Utah School Apologizes For Terrorism Poster Assignment

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SALEM, Utah (AP) — A Utah school is apologizing to parents after students were asked to create a terrorism propaganda poster in class to help them understand the goals of groups such as the Islamic State and the methods they use to gain support.

Nebo School District spokeswoman Lana Hiskey said the assignment at Salem Junior High School was canceled Thursday after several parents called to complain.

Hiskey says the assignment came from a first-year world civics teacher and was not part of official curriculum or approved by the school.

The assignment involved students doing a mock-up of a poster for one of the terrorist organizations studied in class, including IS.

Hiskey says World War II propaganda was also discussed.

She says the teacher is apologetic and has met with administrators but no disciplinary action is planned.

The poster assignment was first reported by KUTV-TV (http://bit.ly/1I28sm5).

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Information from: KUTV-TV, http://www.kutv.com/

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Notable Replies

  1. What would a parent find objectionable about this assignment? Serious question.

  2. Avatar for meri meri says:

    Honestly, this is a fairly insightful assignment.

    No wonder people in Utah were angered by it.

  3. Agreed. This is the kind of assignment that the smart and engaged kids will understand immediately. The natural extension of this assignment is have them watch a raft of campaign commercials and analyze and critique those for intent and content.

  4. Because Utah.

  5. Whatever we do, we must not teach students in Utah how to recognize propaganda.

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