Apparently breedism, the canine equivalent to racism is alive and well at Osbourne Park High in Virgina. A teacher there has assigned their students to write a paper entitled “People Should NOT own Pit Bulls”. The students have asked repeatedly to write on a different subject and have been denied.The teacher’s response: “Yes, this is the paper asking students to use the topic “People Should Not Own Pit Bulls.” When we began this project, several students mentioned that they owned pit bulls. I said that they didn’t have to BELIEVE people should not own pit bulls, but for the sake of this four paragraph research experience, I wanted them to use the four articles/sources I had provided to discuss two reasons why owning pit bulls could be dangerous.”
This is Assistant Principal David Cassady Jr.’s response to the teacher’s assignment being called into question: “It is an approved topic and there is nothing wrong with it”.
Call to Action – Please contact the school and voice your opinion
Osbourne Park High
8909 Euclid Ave,Manassas,VA20111
phone 703.365.6500
Asst. Principal David Cassady Jr. - CASSADDJ@PWCS.edu
The Principal’s Advisory Council, Neil Beech beechna@pwcs.edu
The Principal’s Advisory Council, Tamara Zimmerman zimmertj@pwcs.edu
School Board
MJOHNS@pwcs.edu; BCOVINGTON@pwcs.edu; LBELL@pwcs.edu; GTRENUM@pwcs.edu; GLATTIN@pwcs.edu; MOTAIGBE@pwcs.edu; DRAMIREZ@pwcs.edu; DRICHARDSON@pwcs.edu;
Every day in shelters across our country, countless dogs suffer and die as a result of being unjustly judged by their looks alone. These innocent animals are publicly demonized and condemned for the bad acts of a few; they are stereotyped as “vicious”, “killers”, and “dangerous” based on a very loose appearance-based definition of breed, not their individual behavior.
Stories about pit bull attacks are tragic, but isolated incidents. Those stories are blasted all over the news, but it’s stories like these that people never hear about. These are the stories of pit bull heroes – the dogs who selflessly defend their families from heinous crimes, save other animals from certain death, and pull their human guardians to safety in times of danger.
Thanks for sharing this. This is not, in my opinion, an appropriate topic to force children to write about. Going to email the school board and also encourage others to do so.
ReplyDeleteAlso, given the demographics of the Manassass area, I think it could be construed as a biased assignment.