How did Hillary Clinton wearing a swastika end up in history class? Parent wants to know

An English class lesson at Joshua High School in which students were asked to identify themselves as Democrat or Republican with a show of hands has raised concerns with at least one parent.

The parent, who did not want to be identified for fear of a backlash, said her child felt that lessons Monday in English and World History contained political rhetoric and appeared to be indoctrination.

The Star-Telegram is not naming the teachers out of fairness because neither they nor school officials have responded to repeated attempts to contact them.

“In a single day of school, students were victims of political propaganda being forced upon them, in both English and History classes,” said the parent in a statement. “This is absolutely unacceptable. The school and the teachers need to be held fully accountable for these actions and failed attempts at education.”

One lesson, led by an English teacher who has a personal political blog, began with the teacher asking students to identify themselves as Republican or Democrat with a show of hands. He then went through points outlined in a handout titled “Political Philosophies” that compares liberals to conservatives.

One section of the handout states that Democrats are “soft on crime” and “against private firearm ownership.” Republicans were described “hard on criminals, firearm ownership is a right, individual responsibility/enforce the law.”

“During the handout discussion, [the teacher] referenced topics that are irrelevant to bipartisan politics such as, ‘the past eight years administration increasing debt’ and the ‘wall that Mexico will pay for.’ ” the parent said. “At the end of class [the teacher] asked if any of the students still identified with the Democratic party after discussing the handout ‘philosophies.’ ”

During the same student’s World History class, another teacher’s presentation on “Revolution and Nationalism” included a slide with an image of Hillary Clinton wearing a Nazi swastika armband and facial hair similar to that of Adolf Hitler.

There was also an image of former President George W. Bush behind bars.

“We have got to stand for our values,” the parent stated. “We must stand for our youth. They have to be given clear visions of both sides of the road, in order for them to discern where they will stand, and also where others stand that are different than them. Tolerance is the key and the single answer to finding a middle ground.”

Teachers actions in response to the current political climate has drawn questions about educators crossing lines. Recently, a Dallas school district art teacher was placed on administrative leave after posting a video on social media of her shooting a water gun at an image of President Donald Trump, the Dallas Morning News reported.

This story was originally published January 31, 2017 at 6:37 PM with the headline "How did Hillary Clinton wearing a swastika end up in history class? Parent wants to know."