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Students say Holocaust assignment violated religious freedom
Associated Press ^ | 12.27.05 | AP

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."


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism
KEYWORDS: hseducation; students
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To: Condor51
the Diary of Anne Frank has NO business being part of any public school's class curriculum.

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.

61 posted on 12/29/2005 7:39:49 PM PST by Alouette (Happy Hanukkah FReepers!)
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To: BlueStateDepression
I would have worn an American Flag

or perhaps

62 posted on 12/29/2005 7:41:33 PM PST by reg45
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To: Alouette

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.


63 posted on 12/29/2005 7:42:03 PM PST by AmishDude
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To: andyk
I wonder how supportive we would be had he assigned pink triangles as well as yellow stars.

Hostory is history, isn't it?

64 posted on 12/29/2005 7:43:35 PM PST by Wormwood (Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!)
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To: AmishDude

Then there were the mentally and physically disabled. They didn't even get symbols. They just got eliminated.


65 posted on 12/29/2005 7:50:47 PM PST by ladyjane
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To: AmishDude
nobody ever talks about all the other symbols except the yellow star and the pink triangle.

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

66 posted on 12/29/2005 7:57:30 PM PST by Alouette (Happy Hanukkah FReepers!)
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To: Alouette

Is there a web page with pics of them? Do they have any estimates of numbers?


67 posted on 12/29/2005 8:00:26 PM PST by AmishDude
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To: Wormwood
I wonder how supportive we would be had he assigned pink triangles as well as yellow stars.

The diary of Frank Frank?

68 posted on 12/29/2005 8:03:37 PM PST by AmishDude
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To: Tax-chick

Because that would assess what they know not what they feel. Remember feelings trump everything these days.


69 posted on 12/29/2005 8:04:27 PM PST by kalee
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To: andyk

"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!


70 posted on 12/29/2005 8:04:39 PM PST by Baraonda (Demographic is destiny. Don't hire 3rd world illegal aliens nor support businesses that hire them.)
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To: AmishDude
Dachau: Principal Distinguishing Badges Worn by Prisoners


71 posted on 12/29/2005 8:08:28 PM PST by Alouette (Happy Hanukkah FReepers!)
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To: andyk

72 posted on 12/29/2005 8:09:25 PM PST by eyespysomething (This space intentionally left blank......oh crud)
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To: AmishDude
The diary of Frank Frank?

The Diary of Barney Frank.

73 posted on 12/29/2005 8:11:59 PM PST by Wormwood (Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!)
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To: Condor51
It's Pollyanna, liberal 'altruistic' crap like this why the education system SUCKS and HS graduates are barely literate.

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.

74 posted on 12/29/2005 8:19:54 PM PST by Veto! (Opinions freely dispensed as advice)
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To: steel_resolve

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.


75 posted on 12/29/2005 8:54:17 PM PST by brothers4thID ("Kerry demands that Iraqis terrorize children in the dead of night")
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To: Old Professer
Role-playing and group dynamics are behavioral modification techniques by design; the only valid question is who is the designer?

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!

76 posted on 12/30/2005 4:13:02 AM PST by Mmmike
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To: Hildy

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.


77 posted on 12/30/2005 4:19:57 AM PST by Mmmike
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To: Jeff Chandler

bttt


78 posted on 12/30/2005 4:26:49 AM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: steel_resolve

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.


79 posted on 12/30/2005 4:40:06 AM PST by nina0113
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To: steel_resolve; Wormwood

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.


80 posted on 12/30/2005 5:12:47 AM PST by jim_trent
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