Gwinnett County school district officials said Thursday that they are addressing a teacher’s recent homework assignment to sixth-graders asking them to draw a Nazi mascot.
The assignment was given Monday at Shiloh Middle School, said Sloan Roach, a school district spokeswoman. A parent contacted Gwinnett school officials to raise concerns about the exercise, Roach said.
“The year is 1935 and you have been tasked with creating a mascot to represent the Nazi party at its political rallies,” the assignment read. “Think about all of the information you have learned about Hitler and the Nazi party. You will create a COLORFUL illustration of the mascot. Give the mascot a NAME. You will also write an explanation as to why the mascot was chosen to represent the Nazi party.”
Gwinnett officials said the unidentified teacher was teaching a social studies class that was studying, in part, the rise of Nazism and its use of propaganda and events that led to the Holocaust.
“This assignment is not a part of the approved materials provided by our social studies department and is not appropriate and the school is addressing the use of this assignment with the teacher,” Roach said.
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