Post by dave on Apr 14, 2013 10:05:27 GMT -5
School apologizes for 'Nazi' writing assignment
By Scott Waldman
April 12, 2013
Think like a Nazi, the assignment required students. Argue why Jews are evil.
Students in some Albany High School English classes were asked this week as part of a persuasive writing assignment to make an abhorrent argument: "You must argue that Jews are evil, and use solid rationale from government propaganda to convince me of your loyalty to the Third Reich!"
Students were asked to watch and read Nazi propaganda, then pretend their teacher was a Nazi government official who needed to be convinced of their loyalty. In five paragraphs, they were required to prove that Jews were the source of Germany's problems.
The exercise was intended to challenge students to formulate a persuasive argument and was given to three classes, Albany Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard said. She said the assignment should have been worded differently.
"I would apologize to our families," she said. "I don't believe there was malice or intent to cause any insensitivities to our families of Jewish faith."
She's probably right. Rather than malice, what we have here is sheer stupidity on the part of the teacher, and probably a high degree of perceived privilege. And "I WOULD apologize to our families," is an interesting phrase. Often an auxilliary verb is used to unconciously negate the obvious intention of the main verb. You hear liars use it all the time.
www.timesunion.com/local/article/School-apology-Think-like-a-Nazi-task-vs-Jews-4428669.php
