STUDENTS ASKED TO ‘ARGUE THAT JEWS ARE EVIL’ AND PROVE NAZI LOYALTY IN ASSIGNMENT LINKED TO COMMON CORE
A screenshot of the writing assignment asking students to argue the Nazi case.
Students in some Albany High School English classes were asked to participate in the unthinkable this week as part of a persuasive writing assignment. The objective? Prove why Jews are evil and convince the teacher of their loyalty to the Third Reich in five paragraphs or less.
“You must argue that Jews are evil, and use solid rationale from government propaganda to convince me of your loyalty to the Third Reich!” read the description on the assignment, which the school superintendent said reflects the kind of sophisticated writing expected of students under the new Common Core standards and was meant to hone students’ persuasive argument abilities.
The TimesUnion reports that students were asked to digest Nazi propaganda material, then imagine that their teacher was an SS officer who needed to be persuaded of their loyalty by arguing that Jews are the root of all the world’s ills.
“I would apologize to our families,” Albany Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard said. “I don’t believe there was malice or intent to cause any insensitivities to our families of Jewish faith.”
The TimesUnion explains more of the reasoning behind the offensive assignment:
Vanden Wyngaard said the exercise reflects the type of writing expected of students under the new Common Core curriculum, the tough new academic standards that require more sophisticated writing. Such assignments attempt to connect English with history and social studies.She said she understood the academic intent of the assignment — to make an argument based only on limited information at hand. Still, she acknowledged that it was worded in a very offensive manner. She did not identify the English teacher or discuss whether the educator faced any discipline.
Students were asked to draw on elements of the great philosopher Aristotle, and frame their arguments as either: “Logos” (persuasion by reasoning), “Pathos” (persuasion by emotional appeal) or “Ethos” (persuasion by the author’s character).
Nonetheless, a reported one-third of the Albany students refused to complete the assignment.
Whether school faculty chose this particular subject matter for the writing assignment, or if the subject matter came directly from Common Core remains unclear (it could have been the justification and not a direct lesson), but the amount of controversial lessons administered under curriculum system is indeed mounting.
FLORIDA SCHOOL DISTRICT RESPONDS TO CHILD’S ‘GIVE UP SOME OF MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS’ ASSIGNMENT: ‘A REVIEW AND INVESTIGATION WILL OCCUR’
Aaron Harvey’s son wrote as part of a school lesson, “I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights in order to be safer or more secure.” TheBlaze has redacted the child’s name at Harvey’s request.
A school district in Jacksonville, Fla., said Friday it will review and investigate what happened after a father charged that his fourth-grade son was instructed to write that he was “willing to give up some of [his] constitutional rights” as part of a classroom activity.
A local attorney taught a lesson about the Constitution to fourth-grade students at Cedar Hills Elementary School in January. Last week, Aaron Harvey found a crayon-written paper that had been in his son’s backpack that read, “I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights in order to be safer or more secure.” Harvey’s son told him that his teacher, Cheryl Sabb, had instructed some students to write the sentence after the lesson was over.
The lesson taught by the attorney was part of Justice Teaching, a program started by former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis that puts legal professionals in Florida schools to teach about the American legal system and the Constitution.
“The Justice Teaching activity on constitutional rights that was conducted at Cedar Hills Elementary School is consistent with our efforts to broaden civics-based education and develop critical thinking skills among our students,” Dr. Nikolai P. Vitti, superintendent of Duval County Public Schools, said in a statement to TheBlaze. “The lesson builds awareness of First Amendment rights through a partnership with an association of local attorneys. Our possible concern rests with a follow-up activity that may have been conducted after the lesson. A review and investigation will occur to determine the facts of that assignment.”
According to a description of the lesson provided to TheBlaze, the objective was to teach students about the five rights enumerated in the First Amendment.
Harvey told TheBlaze earlier Friday that school district officials had told him the sentence came during the lesson portion with the attorney, but that his son “wrote it on his own free will.” Harvey said there was “no way” his son wrote that on his own, and said he had heard from his son and at least one other child that the sentence came directly from the teacher.
A Duval County Public Schools spokeswoman identified the attorney who taught the lesson as Carrington Madison Mead, a Jacksonville lawyer. Mead did not immediately return a request for comment from TheBlaze.
‘CLEARLY SKEWED’: EDUCATION COMPANY PULLS CROSSWORD THAT SAID CONSERVATISM IS FOR ‘RESTRICTING PERSONAL FREEDOMS’
Image source: EAG News
The education company that distributed acrossword puzzle worksheet that saidconservatism was for “restricting personal freedoms” while liberalism was for “equality and personal freedom for everyone” said it is discontinuing the “clearly skewed” product.
Cerebellum Corporation — the distributor of Sunburst Visual Media, which created the crossword and related materials — said in a statement to TheBlaze Friday that it did not have any part in the “production, writing or overall creation of the materials” but apologized for the “unacceptable” content.
“Although we are careful to screen the quality of our products, we are not always able to identify the problems seen in Liberalism vs. Conservatism” Cerebellum president James Rena said. “As a company, we believe in balance. This product is clearly skewed and we find that unacceptable and counter to our culture. We sincerely apologize for this mistake and will rectify it by immediately discontinuing the product.”
Tamra Varebrook, a Republican activist in Racine, Wis., told TheBlaze on Thursday that her eighth-grade daughter showed her the crossword-style vocabulary sheet assigned to her at Union Grove Elementary School. Varebrook described the assignment as “indoctrination.”
The materials and an accompanying DVD were created in 2001, Cerebellum said.
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