Posted on 07/15/2014 12:08:17 PM PDT by drpix
* Full title: "SHOCK: District’s ‘critical thinking’ assignment led at least 50 students to conclude Holocaust never occurred" *
RIALTO, Calif. – An eighth-grade English assignment that was meant to develop students’ critical thinking skills has, instead, created some 50 new Holocaust deniers.
In May, Rialto Unified School District leaders came under intense criticism after it was revealed the district’s roughly 2,000 eighth-grade students were given an in-class essay assignment in which they were asked to consider if the Holocaust was “an actual historical event” or if it might have been “a propaganda tool that was used for political and monetary gain.”concentration camp
Students were directed to “research” the issue and take a position on it, supporting their conclusion with “textual evidence” – printouts of information culled from three websites, one of which was a Holocaust denial site..
(Excerpt) Read more at eagnews.org ...
The Superintendent is Mr. Islam (as in "the religion of peace") and the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (as in "Dreamers" and "America's hope for the future").
Rialto Unified School District (RUSD) is a school district in Rialto, California. The interim superintendent is Mohammad Z. Islam. The president of the board of education is Joanne T. Gilbert.LINK:
"From the bottom of my heart, I feel sorry for this whole thing happening," said interim Supt. Mohammad Z. Islam, adding that he accepted full responsibility for the incident.LINK:
Ethnicity African American 17.0% American Indian or Native Alaskan 0.3% Asian 1.0% Filipino 0.5% Hispanic or Latino 73.2% Pacific Islander 0.6% Caucasian 5.8% "Multiple or No Response" 1.5%English Learners English Learners (EL) 30.9% Non EL 69.1%Free or Reduced-Price Meals Yes 75.7% No 24.3%
Public “skool” - check.
Mostly illegal aliens - check.
What the h*ll do you expect?
How many teens do you know who could tackle that particular idea with ANY clarity? MOST probably didn't even know what a "holocaust" was.
Here’s to one of the other 1150 students bringing great uncle Abraham for show and tell.
Big red “HOMESCHOOL YOUR KIDS” flag there...
When I was a teen I would have staked out the position that was most likely to get adults upset.
I’ll bet you were a crackup.
The point is the stated conclusions of the kids are not evidence they actually believe what they wrote and the reaction of the adults would only add fuel to the desired reactions that the kids wanted.
That said, I always taught my kids that to be good at persuasion they need to argue well the contrary side. These kids may have seen it as a challenge to take the minority view,
What the heck is wrong with Calif ?
It if fundamentally a bad idea to ask students to chose to be for or against a position when one of those choices is deemed unacceptable. In that situation, it is the exact opposite of critical thinking because the choice given really was not a choice at all.
(This was actually published in the LA Times in 1993, not from some loony neo-Nazi website.)
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