Caldwell school assignment: Defend slavery

Plainfielders were no doubt shocked to open their Ledger this morning and find that a 6th-grade teacher in Caldwell's Grover Cleveland Middle School had given the class an assignment "to write a catchy slogan and a poster advertising why slave labor was the best way to run a cotton plantation."

Huh?!

And this is the school in the Caldwell/West Caldwell District that bills itself as "Proud to be the first Middle School Professional Development Site in New Jersey in partnership with Montclair State University."

Maybe we should have a contest to help the teachers come up with other interesting and challenging social studies projects.

Perhaps an assignment explaining why slave labor and concentration camps were the way to avoid "catastrophic personal and financial ruin" in Nazi Germany?

Makes you wonder WHAT was on this teacher's mind -- and how many other similar assignments are made of which we never hear a thing.

Everyone owes a debt of gratitude to Ayana McPherson-Jackson for challenging her school.

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On the Web --

• Ledger: "Slavery lesson offends a mother"
• Ledger: "Middle school assignment"
• Caldwell/West Caldwell Schools: "Grover Cleveland Middle School"

-- Dan Damon

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