At least one parent is expressing outrage after sixth-graders at a South Florida middle school had to create Nazi propaganda posters as part of a "critical thinking" class.
The assignment was given out last fall at Deerfield Beach Middle School as part of a Holocaust project. One poster showed a Nazi swastika next to a handicapped sign.
"Handicapped people are just getting in our way, that is why we must keep them away!" the poster reads.
Student Nauria Oliveira said she was offended by the assignment.
"I do not think it is necessary. You can learn them so you don't become hateful, you learn the history, but you should not use them," she said.
Her father told the school she wouldn't be participating in the exercise.
"This is terrible, for me this is terrible, I am Jewish. It's not just because I am Jewish, because it is doing a bad thing and teaching hate for the kids," Sondro Oliveira said.
Local
The assignment was focused on the history of the Holocaust, with This specific project entitled 'Nazi propaganda poster.' It came with detailed instructions on how to make the symbols large, easy to understand and attractive.
"You saw that handicapped sign, with the Nazi swastika, for a child to learn how to draw a Nazi swastika and be proud of his submission, to the teacher, with the hopes to get an A, that is just sick," said Joe Zevuloni, an advocate for the parents. "I think the next step that should be taken is actually coming up to those same classes that went through this, explaining to them the opposite, how to fight off this anti-Semitism, how to fight off Nazi propaganda when they see it out there."
The Broward school district said they are taking a look at the situation.
"The school’s administration and faculty are reviewing and evaluating future assignments in this subject area," the district said in a statement.
The father said he met with the teacher and vice principal and was told the assignment has been discontinued.
