Students Asked To Plot Terror Attack (Colorado Parents Upset Over 9th Grade Assignment)

The Denver Channel ^ | May 9, 2009

[Stoat]

PUEBLO, Colo. -- A ninth grade history project at a high school in Pueblo was supposed to teach students about terrorism, but instead it outraged parents.

Gini Fischer says her daughter came home Thursday saying she had two minutes to come up with a plot for an act of terrorism.

 

Over 110 freshmen at Pueblo County High School were given the project.

The teacher claims the assignment was to illustrate an act of terrorism by a foreign government on American soil.

Fischer says, "To ask them to use their creative energies to come up with a plot for an act of terrorism is very ludicrous."

District 70 Superintendent Dr. Dan Lere said students may have misinterpreted the assignment.

 

He says if a student, "actually did illustrate an act of terrorism that they might commit, let's say against the school, we've expelled students for that."

The school district has decided to collect the assignment from students and destroy them.

[Stoat]

This doesn't sound like what I remember from ninth grade....

[GeorgiaDawg32]

but someone draws a picture of a gun and they’re suspended (and reported to authorities)..

[Gaffer]

Actually, this kind of ‘gaming’ goes on all the time. Although, it’s usually classified. This is intended to consider the odd, unconventional out-of-the-box scenario. I’m surprised this was a school project....the only reason I can think of is either that it is government-backed - or the other alternative.....what is needed here is more investigation into the background, political leanings, and original nationality of the teacher that assigned the task. Just my opinion.

[TASMANIANRED]

Teach has 0 judgment.

[null and void]

You didn’t go to a madrassa...

[ChicagahAl]

The indoctrination continues.

Perhaps, next, the teacher can assign the students a project of how to round up all the Right Wing Extremists, and how to dispose of them.

[Tai_Chung]

she had two minutes to come up with a plot for an act of terrorism.

That's an easy one.
1. Create a public school system
2. Force students to attend
3. Remove God from the schools and then society at large.
4. Teach students to turn against their parents and country

I challenge you to find a greater act of terror that has harmed more American children.

[SampleMan]

Step One: Convert to Islam.

[BipolarBob]

Yeah and if a student did this on their own, out of the blue, they would be suspended or expelled. What makes it all right for this teacher to make students do what they normally would be suspended for?

[max americana]

So how does the teacher teach math? “If Abdul had 2 explosives and Mohamed had 3 explosives, how many explosives is needed to blow up a building”?

[DesertRhino]

Hahahahahaa NICE!!! Wonder what the teacher would have said???

[Old Sarge]

“If Abdul had 2 explosives and Mohamed had 3 explosives, how many explosives is needed to blow up a building”?

None. If Allah wills it, the building will fall down on its own.

[Lets Roll NOW]

Didn’t Columbine happen in Colorado? How stupid is this teacher?

[trumandogz]

This was a stupid thing to do with 9th graders.

[jeffc]

A much more interesting assignment would be to see what the students would write to prevent another attack on the U.S.

Would they round up and question suspects? What interrogation techniques would they use on suspected terrorists? Would they look more suspiciously at Muslims than Christians?

Seems like Teach needs to go back to Teaching school!

[Clintonfatigued]

Just when I thought that government schools couldn’t surprise me anymore, along comes this.

Metmom, I think I’ve found the best reason to homeschool in FR history.

[ottbmare]

My ninth-grade son and his friends have gamed like this. Their purpose was to figure out what to do in the event various types of attacks took place—where to hide, where/when/how to escape and by what route, which teachers to obey (there were two, both ex- or current military) and which to ignore or disobey. They obtained a floor plan of their complex school and thought about viewlines, communications, the capabilities of different weapons, which walls could be penetrated by bullets and which wouldn’t be, etc. It was useful.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

I’m at a bit of a loss here... so tell me again why this assignment was a bad thing? It seems to me that the teacher is guilty only of thinking “outside the box” (which is usually only an offense when it’s conservatives thinking outside the box!). I actually think this could have been an excellent assignment, handled correctly. It would have taught students how very easy it is to come up with ways to hurt our society, and how difficult to guard against people who only want to destroy the Western way of life. It seems to me that students today are cushioned against every little sharp edge of life. Maybe this would have let them think seriously about the difficulties of guarding our society. They could have had many excellent discussions ranging from this — philosophical discussions about torture (what is torture, what is NOT torture, why or why not societies choose to use it and why some societies see it as justified), discussions about law enforcement and the laws that have been created to protect us from terrorism, whether or not those laws are too farreaching ... oh, I could go on and on. In the hands of a skilled, unbiased teacher this could have been excellent. A real learning moment. Now it’s just a mess.

[wagglebee]

This is one of the sickest things I’ve ever seen!