Linda Seebach reports that a Colorado teacher hit upon a strange and potentially destructive way of teaching Othello to her students. The teacher divided her students up in groups, those who had blue cards and those who had yellow cards. Blue-carded students were required to smile ingratiatingly, bow their heads, and beg people to tie their shoes. Yellow-carded students were fawned upon. "In a particularly nasty wrinkle," Seebach writes, "the teacher told the students chosen for the subordinate group that they would all receive Fs for their work that day and that the failing grades would be on their final transcript. And she sent them home still believing that lie." Seebach-and education blogger Joanne Jacobs, who picked up the story-blasts the teacher and the counselor who thought up this exercise and suggests they "have their heads examined" for committing a hate crime in the pursuit of teaching about hate crimes.
"Seebach: Teaching sensitivity can be a disgraceful exercise," by Linda Seebach, Rocky Mountain News, June 19, 2004
"Persecuting for sensitivity," JoanneJacobs.com, June 21, 2004