"‘Nazi’ assignment triggers outrage
NEW YORK — New York school district officials have placed a high school English teacher on leave for having students pretend to be Jew-hating Nazis in a writing assignment. The teacher at Albany High School caused a storm of criticism after having students practice the art of persuasive argument by writing a letter to a fictitious Nazi government official arguing that ‘‘Jews are evil.’’ District Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard held a news conference Friday apologizing for the assignment. The teacher has not been identified (AP)."
Related:
"Slavery-math questions cause uproar at NYC school" Associated Press, February 23, 2013
NEW YORK — A school principal says she is appalled by a homework assignment that used scenarios about killing and whipping slaves to teach math.
Adele Schroeter has ordered sensitivity training for the entire staff of
Public School 59 in Manhattan following last month’s assignment, the
Daily News reported Friday.
A teacher had asked fourth-graders to write homework questions that blended math and social studies, education officials said.
The teacher then used the students’ questions, including the slave-related ones, as homework for the class.
One question stated the number of slaves who died while taking over a ship. It asked how many slaves were still alive.
The other said a slave was whipped five times a day and asked students to calculate how many times a month he was whipped.
A student-teacher said she was shocked by the wording and later refused to hand out the worksheet in another class.
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