Frankly False

Scott Hardie | April 16, 2013
Please tell me that there are people out there who heard about the Nazi writing assignment in Albany and didn't immediately assume the teacher was anti-Semitic, and who instead assumed that the essay must have been intended to serve any number of purposes:

- getting the students to argue a side they obviously do not support, to build their powers of persuasion
- getting the students to understand how propaganda can make an evil argument sound convincing, so that they listen to media more critically
- getting the students to realize how ordinary people could come to hate an entire race, to teach them the potential for this evil in ourselves
- getting the students to recognize the pressure to conform to position they don't support, so they can better resist it
- getting the students to talk and think creatively about a difficult historical subject, from a firsthand perspective

There are plenty more possible valid explanations. The news media chased shock value as usual, and did not widely mention that the assignment was for a crossover between English and history classes (it's not as if the teacher randomly plucked "Jews are evil" from a hat; there was a point to the lesson), nor that many people in the school and the community supported the assignment (link). I would just hope that some people would hear this story and assume that the teacher had good and proper intentions, not because they are optimistic but because that explanation is by far the likeliest.

As for the "front page news" that Justin Bieber claimed that Anne Frank would have been a fan, I hope that people also recognize that story as being motivated solely by mass desire to see Bieber fail in some way, and having nothing really to do with Frank or the Holocaust. Just as we spent years having Bieber built up in front of us as an idol, so do we lust for his downfall, because that's what we do in this country.

Samir Mehta | April 16, 2013
[hidden by request]

Tony Peters | April 16, 2013
Honestly its an interesting assignment especially for highschool students. I wrote a defense of torture essay when I was in College that required a great deal of introspection. I don't think the teacher involved was anti Semitic I think the outrage is yet another example of the war in intelligence and learning under the guise of religious tolerance and political correctness. As for Bieber.... my only opinion is that he can't go down in flames soon enough for me.