Politics
Parents’ fury as New Jersey fifth-grade girl is dressed as HITLER and writes ‘I was pretty great’ for class project
A NEW Jersey school sparked fury after a fifth-grader was dressed as Adolf Hitler for a school project – and wrote: “I was pretty great” in an essay.
A photo of Hitler and the offending work was plastered on the walls of Maugham Elementary School in Tenafly, New Jersey for weeks, causing outrage among parents.
A New Jersey fifth-grade girl dressed as Hitler and wrote an autobiographical essay claiming “I was pretty great” for a controversial class project[/caption]
Maugham Elementary School displayed the child’s work on its wall for at least two weeks before an abhorrent parent posted it on Facebook[/caption]
“My greatest accomplishment was uniting a great mass of German and Austrian people behind me,” the handwritten essay by the girl reads.
“I was pretty great wasn’t I?,” the essay read. “I was very popular and many people followed me until I died. My belif [sic] in antisemitism drove me to kill more than 6 million Jews.”
Beyond the shockwaves brought on by the essay, the student reportedly came to school dressed as the mass-murdering Nazi, according to NJ.com.
An abhorrent parent posted pictures of the offensive work on Facebook that had been reportedly displayed on school grounds for at least two weeks, the publication noted.
Besides handwriting the first-person Hitler essay, the fifth-grade girl also dressed up as Adolf Hitler[/caption]
Tenafly Public Schools Superintendent Shauna DeMarco stated she is investigating the matter but urged calm and added the assignment has been misunderstood[/caption]
Those images appear to have since been removed.
Fuming locals teed off on the school project in reaction to the parent’s social media account, according to the New York Post.
“This is one of the most f’d up things I have ever seen,” one person commented.
“How is this possible in one of the most Israeli towns in the country. I am disgusted,” another wrote.
Superintendent DeMarco also suggested that the assignment was given by a teacher “who happens to be Jewish”[/caption]
A “fact-finding” effort has begun to get more answers behind the girl’s Hitler assignment and explain why it was prominently shown off on a school wall.
“Unfortunately, this assignment has been taken out of context, resulting in understandable anger and concern,” Tenafly Public Schools Superintendant Shauna DeMarco attempted to explain in a statement.
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There has been a huge misunderstanding.
She contends that she learned about the “Character Development project” on Friday, according to the Post Millennial.
In her statement, DeMarco later learned that the autobiographical project was assigned by a teacher “who happens to be Jewish.”
It was also intended to challenge students to “speak from the perspective of one of these individuals and how they might have perceived and rationalized their actions.”
DeMarco acknowledged the uproar after seeing the project being “displayed” at the school without understanding the assignment amounted to “justifiable concerns.”
She added that the school condemns any kind of antisemitism, racism or bias.
“Given that the lesson was specifically issued within the context of social justice, it is unfair to judge any student or teacher in this matter.”
