Reactions to "Paper Clips," Where do Teachers Draw the Line?

The movie that we watched the past couple of Mondays in class has raised many interesting and concerning questions. One of these questions that I found particulary interesting was the issue of where teachers need to draw the line pertaining to appropriateness of a topic and the age level of thier students. The Holocaust is a very intense subject that is very graphic, incredibly sad, and hard to imagine. Was talking and teaching about the Holocaust at Whitwell Middle School developmentally approriate? Were some of the images, facts, and over all heart break of the Holocaust too much for students especailly at the middle school level? I remember studying the Holocaust in 8th grade, the same grade that they taught it at Whitwell. It was really tough to learn about. I remember one specific night that I was not able to sleep, which is really werid for me because sleeping is something that I am very talented in. I could not get the images and stories out of my head. The Holocaust is a very important event in world history and I am a better person for knowing about it, but it doesn't make it any less horrific. I think that the Holocaust is somthing every one should know about, but at the right time. It seems to easy for a teacher to say "well, they (students) are going to learn about it sometime, might as well be now." As teachers we need to know our students well enough to know if they can or can not handle certian topics. However, there are also topics that no one, no matter what age, will ever really be ready to learn about, like the horrors of the Holocaust. Some of the memebers of the comunity in the movie were not even ready. Where do teachers draw the line? I think that the line drawn should be more of dotted one. Where teachers can controll what is let through. Teachers should have the skills to know what is developmenatly approriate for the students in thier class room. They own the pencil that is used to draw the line, they just need to know when to do it.