A high school English teacher faces disciplinary action for giving a writing assignment that asked students to make a persuasive argument blaming Jews for the problems of Nazi Germany, Albany school district officials said Friday.
Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard said administrators were discussing what official action the unidentified 10th-grade teacher at Albany High School will face for the assignment given to students on Monday. It could range from a letter of counsel to dismissal.
-Provocative assignment - I equate it to being a member of a debate team and having to speak in favor of a topic you find distasteful, unsavory or even sickeningly repugnant. I think I want to find out exactly what the teacher's intention was before completely flying off the handle. It has certainly been made clear that teaching according to the "norm" doesn't always spark intelligent, meaningful reflection. Racism needs to be examined up close, dissected and rejected with a deep-rooted clarity. Perhaps (s)he was trying to help them see the brutal ugliness up close - from an unlikely (uncomfortable) perspective to make it more real.
Read the note "Please remember - your life (here in Nazi Germany in the 30's) may depend on it.- Csager
The assignment, first reported Friday by the Albany Times Union, asked students to research Nazi propaganda, then assume their teacher was a Nazi government official who had to be convinced of their loyalty. The assignment told students they "must argue that Jews are evil."
"This assignment for some of our students at Albany High School was completely unacceptable. It displayed a level of insensitivity that we absolutely will not tolerate in our school community," Wyngaard said at a news conference Friday at the United Jewish Federation. "I'm deeply apologetic to all of our students, all of our families and the entire community."
"After this unfortunate lesson we know that the Albany School District will rededicate themselves to teaching about how prejudice led to genocide and to help their students build a better community," said Shelly Shapiro, director of the Holocaust Survivors & Friends Education Center.
School officials say they don't believe the teacher who handed out the assignment had malicious intent. The purpose of the assignment was to have students make an argument based on limited information, but it should have been worded differently, officials said.
The school district has not named the teacher, who was described as a veteran. The assignment was brought to administrators' attention by a parent of one of the students. Some students refused to write the assignment.
The teacher's assignment told students they "must argue that Jews are evil, and use solid rationale from government propaganda to convince me of your loyalty to the Third Reich!"
Earlier this year, a teacher at Public School 59 in Manhattan caused a controversy by giving fourth-graders a math homework assignment that used scenarios about killing and whipping slaves. The school's principal ordered sensitivity training for the entire staff.
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