I sent an email to the principle. I suspect he will be receiving quite a few.

"Dear Mr. Jackson, I am writing to express concern over a writing assignment recently assigned at the Hampton Middle School in which students were directed to write letters to law makers to pressure legislators to enact stricter gun control measures. Such an assignment is prejudicial and forces a student to take a side is a controversial issue which is far better left to parents to address. I am a parent of (xxxx-number), and would be very put out to learn that a teacher had directed them to write propaganda with which neither they, nor I, agree. To do so is to tread some dangerous ground, in which the teacher has overstepped the bounds of authority and permission. You should be aware that this matter has now drawn national attention. Sincerely,...

I had a boy in middle school some years ago who was threatened with suspension for wearing a tee shirt that I bought for him in Afghanistan. The shirt had a picture of crossed rifles and said "Kandahar Hunting Club" or something to that effect. I paid a visit to the principle in that case, to express my displeasure and concern that a boy wearing a tee shirt bought at a US Military facility in a combat location, in service of one's country, could evoke disciplinary action. The matter didn't come up again.

People do need to write the principle in this case, and to the principals in every case in which egregious acts are taken against civil freedoms.

trying to find out if the backlash was enough to get him fired...not much in the local press, and oddly enough no photos of said cretin appear to be available

You know, I would have no problem with an assignment to “Write a letter to one of you legislators expressing your thoughts on gun control.” Citizens should be encouraged to contact their legislators and let them know their thoughts. Children in school should be taught to be citizens.

Elements of the assignment should include:

Figuring out who your legislators are and choosing one of them to write to.

Writing a letter in a proper format with adddressee, sender information, date, etc.

Coming up with some position and intelligently supporting it.

The position (for, against, indifferent - ie, “this stuff is noise, what you really should be worrying about and working on is <whatever>.) should be completely irrelevant. Grading should be based on how well the point was supported. Clear, concise, relevant, well-written grammatically correct are all goals.*

No letters will be sent by the teacher. If the student feels strongly enough about the issue and is comfortable enough with what they have written, they are welcome to send it on their own.

*I remember back when I was in school that it was not about what you thought, but that you did think. Sadly, I am not sure that a lot of teachers are capable of that approach these days.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Very well stated. How about teachers stop worrying about pushing and agenda? They're having a hard enough time just teaching Writing, Reading, and Arithmetic.

guppy...thanks for a clear concise format from which I can formulate my own e-mail.

In a public meeting the teacher should be made to explain why he used the children in the community to advance his socialist agenda. There is too much of this communist crap going on in school. If it were my child I would be dragging him out permanently. I’ll bet you that commie asshole never even gets a letter in his file. If a bunch of us contact his principal, that will drag him into the middle of this. Good, time to pay attention to your classrooms.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: greco,

I think it's a great experience for kids to write to legislators, but only if it's honest. I remember doing it in fourth grade, but nobody told me what to write. It was pretty cool that he answered my questions on a recording and I received back a cassette tape.

Good on that parent for calling bullshit and stepping up to say something. Too many parents these days aren't involved enough in their kids schooling to even know what's going on, and too many don't take action when they see nonsense like this. If more parents would stand up to this kind of indoctrination, I imagine we would see less of it.

Perhaps a class walk-out over this idiotic assignment is in order?

In Georgia, too.