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SassyLady
03-23-2012, 01:35 AM
Is anyone else outraged by this:



Va. middle-schoolers assigned opposition research on GOP candidates



A Virginia middle school teacher recently forced his students to support President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign by conducting opposition research in class against the Republican presidential candidates.

The 8th grade students, who attend Liberty Middle School in Fairfax County, were required to seek out the vulnerabilities of Republican presidential hopefuls and forward them to the Obama campaign.“This assignment was just creepy beyond belief — like something out of East Germany during the Cold War,” one frustrated father, who asked for his family to remain anonymous, told The Daily Caller.

The assignment was for students to research the backgrounds and positions of each of the GOP candidates for president and find “weaknesses” in them, the parent explained. From there, students were to prepare a strategy paper to exploit those weaknesses and then to send their suggestions to the Obama campaign.

Liberty teacher Michael Denman, who declined to comment, unveiled the assignment in mid-January when he broke the Civics Honor’s class into four groups, one for each Republican candidate. The students were then to collaborate as a group and research the backgrounds of their assigned candidate.Denman assigned two kids to write a paper revealing the identified “weaknesses,” two to write the attack strategy paper and two others to locate an individual inside the Obama campaign to whom they could send the information.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/22/va-middle-schoolers-assigned-to-do-oppo-research-on-gop-candidates/#ixzz1pv2YVZkf

SassyLady
03-23-2012, 01:37 AM
From The Five: Outrage over Liberal Lesson Plan

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1525113296001/outrage-over-liberal-lesson-plan/?playlist_id=87937

fj1200
03-23-2012, 04:03 AM
Why don't they just fire people like that who do stupid things?

Noir
03-23-2012, 08:13 AM
The only thing I think is weird is that they were going to send the suggestions to Obama...the rest seems fine, critical thinking amd research based around live and current events...

CSM
03-23-2012, 08:27 AM
The only thing I think is weird is that they were going to send the suggestions to Obama...the rest seems fine, critical thinking amd research based around live and current events...


I am in partial agreement. If the assignment had been divided between those running INCLUDING the incumbent then I am fine with it. Restricting the research to republican candidates displays the teacher's political hackery. Not sure if "hackery" is a word but it is now!

Thunderknuckles
03-23-2012, 09:37 AM
The only thing I think is weird is that they were going to send the suggestions to Obama...the rest seems fine, critical thinking amd research based around live and current events...
Close but disagree. I had a great teacher in high school who taught political science as part of our civics course. We delved into elections at the time and he gave us assignments involving analysis of both sides. This teacher, even if he didn't ask them to send their suggestions to Obama, clearly has an agenda of indoctrination with his one-sided approach.
Where is the critical thinking when all you are presented with is one point of view?

Noir
03-23-2012, 09:50 AM
Close but disagree. I had a great teacher in high school who taught political science as part of our civics course. We delved into elections at the time and he gave us assignments involving analysis of both sides. This teacher, even if he didn't ask them to send their suggestions to Obama, clearly has an agenda of indoctrination with his one-sided approach.
Where is the critical thinking when all you are presented with is one point of view?

Well this is all guesswork on my part, and maybe the teacher was bias and trying to get agenda into his class BUT...if i were him what i'd of done was assigned this work (minus the 'send it to obama' thing) to get to know the candidates that they're likely to know less about than Obama, and then when a Rep nominee is chosen then your can assess that one Rep against Obama.

Maybe that was the teachers plan, maybe it wasn't, idk, but in any case i

fj1200
03-23-2012, 12:12 PM
Maybe that was the teachers plan...

:laugh: Maybe. :laugh:

gabosaurus
03-23-2012, 12:17 PM
I am guessing that the GOP hierarchy are really worry about strategy reports prepared by middle school kids. :rolleyes:

fj1200
03-23-2012, 12:28 PM
^Right over your head eh?

SassyLady
03-23-2012, 02:19 PM
Teacher was reprimanded for not making the project balanced by assigning a group to do opposition research on Obama. I think it would have been very insightful to let the kids decide who they wanted to research and report on. That would have been a true unbiased way of making the assignment.

gabosaurus
03-23-2012, 05:28 PM
I think the teacher should be reprimanded for introducing politics into a third grade class. Kids should not be taught hatred of either side of the political spectrum. That is the job of parents. :cool:

Missileman
03-23-2012, 11:06 PM
Why don't they just fire people like that who do stupid things?

It would be way more fun AND satisfying to drag that asshole out behind the school and kick the shit out of him.

Gator Monroe
03-24-2012, 12:35 AM
I am guessing that the GOP hierarchy are really worry about strategy reports prepared by middle school kids. :rolleyes:

Kids that age are Lord of the Flies , The leader of the Droogs in "A Clockwork Orange" (the Book not the Movie) was a little older than the Class children, they are Evil Genius & thinking outta the box at their age.

LuvRPgrl
03-24-2012, 10:07 PM
Is anyone else outraged by this:

what is really alarming to me is that it doesn not seem to be big deal by the media, hence, by default, the people

Kathianne
03-25-2012, 01:12 AM
This person should not be teaching, just work for political consultants.