Teacher speaks out on internment camp debate

As a soon-to-be teacher, I just wanted to get this internment camp issue straight. According to recent letters, it appears that this is what I am supposed to teach children:

First, if you're angry or fearful enough, it's OK to take people's homes, livelihoods, and dignity, and lock them up until you feel those people are no longer a threat; especially when other people are as fearful and angry as you.

Then, I should teach my students that if anybody questions what they did, they should say, "they had to do it to survive"; or "you had to be there to understand." I'll also point out that since some of the people they locked up may have really been a threat, those who weren't a threat made a necessary sacrifice.

Also, I'm supposed to teach that lack of running water, heat, palatable food, and freedom is not considered mistreatment; it's really a safety issue.

Lastly - and this is important - it is not considered racism to assume that all people that are different from yourself, think, act, and behave the same. So if one person does something that you don't like, it is perfectly all right to condemn everyone affiliated, in any way, with that person.

This is great. These "facts" are not at all what I envisioned teaching children, and I'd like to thank a few fine Carson City residents for pointing out what I may have done wrong. Just think, I may have inadvertently taught something like treating others equally and fairly, avoidance of stereotyping, learning from past mistakes, or possibly even taking responsibility for one's own actions; now that would have been atrocious.

And hey, I can also use these "facts" to justify Hitler's actions; after all, he too was just fearful, angry, and trying to survive.

KAREN STAFFEN

Carson City