Parents and teachers are understandably upset about an essay question in city-created exams being administered in public schools that has seventh-graders assess Mayor Bloomberg’s career achievements. The Daily News reports that students must “Read New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2013 commencement speech to Stanford University and the obituary of mountain climber Lincoln Hall” and write about whether their lives were more impacted by their successes or failures (side note: we are so happy we’re not in seventh grade). Teachers union president Michael Mulgrew probably took things a bit too far when he said the question reminded him “of some story coming out of North Korea and Kim Jong-il.” Is it possible the team who wrote the question was trying to get on Bloomberg’s good side? Sure. But presumably there are no consequences for students who criticize how our dear leader made his billions.
