Student says assignment was inappropriate (Write about selling soul to Devil)

Student says assignment was inappropriate (Write about selling soul to Devil)

abclocal.go.com

Trough refused to write an essay on making a deal with the Devil.

"I believe you don't write about how to sell your soul to the Devil," she said.

Trough's English class was studying the Washington Irving short story "The Devil and Tom Walker" - a miser who makes a get rich deal with the devil, then later tries to back out of the deal.

Trough says when the teacher told students to write an essay on how they would sell their souls - or what trade they would make with the Devil - she refu

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I did change the article headline to accurat

This just blows my mind away. How can the school even think an assignment like this is at all acceptable? How is that no one else complained about it?

Something is seriously wrong here. The student says it right - God is not allowed in the classrom (and I don't believe it should be), but they allow this?

What kind of perverse sense of humor does that school administration have?

abclocal.go.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by TLomon
The student says it right - God is not allowed in the classrom (and I don't believe it should be), but they allow this?

Your absolutely right, this is not acceptable either. This is another attempt by the christians to infiltrate a place of learning with more mythos.

If a kid wants to write freelance about devils and souls and whatnot, then they should be allowed to, however for it to be a specific assignment is not on.

and yes, I do see a religious agenda here.

If the student were interesting in the slightest, he/she would have written about the ethical dilemmas of such a fictional deal.

But no, its turned into a good and evil thing rather than the ethics assignment that it was meant to be.

The teacher should have known better, parents and students are not that intelligent. Give a more straight forward assignment that doesn't relate to any religious beliefs.

Originally posted by SaturnFX

Originally posted by TLomon
The student says it right - God is not allowed in the classrom (and I don't believe it should be), but they allow this?

Your absolutely right, this is not acceptable either. This is another attempt by the christians to infiltrate a place of learning with more mythos.

If a kid wants to write freelance about devils and souls and whatnot, then they should be allowed to, however for it to be a specific assignment is not on.

and yes, I do see a religious agenda here.

That is the funniest thing I've ever heard anyone ever say in my entire life!!!!!!!!

No honest to god christian would ever even bring up the concept of "how to sell your soul to the devil". Where the hell do you get your reasoning skills? I think your extremist atheism mindset blinds your thought process.

In fact I bet you would take a thread on endangered tigers and spin it into a religious conversation. Take that blind zealotry somewhere else. It has no place in intelligent conversation

[edit on 23-2-2010 by DaMod]

reply to post by TLomon


There are numerous books that children in school are forced to read that have religious aspects to them.
(I must note that I am not saying this is a bad thing, it's just fact)

This one has the aspect of the Devil in it.

The assignment was more or less to put the student in the shoes of the character, with the goal of helping them relate better to the story.

This kid could have wrote the essay saying "How would I sell my soul to the Devil? I wouldn't, and here is why"

This is not "allowing" god or the devil into the classroom. It is an assignment designed to encourage critical thinking. Not an assignment to be used as a tool for some agenda.

Originally posted by iamsupermanv2
reply to post by TLomon

 

There are numerous books that children in school are forced to read that have religious aspects to them.
(I must note that I am not saying this is a bad thing, it's just fact)

This one has the aspect of the Devil in it.

Very true. "Paradise Lost" was required reading while I was in school.



[edit on 23-2-2010 by Hazystars]

reply to post by Hazystars



You know what, I'd venture to say that reading these pieces of literature as children do more to help them understand their own personal faith (not some religious doctrine that is fed to them) a little easier. I remember reading books in school and it was clear the characters had an opinion on faith, but were not banging people on the head with it. Yes, it is masked, but it seeps in to the kids who actually read and understand the stories.

The teachings of Atticus Finch lead me towards my personal beliefs more then any person I've known.

reply to post by iamsupermanv2


I couldn't agree more! Reading a fictional story about faith, in whatever form in comes in, can have a huge impact on a person. "Bless Me Ultima" was also on the required reading list. The main character is a young boy on a spiritual journey where he both loses and finds faith. It's a very moving story and one I continue to re-read to this day.

Originally posted by DaMod

Originally posted by SaturnFX

Originally posted by TLomon
The student says it right - God is not allowed in the classrom (and I don't believe it should be), but they allow this?

Your absolutely right, this is not acceptable either. This is another attempt by the christians to infiltrate a place of learning with more mythos.

If a kid wants to write freelance about devils and souls and whatnot, then they should be allowed to, however for it to be a specific assignment is not on.

and yes, I do see a religious agenda here.

That is the funniest thing I've ever heard anyone ever say in my entire life!!!!!!!!

No honest to god christian would ever even bring up the concept of "how to sell your soul to the devil". Where the hell do you get your reasoning skills? I think your extremist atheism mindset blinds your thought process.

In fact I bet you would take a thread on endangered tigers and spin it into a religious conversation. Take that blind zealotry somewhere else. It has no place in intelligent conversation

[edit on 23-2-2010 by DaMod]

Now that your finished your blind assumptions and rather poor understanding, allow me to respond.

1) I am not a athiest, I am an agnostic.

2) I didn't read the thread on tigers and it still doesn't sound interesting enough to read.

