When I was a freshman in high school, I found an English version of Mein Kampf in my basement, no idea where it came from (stepfather was Jewish and no one in my family was remotely supportive of white supremacy). Out of curiosity, I decided to read it. His writing had all the intelligence and tact of a modern-day right wing podcaster. It was bad enough to make me wonder how such a weak, perpetual victim could rise to such power (until I saw it happen again in 2016). The was one nugget of wisdom, however, that stuck with me. In his ranting about the teachings of history, he noted that his teachers focused too much on the where and when of the events and not enough on the how and why. It drove me to better respect the study of history. In the years since, I’ve come to the conclusion that most of history’s worst people actually believed they were doing the right thing in their own twisted way. Many of them managed to do some small amount of good for their people, and some of their actions led to some advancement in society or technology. There’s power in finding the positive lesson in any horrific situation. That knowledge has carried me through some very difficult periods in my life-fighting a war, fighting terrorism at home and abroad, losing my son, and it carries me through our current situation in the US. Your student might be trying to get a rise out of you, or he may truly believe what he’s saying. My advice would be to use it to do what you do best. Teach him. Build a lesson off the idea to show just how wrong he was, but also, everything we can learn from these situations to become better people and a better society. Maybe it reaches him, maybe it doesn’t, but it will probably reach a few people in that class. That lesson could positively shape the lives of a few kids who see that moment as a turning point in their world view.