The rise of Hitler and Mr Men

[bigfatmeanie]

Ds aged 15 has come home telling me that his history teacher has told them that they have to basically write a Mr Men book on the rise of Hitler. He is on the autism spectrum and feels that this is inappropriate for such a serious subject.
The best one will be read out to the 1st years.
I'm inclined to agree but not sure if I'm being a bit sensitive about it.

[toffee1000]

That sounds very, very bizarre!!

[noblegiraffe]

Michael Gove was slating this exact task years ago, I’m surprised it’s still being used!

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2013/may/09/michael-gove-mr-men-history-lessons

[araiwa]

But gove is usually very very wrong about everything

[Namechangetempissue]

What? I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that either. Perhaps it is a very badly explained way of asking them to write a short book about Hitler that is understandable to younger children clutching?
A Mr Men book about a genocidal maniac though? No.

[Anasnake]

It's a task from Active History
www.activehistory.co.uk/Miscellaneous/menus/GCSE/mr_men.php

[Anasnake]

And Gove is a nob

[noblegiraffe]

The main problem with the task is that it means the students spend time thinking about Mr Men, drawing a Mr Hitler, colouring in a little moustache, designing the supporting cast and so on when they could be learning more about Hitler.

[bigfatmeanie]

I thought perhaps it was misinterpreted by my son but apparently she encouraged them to watch old Mr Men cartoons for inspiration!
I can understand wanting to make history more accessible and interesting but feel like this is making light of a really horrific period particularly as it's not really that long ago.
I think I'll be having a chat with guidance teacher and see what they say. My son feels pretty strongly about it and we've always encouraged him to speak up when he feels something is wrong

[Lweji]

A Mr Hitler? Hmmm. It wouldn't sit right with me either.
I'd have a world with the teacher.

[Lweji]

Or a word...

[pipistrell]

I don’t know, have you read Maus, the graphic novel (ie comic) about hitler? It’s extremely good.

[Scruffette]

I would imagine the purpose of this is to condense the rise of Hitler into a very short simple story thus weeding out all but the absolute essential points. Maybe the Mr Men aspect will help the facts to stick. I would not have a problem with this as homework.

YABU.

[Seniorcitizen1]

As someone who lost a relative in the war no child of mine would be involved in this - it is disrespectful to those who gave their now for our tomorrows. What is it with some teachers today who seem to have no concept of sensitivities around horrors like war. There was a poster on here moaning about having stay in bedroom while building work done and called it doing an Anne Frank!! Some people have no sense.

[DorisDangleberry]

I'm all confused. Clearly it is a totally stupid task for a schoolchild. However, Gove is against it, and he is wrong on everything.

[Laiste]

It's a bit distasteful.

I'd have a face on. None of my older 3 had to do this.

[Goldenbug]

I did the picture myself. Tried to make him as loveable as possible but it ended up a slightly grumpy looking Hitler. (The worst kind)

[Namechangetempissue]

Exactly seniorcitizen1
I had family die in the camps. I'm not sure I could trivialise the actions of a man who sanctioned and encouraged the murder of millions, including in my family, babies and toddlers by writing about them in a jolly old Mr Men style book.

[TyneTeas]

I know it's not the point at all but it reminded me of these reviews of Mr Men books

www.thepoke.co.uk/2013/03/21/the-amazon-mr-men-reviews/

[Vitalogy]

Your sons instinct is correct, silly idea.

Goldenbug Bloody hell, that gave me a good laugh. I think I'd actually use that if I had to do the stupid assignment.

[SignOnTheWindow]

There are countless ways for school children to produce a condensed version of the rise of Hitler.

Mr Men is not an appropriate vehicle for this.

[Anasnake]

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2013/may/13/mr-men-teacher-michael-gove
Link to an article about Russell Tarr the author of the resource. He states it is to be used with a scheme on the Weimar Republic, not the Third Reich.

[Minidoghugs]

A graphic novel about Hitler would be fine but I agree with the OPs DS this subject is a serious one and should be treated with a bit of gravity.
My daughter had to do a leaflet about Hitler Youth in history yr 9 which was fine, I thought, as it was interactive and more engaging than just writing a report for children like my dd who loves drawing (her teacher thought she did a good drawing of Hitler for it).
I do like the Horrible History approach of using humour, but we must remember that there are still people alive today who lived through WW2 and treat the subject with a bit of respect.

[Minidoghugs]

However I do like the Mr Men books version of Dr Who!

[Ttbb]

Regardless of the subject matter writing a Mr Men book is ridiculously simple for a 15 year old. That said this project could yield some dubious results. Definitely not helpful. The point of Mr Men is to be light hearted so you would end up with sonething really messed up. See below.

^Mr Moustache was very particular about his moustache. In fact, he was very particular about a lot of things.
He lived in a far away place called Germanyville. Lots of different kinds of people lived in Germanyville including Germans but Mr Moustanche, who was very particular thought that this was very peculiar. And you know why don't you?

He thought that only ethnic Germans should live in Germanyville, it was called Garmanyville after all. But all the other people liked it in Germanville and didn't want to leave.

One day he met Mr. Jew at the super market. Mr Jew wasn't a German. 'Why hello,' said Mr Jew and pulled on Mr. Moustache's moustache 'that's a funny moustache you have there'. Mr Moustache went bright red from head to toe because he was so angry. And you know what he decided to do next don't you?

He decided to kill Mr Jew and everyone else he didn't like for similarly ridiculous reasons.^

I would definitely not be pleased if my children were set this task, even if they were younger where the task would at least he appropriate to their skill levels it would send completely the wrong message.

[Nannasoup]

Your not insensitive at all!!! A Mr men themed book based on Hitler ?? Never heard of anything so ridiculous, I think this teacher needs to reapproach his lesson plan, I'd go as far as having a word with the head..