Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine - November 2008 - (Page 21)

The Good Guys In the Here and Now Teachers trained by a group called Facing History learn how to show students the link between past and present. BY DANIELLE BEURTEAUX hen hedge fund manager Seth Klarman thinks back to his days studying history as a kid in Baltimore, his eyes don’t exactly light up. “It was rote memorization of dates, wars and facts, and it didn’t come alive,” says Klarman, 51, co-founder of Boston-based Baupost Group, a $12 billion hedge fund ﬁrm. “You couldn’t visualize the people or even the events and why they mattered so much.” But history is a subject so near and dear to Klarman that he now puts a lot of time (and part of his wealth) into avidly supporting an educational group called Facing History and Ourselves, whose mission is to train middle school and high school teachers to present history within a framework of civic duty and through lessons on how ordinary people can shape extraordinary events. Rote learning is cast aside in favor of helping young people see how what they do matters. Students gain an awareness of current events, not the least of which are the challenges facing newly emerging democracies. “How do you get justice if half the country gets up and kills the other half, as in Rwanda?” Klarman asks. “And how do you move past it? Do you have memorials? How do you reconcile? Those are all issues that Facing History teaches.” The organization was founded in 1976 by Margot Stern Strom, a former high school history teacher who grew up in the segregated South. Its ﬁrst focus was the Holocaust and an exploration of how the acquiescence of practically an entire society led to the murder of millions. Facing History has since developed a popular training program that can be accessed either online or in person. Topics include anti-Semitism, racism, voting rights, gay rights and immigration. The lessons encompass the current as well as the historical — for example, the Armenian genocide of 1915, the American eugenics movement of the early 20th century, apartheid in South Africa and the crisis in Darfur. Facing History has ten ofﬁces. Eight are in the U.S., one is in Canada, and the most recently opened is in London. Klarman says demand has grown globally: “Teachers inquire, ‘How can I learn about this? Can you come to my country? I’ve got a dozen friends; we all want to teach your curriculum.’” Stern Strom says Klarman, who is chairman of the board (which also includes his wife, Beth), has been instrumental in the group’s operations since he joined in 1990. “He is a true partner in the growth of this organiPhotograph by Jason Grow W zation,” Stern Strom asserts. “We’ve grown up together these 18 years.” What Facing History does particularly well, Klarman notes, is inspiring students to act, whether that means launching a letter-writing effort to a senator or campaigning to stop bullying at their schools. “Ultimately, Facing History hopes to energize students to realize that the path of history is not preordained,” he explains. “It’s the acts of ordinary citizens like ourselves that can make a huge difference.” Today the program reaches more than 1.8 million students each year and is increasing its emphasis on learning via the program’s Web site, which receives more than half a million visits per year. Klarman says it’s not only students and teachers who have beneﬁted. “I’ve grown tremendously from being involved with it,” he says. “This organization makes you reﬂect on what kind of person you are.” For more information visit www.facinghistory.org. Seth Klarman funnels his passion for civic responsibility into a popular history program. NOVEMBER 2008 • INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR’S ALPHA • 21 http://www.facinghistory.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine - November 2008

Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine - November 2008 Contents Letter from the Editor Longs & Shorts Pension Corner: Risk Rewarded The Good Guys: In the Here and Now Interview: Minister of Finance Cover Story: The Agony of Dan Zwirn Strategies: The Early Birds Are Awake Strategies: The Call of Shari’a Profile: Sweet Home Chicago Research Center: What Stampede? Alpha Bytes: Centralize the Data Unhedged: Commentary: Learning from the Wreckage

Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine - November 2008

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