# File under "What Were they Thinking - Education Edition" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 6, 2014, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-under-what-were-they-thinking-education-edition/687809 "2014-05-06T15:09:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-under-what-were-they-thinking-education-edition/687809/21 "2014-05-09T02:19:44Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > For their next assignment, students could take up slavery in America. Was it a great moral wrong or were blacks well treated and far better off under their masters than they are in today’s society? (for greater balance, students will read source materials evenly divided between those provided by eminent historians and Stormfront). If they are using the History Channel as a source for the first assignment they could use that eminent historian Paula Deen for this one. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-under-what-were-they-thinking-education-edition/687809/22 "2014-05-09T12:40:33Z")
I have to say that this is one of the few cases where, if my daughter were given this assignment, I’d be making huge complaints and/or going to the news media about it. No educational value at all, and it actually encourages kids to look at far-right sites, and they’re what, 14 years old? I could see challenging college students by setting them an assignment which had them access far-right sites, but not young teenagers. There _are_ no even halfway credible sources arguing for the Holocaust existing; the assignment is asking for something which is impossible. What next - does the USA have fifty states? Was the first President George Washington? Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear… etc. Find credible sources arguing against your position. The teacher would have to give me a really good explanation for their motives first, but barring some world-changing excuse, I’d then submit an official complaint about their teaching to whoever is in charge, with the aim of them not teaching history again until they learn how to teach. > [@jtur88](#): > > Who gets to decide which truths are not to be discussed in an educational environment? > > How about “Discuss why the Pope persecuted Galileo.” Would that have any educational value? How about “Discuss why the British Redcoats resisted the American Revolution.” > > The biggest obstacle to education is the thesis that certain truths are self-evident. No, your analogies would have to be “did the Pope really persecute Galileo?” and “did the civil war really happen?” Analogies to your examples would be about why the holocaust happened, not if it did. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-under-what-were-they-thinking-education-edition/687809/23 "2014-05-09T13:01:24Z")
If they wanted to do something like this, the assignment should have been something like “Here are 3 arguments made by David Irving. Please show the flaws in each argument.” This would teach students how to evaluate and research what they read (very important skills in the internet age) without appearing to give equal weight to wrong ideas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-under-what-were-they-thinking-education-edition/687809.md?page=1)