Do George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler have anything in common?
This was the question posed to sixth-graders this week in Washington, DC, when their teacher asked them to compare and contrast the former president with the infamous Nazi leader.
“Now that we have read about two men of power who abused their power in various ways, we will compare and contrast them and their actions,” the homework assignment sheet read.
Students at the McKinley Middle School in northeast Washington were sent home with Venn diagrams Tuesday and asked to analyze the similarities and differences between the 43rd president and Germany’s diabolical Fuehrer, local WRC-TV reports.
“Please refer to your texts, ‘Fighting Hitler — A Holocaust Story’ and ‘Bush: Iraq War Justified Despite No WMD,'” the assignment added. “We will use this in class tomorrow for an activity!”
A parent of one of the youngsters raised alarms when he caught a glimpse of his child’s assignment sheet. Shocked that his sixth-grader’s homework had been so insulting, the parent called McKinley to complain.
But instead of apologizing for the exercise, the school claimed the assignment was part of the curriculum unit and was approved by the school system, according to the Washington Times.
“I didn’t agree with Mr. Bush or his policies, but that was over the line,” said the anonymous parent. “I think trying to compare Adolf Hitler to an American president is just not right.”
At the time of the assignment, the parent said his sixth-grader’s class was learning about the Holocaust and the Iraq War. The students were expected to turn in their work Wednesday after they finished their readings on the two leaders.
The District of Columbia Public Schools said Wednesday that the unidentified teacher has realized the assignment was wrong and has promised to give the students an apology.
“The teacher deeply regrets this mistake, and any suggestion to malign the presidency or make any comparison in this egregious way,” school system spokeswoman Melissa Salmanowitz said in a statement.
“No DCPS curriculum materials suggest in any way that teachers should compare the texts in this manner or compare Hitler to any other individual. The teacher admits to extremely poor judgment and short-sightedness and will apologize to students.”
“The school will also send a letter home to families explaining the incident and offering to address any additional questions should they arise,” the statement added.
McKinley is the only science, technology, engineering and mathematics middle school in the DC public school system and has 193 students enrolled this year, the DCPS reports.
It has not been revealed whether the school will punish the teacher for her actions.