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.

You're not being sensitive and your DS's instincts are spot on. Trivializing the Nazis is just not acceptable. What project could he do instead?

aged 15?!

They should be studying it properly not putting it into Mr Men!

I'll stick my neck out and say I don't think it's that bad of an idea. DS is 15 and if handled with the right support from teacher /school could be a tremendous learning experience.

I think it is fine for Hitler´s rise to power. I think it is a creative and interesting task. Pupils will have to practice condensing information and presenting it in a suitable way. There are many topics that it wouldn´t be appropriate for - for example, I wouldn´t think one about the war was suitable, but for the period up to 1933, I wouldn´t have a problem with it.

To add, thinking about it, it could be a super learning tool. Many subjects could be tackled using a familiar format that kids would relate to.
I say this as a parent who often will criticise dumbing down for kids these days.

A for effort @Ttbb

A disappointing 4 (these days) for effort ttbb. I don't think it would have to go like that at all.

I think it is inappropriate. The rise of Hitler should be a part of the history syllabus but not taught in this way.

Yeah it's been taken the piss out of on TV too

And by Michael Gove www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2321950/Imagine-Hitler-Mr-Men-Michael-Gove-slams-history-teaching.html

If you look at the article it is explained as a revision task, also a way into tutoring younger students. I can imagine this being very creative and engaging. The words mr men don't automatically make something trivial, cartoons can deal with really challenging topics. It doesn't preclude reading and studying very seriously, in fact the challenge would be exactly how to select and transmit key information.

Thanks for all the opinions, it's certainly given me a lot to consider. I can understand the reasoning behind the actual revision and educational value but the subject matter is one that is more contentious for me.
It's been interesting hearing the different perspectives on the subject!

This sounds appalling. How incredibly insensitive. Your DS' instincts are right.

There are children's books that deal with sensitive topics like the Holocaust. Why on earth wouldn't these be used as examples for this topic?

As an aside, why would anyone aspire to Mr Men as a mark of quality writing? They are so badly written and sexist to boot. They deserve to disappear into history, never to be re-released.

I agree ificouldpaint I never realised how tedious they were until I read them to dd