Middle school assignment asked students to write letters to Congress supporting stricter gun laws – By Terry Webster (theblaze.com) / April 1 2018
A middle school teacher in Hampton, Georgia, came under fire for a classroom assignment that required students to write letters to pressure Congress for stricter gun laws.
What happened?
The premise of the assignment was that stricter laws could prevent another mass killing at a school, according to reports.
“For this assignment, you are writing a letter to the lawmakers of the United States,” the assignment stated. The purpose of this letter is to pressure lawmakers to have stricter gun laws in the United States.”
The law enforcement group Blue Lives Matter obtained a copy of the assignment from a police officer whose son is in the class.
“I asked him what he had for homework that night, and he said he had to write a paper on gun control,” William Lee told Blue Lives Matter. “I looked at it, and I told my son, ‘No, you’re not doing that assignment.’ Then I emailed his teacher the next day and told him that my son would not be writing that.”
The teacher agreed to exempt the student from the assignment with no penalties for not completing the work.
How did the district respond?
A district spokesman told Fox News the assignment is not part of the curriculum. He was also said the letters were not sent out.
“We would never approve of a politically biased assignment or directive given by a teacher,” a spokesman for Henry County Schools told Fox News. “The letters were never actually going to be sent to Washington and were more of an exercise than a serious plea for further gun control.”
The school district quickly distanced itself from the idea of assignments that require students to express an opinion other than their own.
“This activity took the wrong approach in limiting the ability of students to share any thoughts outside of what was directed of them when the subject elicits many different viewpoints from people, including students,” the spokesman reportedly said.
“It is unfortunate that this isolated incident occurred, but we are appreciative of those individuals who brought it to our attention so we could take corrective action and stop it from continuing further,” he explained.
