bluesyemre

• I asked my students to write speeches to become the President of our Fascist country.  One of my students stood up at the front of the classroom and discussed the problems with white people.  There was anger in her tone, she was blushing, but with heat, not bloom.   She listed Ms. M specifically as “that kind.” Now this was the assignment I had asked my students to do on the day that they became Fascist.  They needed to blame someone.  We were outlining the steps it took for Germany to become Nazi using our country, Manneslovokia.  I pinned my classroom against the other 9th grade classes and for four days we were a different type of German government leading to Naziism.  This sounds bad, but I needed my students to desperately understand why people put up with this behavior, what mob mentality is, and how ruling by fear dictates the action of millions of people.  It’s a complicated history and a complicated assignment for understanding, comprehension, and empathy.

http://j.mp/10KMxNL