I applaud the Albany school district for trying to create a teachable moment by inviting sensitivity trainers from the Anti-Defamation League to work with teachers and students following the "Think like a Nazi" assignment.

Colleagues and I tried to make sense of such an offensive task that was so clearly wrong. Asking students to craft an argument of why Jews were the source of Germany's problems based on Nazi propaganda is a decision no educator can defend.

Further, Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard explained the assignment was a product of the new Common Core curriculum; it asked students to "make an argument based on limited information at hand." This is the "rigor" these new standards ask of students. Tasks are meant to be text-dependent; it is deemed unnecessary for students to question, criticize, use background knowledge or, for that matter, common sense in responses to what they have read.

David Coleman, the architect of these new standards adopted by New York and 44 other states and the District of Columbia, stated at an April 2011 State Education Department presentation, "As you grow up in this world you realize people don't really give a sheet about what you feel or what you think."

This attitude is at the heart of the teacher's assignment. The offensive nature is the most glaring, but it's also disturbing that educators seem to be asked to craft prompts that don't encourage students to think for themselves.

Ultimately, the students need to be applauded for their questioning of the task. These experiences are what prepare one for college or career. Judging by our new standards, these students would be deemed as failures. And that is wrong.

Molly Fanning