March 3, 2006
Parents in Florida have angrily reacted to the head teacher of a school after their children had yellow stars of David pinned to their clothing so that they could better understand what it was like to be a Jew during the Holocaust, according to media reports. Eighth graders with last names beginning with L to Z at Apopka Memorial Middle School were asked to wear the stars to empathize with Jews under Nazi rule in World War Two. The incident has upset some parents and children. One father told a radio station that his son was not allowed to sit down and later told by an administrator to go to the back of the lunch line four times. When his son came home, he was crying. The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida reacted to the incident in statement: "We applaud Apopka's effort to engage in Holocaust education with the hope of a tolerance education component in the classroom... However, we do not encourage nor train teachers to engage in simulation exercises."
