A homework assignment that repeats stereotypes draws criticism. One side sees it as the basis for discussions, the other racism.
Siegburg – A school in North Rhine-Westphalia is being criticized for a school assignment that some consider racist. The subject of the task was a forced marriage in a fictitious Turkish family. The Gymnasium Siegburg Alleestrasse, where the incident occurred, has already responded.
“A Turkish father in Germany married his daughter to his deceased brother’s son without her consent in order to secure a residence permit for Germany and thus a livelihood for him”. That was the premise of the school assignment, a photo of which is circulating on social media. The associated work assignment asked the students to discuss the situation described and to point out the conflicts it contained.
“Stunned”: School assignment causes accusations of racism
The task from the ethics class at the high school in Siegburg drew a complaint from the Federation of Turkish Parents’ Associations in North Rhine-Westphalia (FÖTEV) to the state’s education ministry, as bild.de first reported. In an open letter, the organization stated that the school assignment made it “stunned” and accused the assignment of using the vocabulary of right-wing populists.
The school assignment is also the subject of controversy on social media. While the situation described is seen as a basis for an important discussion on the one hand, others follow FÖTEV’s criticism and demand that the school distance itself from the task. So far, the Siegburg Alleestraße high school has not wanted to go that far, although the institute has since apologized for the incident on its website.
After racism allegations: School denies allegations
“Today a shitstorm swept through our school, which hit us hard. We were accused of racism and discrimination,” says the high school in North Rhine-Westphalia. Accordingly, the task should cause students to deal with prejudice and stigmatization. The school denied the allegation that “stereotypes were deliberately used against a minority”. Nevertheless, those responsible say that everyone who “might feel hurt” by the incident should be addressed. The Gymnasium Siegburg Alleestraße emphasized that it has been a member of the nationwide network “School without Racism” for almost 20 years.
Only recently, similar criticism was voiced about an incident in Saxony-Anhalt: there, a school class was made up only of children with a migration background. The state network of migrant organizations called this a “racist disaster”. (red)
