Amen. I did not realize that English class is about the ability to have feelings. Maybe the teacher could have asked the students to express what the literature caused them to feel.
What a silly assignment. And the logic that a student who asked to wear a swastika did not lose points because that student was attempting to identify with a group is nonsense. By choosing to identify with neither swastikas nor stars, the girl in question was choosing to identify with the silent witnesses to the Holocaust.
Yes, I don't like the idea of assignments oriented around "feeling empathy," especially if students get lower grades for refusing to assume the right pose.
If grades aren't based on the students' ability to read and write the English language, then the school is out of line.