In an effort to have students meet Common Core standards relating
to critical thinking, a group of eighth grade teachers in the Rialto
Unified School District designed an assignment that asked students
to write an essay arguing whether the Holocaust was real or made up.

Link.

The name of the interim superintendent is a bit interesting.

I think 8th grade is too young for such an assignment.

I think this quote is pretty reasonable, "Teaching how to come to your own conclusion based on the facts, test your position, be able to articulate that position, then defend your belief with a lucid argument is essential to good citizenship."

I think that anyone knows that this is far too controversial of a subject to make a good assignment.

(05-08-2014 10:33 AM)AngryAphid Wrote:  The name of the interim superintendent is a bit interesting.

Perhaps, but not because he's on the wrong side of the issue (which you may expect if he tended towards the Ahmandinijad side of the issue or favored The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as many in the Muslim world do.

(05-08-2014 10:56 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  I think 8th grade is too young for such an assignment.

I think this quote is pretty reasonable, "Teaching how to come to your own conclusion based on the facts, test your position, be able to articulate that position, then defend your belief with a lucid argument is essential to good citizenship."

I think that anyone knows that this is far too controversial of a subject to make a good assignment.

No problem with the assignment as outlined above. Wrong wrong topic for it. All it will take is one kid to make some "compelling" argument that it never happened or was less in scope than widely recognized and you'll have a schitstorm.

This one might be worth following.

(05-08-2014 11:56 AM)I45owl Wrote:  

(05-08-2014 10:33 AM)AngryAphid Wrote:  The name of the interim superintendent is a bit interesting.

Perhaps, but not because he's on the wrong side of the issue (which you may expect if he tended towards the Ahmandinijad side of the issue or favored The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as many in the Muslim world do.

According to the Serge Trifkovic book The Sword of the Prophet, many highly
regarded Caliphs and Imams championed Germany's disposal of Jews during Nazism.
I guess Islamic views of such event has “evolved" over the years.

Quote:Current events are part of the basis for measuring IQ.

Never heard that one before.

But instead of discussing if the Holocaust was real or not, why don't they discuss something a little closer to home, like figuring out if slavery was real or not?

(05-08-2014 12:16 PM)AngryAphid Wrote:  

(05-08-2014 11:56 AM)I45owl Wrote:  

(05-08-2014 10:33 AM)AngryAphid Wrote:  The name of the interim superintendent is a bit interesting.

Perhaps, but not because he's on the wrong side of the issue (which you may expect if he tended towards the Ahmandinijad side of the issue or favored The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as many in the Muslim world do.

According to the Serge Trifkovic book The Sword of the Prophet, many highly
regarded Caliphs and Imams championed Germany's disposal of Jews during Nazism.
I guess Islamic views of such event has “evolved" over the years.

No question that Muslims and Nazis were allied to one extent or another during that period, adding to the irony of their holocaust denial or dismissal of it as a "European problem".

Anyone with half a brain would know that the Holocaust was not made up. Too many eye witnesses of the event were there or experienced it firsthand.