Students asked to ‘argue
that Jews are evil’ and prove Nazi loyalty in assignment linked to Common Core
The Blaze – Tiffany Gabbay –
4/12/2013
“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.
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.
Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country - northwoodspatriotscomm@gmail.com
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