Albany Teacher On Leave After 'Pretend You're A Nazi' Assignment
ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A high school teacher in Albany has been placed on leave, after students were advised to think like a Nazi and argue that "Jews are evil" as part of an assignment.
WRGB-TV, CBS 6 Albany reported the students were assigned a persuasive writing essay in which they were to "pretend I'm a member of the government in Nazi Germany," and "convince me you are loyal to the Nazis by writing an essay to convince me Jews are evil and the source of our problems."
Albany School District Superintendent Dr. Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard held a news conference Friday apologizing for the assignment.
She called the assignment "ill-conceived and inappropriate," and expressed outrage that a student could be asked to "justify prejudice leading to genocide," WRGB-TV reported.
The teacher has been placed on leave, and other consequences are likely forthcoming, Vanden Wyngaard told the station. The consequences could be as lenient as a letter of counsel or a letter of reprimand, or as severe as termination, but no decision was to be made immediately, Vanden Wyngaard told the station Friday.
Shelly Shapiro, director of the Holocaust Survivors and Friends Education Center in Albany, told WRGB the incident was disappointing, and hoped for a teaching moment for both students and educators.
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