or perhaps 
Posted on 12/29/2005 9:07:21 AM PST by andyk
PITTSFIELD, N.H. — An assignment intended to teach students about tolerance and the Holocaust angered some students at Pittsfield Middle High School, who claimed it violated their religious freedom.
English teacher Harry Mitchell last week asked students to make and wear yellow stars similar to those Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis. The graded assignment, part of a lesson on The Diary of Anne Frank, was intended to teach empathy, he said.
But some students protested, instead wearing paper notes bearing the words, "We're not Jewish."
"Many people won't learn anything except that their religion (if they're not Jewish) isn't good enough and that being Jewish or expressing Jewish symbols is a better religion and the only way to get the grades we deserve," wrote Samantha Gage, 13, in a letter to the Concord Monitor.
That misses the point, Mitchell said.
"My intention with the star was to get them to have some empathy and the feeling of what it was like to have to identify yourself with a symbol," Mitchell said. "If you're not wearing it, you're not getting the full awareness of Anne and her family."
School principal Karen Erlandson said she supported the assignment, as well as the right of students not to participate.
Students, including Gage, who did not wear the star were given lower grades than those who did.
One student was given permission to wear a Nazi swastika instead of a star. Mitchell said he allowed it because the request demonstrated creativity and still conveyed the idea of associating groups of people with symbols.
Mitchell said he had used the assignment successfully in the past and also tried to link it to current events.
"I brought up how America is trying to help the people in Iraq, and how America was hesitant to help the Jewish people in the Holocaust," Mitchell said. "One of the reasons we're fighting there now is to eliminate the same kind of prejudice and the same kind of treatment of minorities."
Why? Why is that wrong? In my public high school the drama club put on "The Diary of Anne Frank." Other productions included "A Raisin in the Sun" and "J.B." (a modern adaptation of the biblical Book of Job)
Since then, I have had many (non-Jewish) visitors to my website ask me, what is an appropriate book to teach their children about the Holocaust? Something that isn't too gruesome. "Diary of Anne Frank" is what I recommend.
or perhaps
I didn't know that. You hear about the gypsies (and they aren't popular in Europe even today) but nobody ever talks about all the other symbols except the yellow star and the pink triangle.
Hostory is history, isn't it?
Then there were the mentally and physically disabled. They didn't even get symbols. They just got eliminated.
I think they absolutely should mention the other symbols. Well maybe not the last 2.
Purple triangle=Jehova Witnesses or evangelical Christian
Brown triangle=Gypsies
Red triangle=Communist
Black triangle=common criminal
Is there a web page with pics of them? Do they have any estimates of numbers?
The diary of Frank Frank?
Because that would assess what they know not what they feel. Remember feelings trump everything these days.
"English teacher Harry Mitchell last week asked students to make and wear yellow stars similar to those Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis. The graded assignment, part of a lesson on The Diary of Anne Frank, was intended to teach empathy, he said."
Unbelievable what this country is coming to.
Christians Unite!
The Diary of Barney Frank.
Exactly.
However, the Diary of Anne Frank is a highly-regarded book that belongs in an English class because it's so beautifully written. I wonder whether it even occurred to the sucky liberal teacher to discuss the book's literary merits rather than making it a touchy feely excuse to go all fuzzy.
Yeah that wasn't my problem with your post. My problem was with your comments about "backing up assumptions with facts". The West did ignore the plight of the Jews prior to the liberation of the camps in the spring of 1945. It's documented historical fact- as many posters have pointed out to you.
What a way to cut to the chase! So many people are so completely lost in the specifics of the role-playing that they never think to ask the big do-or-die question!
Feel good nonsense is right. But I think that in almost every circumstance, feel good nonsense is the best school can do thanks to the politics of schooling... which is why I don't believe in universal compulsory state-run schooling such as we have today.
bttt
You asked for evidence. I took the trouble to provide a link to a book I've actually read, with links to other books listed on the same page. Your conclusion-jumping skills are of Olympic quality.
Anti-semitism is alive and well. In fact, it is growing by leaps and bounds. Not only in Europe, but here too. I am sure the the pre-WWII Americans who refused to let European Jews flee Germany and settle here thought they were doing it for non-antisemitic reasons, but they were only fooling themselves -- just like the two of you are.
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