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Altanta school under fire over ‘troubling’ assignment asking students to rate Adolf Hitler
A metro Atlanta school is under fire after giving students a Hitler-themed class assignment
A metro Atlanta school is under fire after giving students a Hitler-themed class assignment. The questions given to 8th graders at The Mount Vernon School were reviewed by Fox 5. The students were asked to rate some of Adolf Hitler’s attributes.
One question asked, "How would you rate Adolf Hitler as a ‘solution seeker’?"
"How would you rate Adolf Hitler as an ethical decision-maker?" another asked.
For both these questions, the students were given the option to select “Lacks Evidence, Approaching Expectations, Meets Expectations, Exceeds Expectations” to describe Hitler.
‘Looks horrible in the current context’
Parents and students have now questioned how appropriate the assignment is, with one student labelling it as “troubling.” "Obviously, that looks horrible in the current context," said one student. "Knowing Mount Vernon, we do things a little odd around here. We try to think outside the box, but oftentimes that doesn’t work."
Many students claimed that when they were in 8th grade, these questions were not in the curriculum. The principal of Mount Vernon, Kristy Lundstrom, has insisted that the school condemned antisemitism. "The intent of the assignment was an exploration of World War II designed to boost student knowledge of factual events and understand the manipulation of fear leveraged by Adolf Hitler in connection to the Treaty of Versailles," Lundstrom said in a statement.
“Immediately following this incident, I met with the School’s Chief of Inclusion, Diversity, Equality, and Action, Head of Middle School, and a concerned Rabbi and friend of the School who shared the perspective of some of our families and supported us in a thorough review of the assignment and community impact,” the principal added. “Adolf Hitler and the events of the time period are difficult and traumatic to discuss.”
One student said he believes the school intended to encourage critical thinking. "I can definitely see why they’d be upset, but overall, I think it’s important to look at both sides of the coin in every situation and I think it’s important to be able to compare and contrast everything that’s happened in our world history, whether it’s been good or bad," said the student.
