of the class said they did.
Students said Gillon told them she believed the lunar landing was filmed in Area 51, the area in Nevada synonymous with UFO conspiracy theories. She also claimed Neil Armstrong was a fictitious character. However even more far-fetched, claimed Hunter, was Gillon's assertion there could be alien life forms on Earth. The Teachers Council code of ethics states that teachers "must present subject matter from an informed and balanced viewpoint".
Said Langley: "Teachers don't have the right to make stuff up as they go along. That's not to say they can't pose interesting questions around history, but you step over the line when you claim, as she has in the case of the lunar landing, that that was the way it was."
New Zealand History Teachers Association representative Bruce Taylor said history teachers had to reflect the "prevailing historical consensus" - and her views on the lunar landing, 9/11 and the Holocaust were not accepted by the vast majority of historians. And while he agreed with "critical thinking", in no way should students be presented with "way out extreme views" as a means of encouraging that.
Students have posted comments about Gillon on the ratemyteacher website. One said, while Gillon "does really care about what she is teaching", she did present "a bit too many conspiracy theories, rather than actual facts".
- HERALD ON SUNDAY