Another School. Another Teacher. This time it's Nazi's. I hate nazi's.

The assignment told students ‘You must argue that Jews are evil.’ They were given five paragraphs to argue that Jews were the source of Germany’s problems.

A third of the students refused to complete the assignment.

iowntheworld.com...

School apologizes for 'Nazi' writing assignment

www.timesunion.com...

A high school English teacher could face disciplinary action for giving a writing assignment that asked students to make a persuasive argument blaming Jews for the problems of Nazi Germany, Albany school district officials said Friday.

School district spokesman Ron Lesko said administrators were discussing what official action the 10th-grade teacher at Albany High School could face for the assignment given to students on Monday.

What the hell, people! We have;
MSNBC saying your kids don't belong to you.
Kids bringing home assignments about trading freedom for security.
Now Nazi's.

Just wanted to share some more news before I seal the doors and windows and hide while the rest of the world goes bug-poop crazy!

Gotta say that while this specific subject matter and position are especially distasteful I think it's worthwhile to teach kids critical thinking in this way.

Having to go through the logical steps to argue "Jews are evil" can open the mind to all the propaganda and manipulation that goes on around you.

Not all that different from asking the kids to justify invading Iraq or bombing kids with drones.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


There are numerous ways to develop critical thinking skills. But is this teaching skills or is it teaching something more sinister?

reply to post by beezzer


Depends on how it's all taught and the attitude and mannerisms of the teacher. Something we'll never know for sure because of all the hyperbole and finger-pointing that is sure to inundate both sides here.

The article tries to draw comparisons to these cases:

In February, a Manhattan teacher caused an uproar after fourth-graders were given a math problem based on how many daily whippings a slave received.

In January, Georgia educators attempted to teach division to elementary school students by asking how many beatings per day former slave and abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass received.

Not the same at all.

If I were trying to teach this lesson I probably would have used a fictional case like having the kids read Animal Farm or 1984 or Brave New World then when they're all connected to the protagonists I would have them argue the side of the antagonists. Same lesson learned without all the shock and awe of using Nazi's.

reply to post by beezzer


One must understand all sides of an issue to fully comprehend it.

Sure, arguing it's the fault of the Jews is touchy, and possibly distasteful, part of learning is understanding that with which we might disagree.

In order to understand the Nazi mentality one sometimes has to be able to "think like a Nazi."

That said, if the teacher's intent was to show the effect of Naziism, I would say this assignment is all right. If the teacher simply wanted this to be a "persuasive argument assignment" as it appears to be, then: subject matter fail.

I don't think it's sinister, but it really takes some brainpower to successfully persuade and/or argue for something with which one fundamentally disagrees, and that helps develop critical thinking skills. But I completely see your point.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Well, we know he is an English teacher.

We don't know intent. It should be something to keep an eye on though.

reply to post by Liquesence


If it turns out that it was an assignment in critical thinking, developing debate, then I could almost argue for it.

With enough prep for parents and students.

If it was for another purpose, then he deserves every inch of scorn available.

reply to post by beezzer


What the flying F is wrong with these pseudo-intellectuals these days?

Defund the Department of Education.

Is he a Nazi or a Nazi hunter? Was he trying to whittle out students who had a "good" argument, therefore showing that they had thought of this matter before and had preconceptions? Just a thought.
Peace.

reply to post by NOTurTypical


Even if it was a legitimate assignment, it was in poor taste. I imagine that these educators live in a universe far from ours.

reply to post by Ranong


It's still a breaking story, so who knows at this point.

For starters, i would say that the agenda is anti semitic in nature and not Nazi. Nazis were a political party, an ideal. One that actually isnt actually any less sinister than our own form of Democracy and capitalist society we live in. Its unfortunate that the Nazi party of Germany was dominated by anti-semites, racists, genocidal maniacs and war mongers otherwise it was poised at the time, along with communism, to completely replace the current democratic systems.

Mind you, after the war, to preserve their political ideals, the allied countries demonized the National Socialist movement by associating it with all the bad that came with WW2, and communism as well, so nobody would try and rally the working class again to put power back in their hands.

