Do teachers normally have this much freedom in making up assignments?

[August]

In the assignment, students were to pretend the educator was a member of the Nazi government. "You must argue that Jews are evil, and use solid rationale from government propaganda to convince me of your loyalty to the Third Reich!" the teacher's assignment sheet said.

This part I don't understand. The class was supposed to be about persuasive writing but the students aren't being asked to persuade the instructor of anything besides how well they can parrot a party line. Short of writing a denial or refusing to write all together it'd be very difficult to fail such an assignment, especially given the voluminous amount of party propaganda to use as a source.



Now, persuading a nazi to become a Jew. Having to argue over all that indoctrination, overcome great skepticism and inherent racism. That would be a heck of an assignment.

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Originally Posted by August

The class was supposed to be about persuasive writing but the students aren't being asked to persuade the instructor of anything besides how well they can parrot a party line.

I can kind of see the intent. In real life, often you'll be forced to flesh out the arguments for a superior's position (not just parrot it) that you don't agree with and it is very hard to do that. You have to really turn your normal axis of thought.

But indeed, if you can make the Nazi case almost sound convincing to a person of modern sensibilities, then you will be quite persuasive.

Originally Posted by CNN

She told the Albany Times Union newspaper that one-third of the students refused to complete the work.

Well, try doing that in real life - you'll lose your job.

[Feuer Frei!]

Maybe a poor choice of topic for an assignment, but...
sincere apologies again because of mentioning Nazi Germany....*sigh*