High-school teacher asks children to think like a Nazi and write assignment blaming the Jews for Germany's problems
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.
The assignment, first reported Friday by the Albany Times Union, asked students to research Nazi propaganda, then assume their teacher was a Nazi government official who had to be convinced of their loyalty to the Third Reich.
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.
Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard said she doesn't believe the teacher who handed out the assignment had malicious intent.
The purpose of the assignment was to have students make an argument based on limited information, but it should have been worded differently, she said.
'I
don't believe there was malice or intent to cause any insensitivities to
our families of Jewish faith,' the superintendent told the newspaper.
Vanden Wyngaard scheduled a news conference Friday afternoon at the United Jewish Federation to discuss the controversy.
The school district has not named the teacher. Lesko said the assignment was brought to administrators' attention by a parent of one of the students.
Earlier this year, a teacher at Public School 59 in Manhattan caused a controversy by giving fourth-graders a math homework assignment that used scenarios about killing and whipping slaves.
The school's principal ordered sensitivity training for the entire staff.
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.
The assignment, first reported Friday by the Albany Times Union, asked students to research Nazi propaganda, then assume their teacher was a Nazi government official who had to be convinced of their loyalty to the Third Reich.
An English teacher at Albany High School (left)
could be in trouble after setting a writing assignment (right) that
instructed students to argue that 'Jews are evil'
A third of the students refused to complete the assignment.
Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard said she doesn't believe the teacher who handed out the assignment had malicious intent.
The purpose of the assignment was to have students make an argument based on limited information, but it should have been worded differently, she said.
Albany Public Schools Superintendent Marguerite
Vanden Wyngaard says the unidentified teacher did not have malicious
intent with the controversial assignment
Research: Students were asked to read Nazi
propaganda, like this 'Jews in the USA' booklet, showing New York mayor
Fiorello LaGuardia, who was an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime
Vanden Wyngaard scheduled a news conference Friday afternoon at the United Jewish Federation to discuss the controversy.
The school district has not named the teacher. Lesko said the assignment was brought to administrators' attention by a parent of one of the students.
Earlier this year, a teacher at Public School 59 in Manhattan caused a controversy by giving fourth-graders a math homework assignment that used scenarios about killing and whipping slaves.
The school's principal ordered sensitivity training for the entire staff.
Students were asked to assume their teacher was a
Nazi government official who had to be convinced of their loyalty to
the Third Reich
