The Next Generation in Racism

Apparently there was a big stink in Georgia recently when a 3rd grader asked her big sister for help with a particular social studies homework assignment. First of all, the handout was titled What is an illegal alien? So there's that. But slightly more offensive was the last question on the sheet, which was: What does the US do with illegal aliens? Two of the four choices were as follows.

Shoot them into outer space:

An efficient solution that's often overlooked.

Or kill them. Admittedly, this choice lacks the creative flair of the above solution, but it is nonetheless just as offensive. 

This little faux pas landed the school district in some hot water and the teacher who assigned this travesty of a questionnaire underwent some disciplinary action. Fantastic, I'm sure he or she learned a valuable lesson. 

First of all, why is this part of elementary school curriculum in the first place? What could a 7 year old possibly need to learn about illegal immigrants for? Are they trying to raise an army of teeny weeny Minute Men? 

"Go back to Guadala-who-the-hell-cares!"

What happened to teaching kids about the joys of diversity? Remember those little rainbow-colored cutouts of multiracial children holding hands in a giant circle? What was wrong with that? Children do not need to be exposed to adult paranoia until it's absolutely necessary (say, the week before a federal election). By forcing children who couldn't possibly understand the complexities of an issue that most adults are still hazy on, we're raising a new generation of intolerant xenophobes who'll eye every dark-skinned or slant-y eyed classmate with unprovoked suspicion. 

As if being raised by the last clinging remnants of Generation X hasn't screwed them up enough.