Actual NB School Assignment – Choose who lives (based on their race)

Today, I came across a bizarre story about a provincial school assignment:

The assignment for the Grade 4 students at École Mont-Carmel in Ste-Marie-de-Kent was based on the notion that the planet was about to explode.

The students had three spaces in a rocket ship and they had to decide whom to save among an Acadian francophone, a Chinese person, a black African, an English person and an aboriginal person. The assignment also included images representing each of the different ethnic groups that they could choose to save.

While it sounds like a school assignment straight from the 50′s – this assignment is part of the provincial curriculum.  Apparently this assignment teaches children something.

Bernice Ryan, the school’s principal, said she has listened to Lomax’s concerns, but feels the exercise is a good one, as it is intended to show the students how to be respectful to all groups.

Ryan said the exercise was prepared by the Department of Education and is part of the curriculum. The principal said she doesn’t believe the exercise is out of date, but she has passed concerns on to the district office.

Yeah, because nothing makes people more respectful of others then choosing who lives and who dies based on their race.  Just look at the picture of the assignment that CBC obtained.

When I was in school we had a similar assignment; however, we had to choose who to save based on their skills and relationship to each other – there was never any mention of their race!

While I hate to see extreme political correctness – this is one example of something that is clearly racist.

Hopefully someone will clue in to this and remove it from the provincial curriculum.

UPDATE - Here is the latest update on the story:

There’s confusion over where the school assignment originated.

Ryan said the exercise was prepared by the Department of Education and is part of the curriculum. The principal said she doesn’t believe the exercise is out of date, but she has passed concerns on to the district office.

However, Gerald Richard, the District 11 superintendent, said the material was not made in the Department of Education. He said he believed it was locally produced.

“I have to admit it really doesn’t sound good. It got my attention. We contacted the school,” he said. “[The] exercise will no longer be used in that school or any other school.”

Another Update – The story made it to the front page of Fark.com – here are the comments.