Va. middle-schoolers assigned opposition research on GOP candidates

The Daily Caller ^

[Sub-Driver]

Va. middle-schoolers assigned opposition research on GOP candidates By Kalyn McMackin - The Daily Caller 1:16 AM 03/22/2012

A Virginia middle school teacher recently forced his students to support President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign by conducting opposition research in class against the Republican presidential candidates.

The 8th grade students, who attend Liberty Middle School in Fairfax County, were required to seek out the vulnerabilities of Republican presidential hopefuls and forward them to the Obama campaign.

“This assignment was just creepy beyond belief — like something out of East Germany during the Cold War,” one frustrated father, who asked for his family to remain anonymous, told The Daily Caller.

The assignment was for students to research the backgrounds and positions of each of the GOP candidates for president and find “weaknesses” in them, the parent explained. From there, students were to prepare a strategy paper to exploit those weaknesses and then to send their suggestions to the Obama campaign.

Liberty teacher Mark Denman, who declined to comment, unveiled the assignment in mid-January when he broke the Civics Honor’s class into four groups, one for each Republican candidate. The students were then to collaborate as a group and research the backgrounds of their assigned candidate.

Denman assigned two kids to write a paper revealing the identified “weaknesses,” two to write the attack strategy paper and two others to locate an individual inside the Obama campaign to whom they could send the information.

“My classmates don’t actually know a lot, but a few of us tended to agree that the most recent instruction on this project just didn’t seem right,” one of the students told TheDC. “Mr. Denman didn’t tell us where to find the information, just to research on them.”

[newnhdad]

We have more than a few escapees from the People’s Republic of Fairfax over here in Prince William county.

[Lady Lucky]

Easy to say if you are not a parent. If you ARE a parent, you know you don’t want to get your kid tagged as the son/daughter of “the kook” and have them in the crosshairs of the rest of the faculty and getting bad grades as a result of your activism.

With pusillanimous attitudes like that, it's no wonder this country is so fouled up. God forbid his kid should get bad grades because his dad spoke out against creeping liberal fascism.

I bet that parent is a keyboard commando with a name like CW2 or LiveFreeorDie, when he's actually more of a ProtectOurFanny.

[Lady Lucky]

Despite the rule, Denman’s intention was to exercise “a simulation activity with the intent of teaching students about the research process that a campaign committee goes through prior to an election,” Torre said.

If that were the case, they could have assigned the kids to target Adams, Jefferson, Madison...

But no. That might have proved educational!

[Lady Lucky]

Denman assigned two kids to write a paper revealing the identified “weaknesses,” two to write the attack strategy paper and two others to locate an individual inside the Obama campaign to whom they could send the information.

Six kids on each candidate, x4...hmmmm...does this mean there are 24 kids in Civics honors? Wonder what the standards might be!

[Lady Lucky]

One of the honors students says, "a few of us tended to agree that the most recent instruction on this project just didn’t seem right...Mr. Denman didn’t tell us where to find the information, just to research on them."

Weasel worded, a few of us tended to agree, it didn't seem right. Weasel thinking: it didn't seem right, because they weren't told where to find the info (!)

Honorary mention for undeserved honors: the teacher didn't tell these honor students where to find the information!

[OldMissileer]

We have more than a few escapees from the People’s Republic of Fairfax over here in Prince William county.

Just take a look a couple of miles south of you in Stafford County.

They have crapped all over our beautiful, conservative, county. It is time for me to move.

[ccmay]

Three assistant principals for a middle school? Unbelievable. There was only one vice-principal at my large high school.

[Psalm 73]

Thank you for the contact info, have sent e-mails:

Dear Dr. XXX,
Liberty Middle School should be ashamed for allowing your teacher, Mark Denman, to use his public school classroom, and the children under his care, for partisan political purposes. This is so unethical on so many levels it just decries common decency.
We homeschool our daughter and I would never dream of assigning her a task like this, on the contrary we teach her to pray for President Obama, as well as his potential challengers to the presidency. I pray that you would come to your senses and return to the primary task of actually educating your students.
Respectfully,
XXX

[jennings2004]

I am shocked that the assignment did not include an investigation on just what “...natural born...” means.../s

[DoctorBulldog]

Another reason to homeschool ping?

Cheers

[JSDude1]

To be fair the youth were forced to do this.

[metmom]

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