A Wyoming High School teacher suggested, in a multiple-choice test, that a book characters gun should be used to shoot President Trump. This is not the first time this particular school has pushed the bounds of politicization in the classroom.
Students from the wealthy and urbane, Jackson Hole High School were given a quiz by English teacher, Carin Aufderheide after having read George Orwell’s iconic novel, “Animal Farm.” One of the questions contained in the quiz asked if;
“Napoleon [one of the pig characters] has the gun fired for a new occasion. What is the new occasion?”
“A) He was shooting at Trump”
This isn’t the first time that the Jackson Hole High School made headlines for pushing explicit partisanship in the classroom. Just two years ago, the liberal Wyoming public school canceled, “America Day” over fears that immigrants would complain. Students organized themselves in protest, and wore patriotic gear on “America Day” in defiance of the school’s orders.
The quiz raised serious concerns amongst parents as to what is being taught at their child’s school.
Jim McCollum, a concerned parent of Jackson Hole High School, expressed his reaction to the quiz. “I had to read it two times,” Jim McCollum told the News & Guidem when his son Rylee showed him a picture he had taken of the quiz. . “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” McCollum expressed.
“It was so inappropriate to show a name of a sitting president in that question,” McCollum told the paper. “To me, that is so wrong in light of the situation in our country and the divisiveness and all.”
McCollum stated that he believes that the school had expressed a “liberal bias,” which left his son and other conservative students feeling like “outcasts.”
Talking about his son, a junior at the school he stated, He told me, ‘Dad, they crapped on everything I believe in.” And added, “Rylee is very patriotic, very supportive of our military and of our country.”
McCollum had reportedly shared the question on social media and attracted several comments from students about the “shooting at Trump” answer while expressing a difference in opinion as that of their teacher’s.
The Teton Country School District posted a statement on their website last Friday stating that they are “investigating this incident and verifying the information we have received” that “an inappropriate answer” was on the quiz. They further confirmed that the “inappropriate answer” was on the quiz and that the quiz has been immediately taken down.
“TCSD #1 takes seriously threats of any kind, regardless of the intent,” the statement read. “We apologize to the students, families and community for this incident and will be addressing the issue with personnel.”
McCollum expressed that while he doesn’t wish for the teacher to be disciplined, however he hopes that the incidents proves to be a learning experience. “I’m not looking to get rid of anyone’s position,” McCollum graciously noted.
