ROUND LAKE, Ill. – The following letter was handed out in a world history class on December 5th in Round Lake District 116 Middle School Class.

It was a supposed letter from the school stating parents must now pay 10 cents per page for all assignments after the first of the year.

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Round Lake middle school

Many students just gave this to their parents without explanation. In researching this story it was discovered this was an assignment, not a letter from the school to the parents, despite the fact that it was on the Middle School Stationary. The reported assignment was to evoke an emotional reaction from students about unfair or unnecessary taxation. The intent was to make students think about how our forefathers felt about the taxation without representation.

Here are a few of the reactions to the assignment (after they found it was not a letter to parents):

Artistsitra Iladrodavlas Zionoiz: If it is all a joke, then it was in very bad taste, and they owe parents an apology. They also shouldn’t have just supposed that every child is going to tell their parents that it was a joke and obviously some kids took it seriously, and didn’t realize that it was a joke either. I disagree, I feel freaking is perfectly in order, they aren’t being paid by our hard eared tax dollars to do that kind of crap.

Melissa Ortega: I got a “here my teacher told me to give you this” and I’m sorry but it would not surprise me if RL schools resorted to this but did find out it was just a joke..in my opinion not a very good one

Mary Moore: I agree that it was in bad taste. And the teacher did tell the kids immediately after giving them the note. I dont agree with it but all in all it was meant to teach them something about how the settlers felt in the past. If you cant just laugh it off then something is wrong with you. People need to stop bashing round lake schools. If you don’t like it move. Both my kids are straight A students getting a quality education.

Kathy Davis Oetker: It is nothing like the tea tax was. Teacher needs some retraining. This was far from a joke or an appropriate “lesson”.

David Gasper: It’s not just in bad taste. The issue is that the underlying premise is true. The devaluation of public education by our system is real and the fact that they chose to do it this way shows how much that devaluation has permeated the system. Funny that it’s always the educated that want to take away or defund the education. A good public education is not an option in a democracy it is a requirement. A government “of the people” is only as good as the people themselves. It’s not a matter of “bashing round lake schools” it is a matter of defending the right to a quality public education across the board. The revolution was not lead because the settlers ‘felt’ something, it was lead because the founders ‘thought’ something. Maybe we should be teaching children what those founders wrote and thought and not playing on their emotions in a class about the american governmental system. Don’t worry fox news and msnbc will manipulate their emotions for political gains soon enough, maybe we should teach them the rational logical skills to be able to stand up to the onslaught of media they will be faced with before making choices that will effect their lives and their nation.

The Round Lake Middle School Principal, Jeffry Prickett or Assistant Principal Diallo Brown have not returned calls for comment. Here are the questions I was awaiting an answer on:

  1. What grade was this assignment given in?
  2. Why was the letter on official letterhead if it was just an assignment?
  3. Is this a Common Core Aligned assignment?
  4. Has this assignment been used before in the school?
  5. Will there be a letter of apology to the students, parents and community for the confusion over this assignment?

 

Authored by Lennie Jarratt – Champion News