“Don’t Tell Your Parents” 6th Grade Assignment at Milan Elementary, MS

While it is unclear if this is explicitly a Common Core assignment or   not, a group of students today in Tupelo, MS had quite an interesting assignment. The sixth graders at Milam Elementary were given an assignment to do in class, and they were not to discuss this assignment with their parents.

Naturally, telling a group of kids between the ages of ten and eleven to not tell their parents about an assignment is probably the surest way    for them to tell their parents. In fact, it is typically a way to ensure a student sneaks a copy home.

The reason why this is so concerning is that Tupelo prides itself on data driven instruction. Now, data is nice if it helps you figure out if a student needs extra help in a particular area. However, what if that effort is aimed at monitoring the political views of a student? What if there is a shift in student opinion to say, the wrong opinion on gun control or say the wrong opinion on right to life issues? Is the school collecting data toward that end to monitor the political beliefs of these young children? As you check out the school district’s video on data driven instruction, ponder for a moment where does monitoring education end and monitoring indoctrination begin?

Then, consider the assignment below. According to a local clergy, this is the assignment that one of these young sixth grade children was given in class. They were told not to tell their parents about the assignment. I find that part disconcerting right there.

The next is the topic: Are you a Republican or a Democrat? I wonder what ever happened to teaching children that they were Americans? Why is there an effort to monitor political opinions so early in a child’s life?

Do the parents in Tupelo, MS need to have a conversation with the school board about monitoring for indoctrination versus education? Why were the children told NOT to tell their parents about the assignment? Is this a pre-test of attitudes with another test to be given later? Is this part of the data driven education, to monitor the attitudes and beliefs of students?

While it may seem far fetched, parent political views are part of the P-20 data collected  in data driven schools. Why not the child’s political views?