Sixth-Grade Teacher Has Students Compare Hitler, Bush

[one_voice]

A D.C. sixth-grade teacher will apologize for an assignment that asked students to draw comparisons between former President George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler.

The McKinley Middle School teacher sent students home with a Venn diagram and asked them to compare and contrast Bush and Hitler.

At least one parent found it troubling on a number of levels. He told News4 he sees a certain lack of respect for the office of the president. And the instructions read "both men who abused their powers," which the parent said presents opinion as fact.

D.C. Public Schools released a statement late Wednesday saying the teacher has admitted poor judgment and will apologize to students.

The statement explained the students are in a War and Peace unit in which they consider “when conflict is warranted.”

*snip*

The complete DCPS statement:

“The District of Columbia Public Schools provides teachers with an English-Language Arts curriculum that outlines the topics, texts, and standards to be taught within instructional units, while allowing teachers the flexibility to decide the best approach and day-to-day lessons for their students. One of the units at the beginning of the year is about War and Peace, allowing students to explore different perspectives and determine when conflict is warranted, and when peace should prevail. This week, a DCPS teacher created a worksheet to assign as homework which asked students to compare and contrast President George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler, after reading two texts. No DCPS curriculum materials suggest in any way that teachers should compare the texts in this manner or compare Hitler to any other individual. One text, “Fighting Hitler – A Holocaust Story" is part of the current suggested materials. The text about President Bush is not suggested as part of the current year’s curriculum, but was included last year in a separate unit. The teacher deeply regrets this mistake, and any suggestion to malign the presidency or make any comparison in this egregious way.


“The teacher admits to extremely poor judgment and short sightedness and will apologize to students. The school will also send a letter home to families explaining the incident and offering to address any additional questions should they arise.”


Read more: http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-Sixth-Grade-Teacher-Has-Students-Compare-Hitler-Bush-274708231.html#ixzz3D3zBFfAC
Follow us: @nbcphiladelphia on Twitter | nbcphiladelphia on Facebook

[Half-Century Man]

1. I'm against it because it lacks challenge.

It's like comparing Granny Smith Apples with Red Delicious Apples.

[TheNutcracker]

2. Well on the heels of the WaPo story of Bush wanting Yahoo data, I'm not surprised. Check out link

on DU right here...


http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014893904

[one_voice]

5. Wow...I missed that thread..

thanks for the link.

[Politicalboi]

3. Bush was bad, but Hitler

Bush tortured like Hitler, Bush abused his powers and created an illegal war. I don't recall Bush sending out the troops to round a certain people up and kill them on the spot, or take them to camps here in the US anyway. Iraq I'm sure was different. Bush should be brought to trial over his war crimes. But comparing Bush to Hitler is actually an intellectual insult to Hitler. LOL! Hitler was smart till drugs and disease and the heroes of the war got to him. Hitler wanted to be an artist when he was young, but was discouraged, and now Bush thinks he's an artist.

6 degrees from Kevin Bacon.

[mythology]

4. Bush was obviously a crappy president who waged an illegal war

but comparing him to Hitler is over the top.

[MohRokTah]

6. The teacher should not be teaching.

Bush's policies sucked and he was generally incompetent at the job, but I'm pretty damned sure he wasn't Hitler

[LiberalAndProud]

7. Would this be a problem if Bush weren't such an embarrassment?

It's difficult to use "Bush" and "warranted conflict" in the same sentence.

[Lint Head]

8. Both. A war criminal and a murderer.

[geek tragedy]

9. Bush was awful, but can't do that in public schools nt

[Jenoch]

10. I don't care what a teacher's politics are,

but this teacher used poor jdgement with thia assignment. I wonder if it was her idea or if she got the worksheet/assignment from somebody else?

[AverageJoe90]

11. Yeah, this is over the top. nt

[WinkyDink]

12. Sixth-graders are twelve. When Bush left office, they were six. They might have a grasp about

Hitler, but for sure they have zero knowledge about Bush for this rather sophisticated (not to mention clearly incendiary) assignment.

IOW, this deal was strictly for the TEACHER'S amusement and ego, not for the students' education.

[DreamGypsy]

13. What a classic example of the popular press manipulating readers' reactions...

...and all the DU respondents so far (1-12) were completely sucked in.

First, the title of the article: "D.C. Sixth-Grade Teacher Has Students Compare Hitler, Bush".

Well, what's the definition of compare. Here's one: one: to examine (two or more objects, ideas, people, etc.) in order to note similarities and differences. And here's another: to consider or describe as similar; liken: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

And the title of the article is relying on the reader to choose the second definition: "consider or describe as similar".

However, if you read the article (probably few people do before they've formed their opinion from the title) the first definition is the appropriate one:

(from the article (emphasis mine)):

The McKinley Middle School teacher sent students home with a Venn diagram and asked them to compare and contrast Bush and Hitler.

So, why didn't the article title say "compare and contrast"????????? Because if it did nobody would read it, that's why! The teacher wanted the 6th grade students to read, decide, and argue, whether similarities or dissimilarities were more important. But if the title feeds the reader the answer first (describe as similar), then readers won't notice the more open-ended assignment.

However, the title twist is just the icing. The cake resides below in the article:

A letter sent to McKinley parents Thursday said the school would talk to students in the class about why a different assignment would have been more appropriate.

"The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) curriculum and guidance documents for teachers do not include what was suggested in this assignment," the letter reads.

The statement explained the students are in a War and Peace unit in which they consider “when conflict is warranted.”
<snip>
One of the units at the beginning of the year is about War and Peace, allowing students to explore different perspectives and determine when conflict is warranted, and when peace should prevail.
<snip>
One text, “Fighting Hitler – A Holocaust Story" is part of the current suggested materials. The text about President Bush is not suggested as part of the current year’s curriculum, but was included last year in a separate unit.

So, this curriculum is for 6th graders, age ~12, born in the 21st century, 55 years after Hitler died. The Bush 'atrocities" occurred largely within the lifespan of these children. So, why is Junior yesterday's news????, while Adolph/Holocaust is something every 6th grader has to consider???? The answer: this is DC and they're AIPAC (they've got the money, they call the shots). There's (apparently), no mention in the curriculum of the Native American (First Nation) Holocaust because...they're impoverished and ineffectual... after between 2 million to 18 million deaths.

Was this particular teacher, with this particular assignment, right or wrong?? I don't know, and I really don't care. But, ...

...to every teacher out there, spending their life helping the future generations separate the diligent understanding from the casual acceptance, I say thank you. No apologies. No regrets.

[Behind the Aegis]

16. WOW! AIPAC is to blame?! Just...WOW!

Yeah, I mean why teach about the Holocaust...that shit is so damn old! Hell, why we are at it, why even teach about the Native American Holocaust, it is even further removed from history, so why you making a stink about it NOT being taught?

[nomorenomore08]

14. I'd say it's more a difference of degree than kind. They're both mass-murdering megalomaniacs. n/t

[Spirochete]

15. The difference is

Hitler did his painting BEFORE he fucked up the world...