Reply #51: He could have gotten a buzz a number of ways.

[Igel]

He's an employee of the county or city, on county or city time.

He could have burned an American flag to get his 'buzz'. Or a crucifix.

Or a Qur'an. Or he could have burned a poster of Martin Luther King. Or the US Constitution, with the verbiage that it should be burned because it's libertine.

Many ways to create controversy and get kids talking. I'm sure almost any of these would provide a good basis for an essay.

But I think I'd rather have the teachers at most present pictures of video of the acts, not have agents of the state do the acts themselves. It's like having kids put on shackles and wear them around all day in discussing the Middle Passage, or require that they memorize Muslim prayers, take Muslim names, and take time out as though they were praying in order to "give them an awareness" of what it means to be a Muslim (as though that would do it). Silliness, at best. Deeply offensive, at worst.