A fifth grade teacher in Conemaugh Township, Pennsylvania gave students a worksheet with the instructions to "pretend to be a white slave master." The worksheet was titled "Auction! Winnings to the highest bidder!"
"It was an assignment wherein the fifth graders were supposed to portray slave masters and identify what qualifications they wanted in their slave," said one student's father, Kenneth Poole.
The Pooles stated that the task required students to illustrate and explain life on a plantation. They claim their daughter was docked points for expressing her intention to "treat the slaves nicely."
They said they complained to the school but "it sort of fell flat" so they posted about it on Reddit to "bring awareness to the issue and correct these so that there aren't other little children going through this."
From WJACTV:
In a statement to 6 news, the superintendent of Conemaugh Township school district says the assignment was intended to help students to comprehend slavery, but a different approach should have been taken.
"The assignment has been eliminated from the class and the district deeply apologizes to all who were offended by the assignment," the school district stated. "The matter is, otherwise, being handled internally and measures are being taken to ensure that an unfortunate event like this does not happen again."
