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Sixth-grade homework assignment: Compare and contrast George W. Bush and Hitler

Pete Marovich
Libby Nelson is Vox's policy editor, leading coverage of how government action and inaction shape American life. Libby has more than a decade of policy journalism experience, including at Inside Higher Ed and Politico. She joined Vox in 2014.

Unsurprisingly, a sixth-grade homework assignment asking students to compare and contrast President George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler has turned out to be controversial:

The teacher and the DC Public Schools have apologized.

For all of the debate over the Common Core standards, assignments like this one, or an eighth grade writing assignment in a California school district asking students whether the Holocaust actually happened, are a reminder that much of what kids do every day are assignments created by teachers themselves.

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