Who thinks this teacher was treated properly?

[Robert A Whit]

We complain a lot on this forum over teachers putting propaganda into the minds of children.

In this case, the teacher (read all of the story please prior to judging)
had an assignment in mind that may well mean the teacher got crapped on. Notice the topic is what pissed people off, but the topic is not what the teacher was teaching.

I personally don't want kids to be instructed on how to make the Nazi argument but I don't know those kids either. I don't know all that much about Albany given the only time I saw it was hauling ass down the turnpike headed to Buffalo.

Anyway one way to see it is that if the kids can make a powerful argument for an evil idea, might they actually learn more than say they argued why George Washington committed treason against his country?


http://news.yahoo.com/ny-teacher-ass...195221762.html

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A high school English teacher who had students pretend to be Jew-hating Nazis in a writing assignment has been placed on leave.
The teacher at Albany High School caused a storm of criticism after having students practice the art of persuasive writing by penning a letter to a fictitious Nazi government official arguing that "Jews are evil."
District Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard held a news conference Friday to apologize for the assignment.
The Times Union newspaper reported (http://bit.ly/ZTc4PU ) on Saturday that the teacher was not in class on Friday and had been placed on leave by the school district.
The district has not named the teacher, who was described as a veteran.
The writing assignment was done before a planned class reading of the memoir "Night," by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
For the assignment, the teacher asked students to research Nazi propaganda, then write a letter trying to convince an official of the Third Reich "that Jews are evil and the source of our problems."
"Review in your notebooks the definitions for logos, ethos, and pathos," the teacher's assignment said. "Choose which argument style will be most effective in making your point. Please remember, your life (here in Nazi Germany in the 30's) may depend on it!"
Wyngaard said she didn't think the assignment was malicious but "it displayed a level of insensitivity that we absolutely will not tolerate."
Many of the students were dismayed by the assignment. Some refused to write the essay.

[Kathianne]

The problem for her was that it wasn't a 'debate' class. Regular Language Arts with no tie in to social studies. IF she'd said, "Choose to pen a letter to a fictitious Nazi government official arguing that "Jews are evil" or send a letter to the Red Cross demanding they investigate what is happening in the Nazi regime regarding Jews and others," she'd have been OK. She gave no choice and thus was labeled.

I know what she was likely going for, but one does need to think a few steps ahead.

[fj1200]

There are much better topics to practice critical thinking.

[Robert A Whit]

The problem for her was that it wasn't a 'debate' class. Regular Language Arts with no tie in to social studies. IF she'd said, "Choose to pen a letter to a fictitious Nazi government official arguing that "Jews are evil" or send a letter to the Red Cross demanding they investigate what is happening in the Nazi regime regarding Jews and others," she'd have been OK. She gave no choice and thus was labeled.

I know what she was likely going for, but one does need to think a few steps ahead.

Does this mean she deserved to lose her job?

[Kathianne]

Does this mean she deserved to lose her job?

Depends on the district. She displayed a significant lack of discretion. I dunno, not my call.

[Robert A Whit]

Originally Posted by Robert A Whit

Does this mean she deserved to lose her job?

Depends on the district. She displayed a significant lack of discretion. I dunno, not my call.

She was put out on leave, but she may be simply put out of sight and the administrator that put her on leave probably wants to fire her.

Amazing that she could teach only Democrats hate dogma and get away with it, no problem at all.