In Canada for example, when someone suggest they give the poor a handout though the political system, they are trashed and called "communists".

Sorry for not being on topic here but it angers me when i see this kind of uninformed association. It would be like saying this teacher was a Jew and a Zionist because he gave a lesson on being cheap with your money.

reply to post by metaldemon2000


Thanks for the clarification.

You make a good point.

reply to post by beezzer


Actually if this purpose of this paper was a social experiment to study a time back in the late 1930s Germany and get inside the heads of the political figures at the time who were trying to find a way to deal with something that was considered to be at the time a very real and really big social issue, and we lived in a world that was mature enough to talk about historical racial barriers without getting upset about them (we are still but little kids when it comes to this) then no this paper wouldnt be distasteful whatsoever.

Its funny that we are allowed to examine ancient cultures and suppose what it is they were thinking at the time. We even do re enactments of things like the persecution of Jesus, an extreme racist act, yet it isnt considered distasteful. WHen we apply it to modern day history suddenly it becomes distasteful.

Its too bad that we arent mature enough as a society to analyze aspects of our modern history for the purposes of understanding all viewpoints for study purposes rather than just be spoon fed the official story and forced to accept it as is.

Perhaps this is what the teacher had in mind? Who knows.

reply to post by metaldemon2000


If I was the teacher, and that was the basis for the lesson, then I would have prefaced the assignment with a note. A caveat with a full explanation prior to the lesson.

Just sayin'

reply to post by beezzer


Yeah i know what you mean. Plus, an argument such as what i suggested would be better off for a university level social sciences or even historical type class.

Okay, I will first, I am here in Albany, New York so I am in the thick if this and this was discussed among my co-workers.

First off, this thing has gotten blown out of proportion and not explained very well. In this area, their English classes roll their speech & debate, essay writing, and general grammar/punctuation in one. As disgusting of a topic as it may sound like, I see why the teacher was doing it.

In Illinois, I had a speech and debate class that involved many sensitive topics. In many of the cases we were allowed to voice agreement or disagreement with the topic prior to debating the topic. Usually, if you were against a topic, you generally were going to debate for the topic. We did this for improvement on our debating skills. In persuasive essays, your goal is to "persuade" the reader to either agree with you or at least soften its resistance toward your side. In my class, I argued for gays being thrown out of the military, KKK is not a hate group, segregation/ Jim Crow laws, drug legalization, alcohol. We debated on many topics. The goal was not to solve problems or prove anything was right or wrong. It was to improve our skills as debaters. Its much like lawyers, you may not like your client but you must defend them.

Now the context was part of persuasive writing and though I understand what the teacher was trying to do, he did it in a real #ty way. It is a sensitive subject and more care should have been taken when explaining the purpose of the assignment. In some of my assignments, we actually had permission slips to to go over certain subjects and this would have been a good idea here.

It was an excellent idea in critical thinking to truly understand the art of persuasion. In debate, if you can successfully defend the position you appall, then you can successfully defend the position you agree with.

Again, I do not agree with the way it was handled or designed, but if it were, it would have been an interesting and fruitful experience for the students.

I wonder if the outrage would be the same if, instead, the teacher had asked:

"What is wrong with Germans that they would do such a thing?"


PS- sorry to be a...uh...grammar Nazi, but it's "Nazis," not "Nazi's."

I'm not sure about these days, but back when I was 9 years old, most kids had fully formed personalities and opinions. As far as conditioning goes, I'd watch what is taught in preschool through 3rd grade. Those years are far more impressionable than 9 or 10 years old.

Regardless if my assumption is true or false though, none of this excuses the apparent underlying agendas in the cases referenced here, IMO.

I think reaction to anything even appearing on the surface to be anti-Jewish is such a knee-jerk reaction these days, at the very least the teacher should have expected backlash. He could have outright slandered the French, and I bet it would generate a joke page in a local paper - "kids say the darnedest things!" - but no national attention. The fact is... overblown reaction to anything halfway-"anti-semitic" is in right now. In my opinion, the inability to even talk about such things is what's disgusting.

Critical thinking is not just AN important end goal for school... it is one of the only ones worth anything in the real world.