3) Allow me to demonstrate the example of how this is a potential christian ploy
Hey everyone, lets start learning about biblical creatures...well, we must know the bible in order to write down the concept...and yep, since the selling of the soul is a negative thing, then we have to accept a christian based devil.
Now then, we have the understanding of the devil being bad, giving up the soul is bad, and the temporary gain of materalistic profit followed by the falling away from God is a bad thing because life is a fleeting experience. Yes children, I hope you learned by the end of this report that no matter how you sell your soul and at what price, it is a bad experience...Go with God, accept Jesus and you will not have to sell your soul.

This is subtle advertising...like me saying, What would you ask a Pleadian alien as described by Billy Meyers in his book "My best friend the Pleadian"...oh, and now you gotta read the bloody book to even start discussing it.

Just because you do not understand subtle advertisment does not mean those whom do are without intellect...I personally would venture to say its the opposite.

However, good job on the many laugh faces...I am sure that proved...erm, something.

Originally posted by TheOneElectric
If the student were interesting in the slightest, he/she would have written about the ethical dilemmas of such a fictional deal.

THIS.

This story is little more than a sad attempt by someone who has no imagination and fails to understand the value of writing assignments such as this one. She is one of a large percentage of people who scream "persecution" rather try to get along with others. There is, by no means an attempt to force people to worship Satan by asking them to relate to a character in a fictional story.

[edit on 2/23/2010 by eNumbra]

reply to post by TheOneElectric


If this kid knew he was going to have an ETHICS assignment in an ETHICS class, how did he NOT expect to have to write something dealing with the differences of good and bad. THAT WHAT ETHICS ARE!!!!!!!!

Besides which, is it too much of a strech of the imagination to take the concept of "selling your soul to the devil" and turn it into a metaphor for "to what lengths would you go to make money?" [ would you go against all you know to be good and right to make a buck?]

I didn't read the article, but this sounds like a 6th or 7th grade level assignment. Aren't young people at that age able to grasp the concept of a metaphor?

And so what if the original intent of the assignment was religious? If you're not religous, turn the assignment into something that is not, while keeping with the whole jist of the assignment.

It can't be that hard.



Peace

reply to post by SaturnFX


You seemed to insinuate that this teacher was asking these students to write this as a christian ploy. I was laughing at the reasoning....

Originally posted by DaMod
reply to post by SaturnFX

 

You seemed to insinuate that this teacher was asking these students to write this as a christian ploy. I was laughing at the reasoning....

The reasoning stands and is solid. the subtle push towards understanding christianity through narrative examples is as old as the hills and one of the more effective marketing campaigns.

A more modern example would be: how much money would it take for you to exploit the Na'Vi? or How would you go about moving the Na'Vi effectively?

Well, such a question may seem innocent on the surface, but before you can even begin to answer that, you first must see the movie, Avatar...

The person asking the question may not directly be working for the studio, but they are spreading their personal desire for everyone to see the movie through the question itself, even without realizing it...because the marketing is soo good that they become indirect marketing for it.

The tie in's to this thread, are just too easy, amazing it was posted on the same day, as my thread... kinda interesting....





www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by TLomon

Something is seriously wrong here. The student says it right - God is not allowed in the classrom (and I don't believe it should be), but they allow this?

Except that this was a literary project and not a religious one. Clearly G-d is influencing the classroom when students can cite religious beliefs to forego and abscond from creative writing projects based on hypothetical scenarios.

Besides between their X-Boxes, Computers, Cell Phones and Hip Hop/Rap music the Devil already owns all their souls anyway, wanting to make a deal with the Devil and having an attractive deal for the Devil…two entirely different things!


[edit on 23/2/10 by ProtoplasmicTraveler]

First off I thought there was seperation of church and state
Second I would only write this: 'I can't make a deal with the devil, because there is no devel'.

I dont know-this is a response to a literary piece, as I understand it. Not as inappropriate as it might seem.

A more intelligent student, though, would have written the essay and made their point that way-maybe writing it about how they wouldnt sell their soul, maybe writing it about how she feels the school has already sold its soul, something along those lines.

My son told me about this book reading assignment at the beginning of his 5th grade school year. I was very unhappy to hear that while my child is forbidden to pray in school, hear about God in school, concepts such as selling your soul to the devil is perfectly acceptable in school.

The teacher tried to pass it off as harmless because it was on some best-seller list and "highly recommended by the board of education". I bet it was.

The secular humanist indoctrination is bad enough but REQUIRED reading about selling your soul in order to gain riches was beyond the pale! Yeah, no agenda here.

reply to post by TLomon


The assignment was relevant to the story they were reading. I have no issue with God or the Devil in the classroom if they are being presented as fictional entities with a literary context. For instance I wouldn't have an issue with a creative writing or literature class assigning a Bible passage so long as they were not given instructions to assume it to be true.

I guess the teacher should have realized the politically correct nightmare of a world he lived in and been smart enough to just have them right a basic report on the story.

I once did a scene from Faust, where a man sells his soul to Mephistopheles, in theater class in high school, the scene was in one of our "Scenes for young Actors" books and never once did it cross my mind to be stupid and complain about it... People need to stop being so offended by everything...