Teacher Asks Students To Plan a Terrorist Attack 412
Tired of looking at an endless parade of dioramas, an Australian teacher had her class plan a terrorist attack that would "kill as many innocent Australians as possible." "The teacher, with every best intention, was attempting to have the students think through someone else's eyes about conflict. I think there are better ways to do that. ... This is not what we expect of professional educators," said Sharyn O'Neill, director-general of the state's Department of Education.
Re:How do you anticipate weak points (Score:4, Informative)
What about teaching students to hack into computer systems? That's fairly common and fairly well accepted...and in those exercises it's not just a 'think of a way to do this', it's a 'here is a server, here is a PC, go do it'.
Re:How do you anticipate weak points (Score:5, Informative)
Sun Tzu (Score:3, Informative)
"It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles;
if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one;
if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."
If you have not read it, "The Art of War" [amazon.com] by Sun Tzu. His words are as applicable today as they were when they were written and are valid in all levels of conflict.
Another great thing about Sun Tzu, he also said "To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.". Pity more of today's National leaders don't take that more to heart.
Re:Promote this teacher! (Score:5, Informative)
Really? Get some perspective. About 3000 americans were killed by terrorists in the past ten years. In that same period about 300,000 died from suicide, while about 350,000 died on the roads.
If you dedicate 2 hours to 'terrorism danger' in a school year, you should dedicate 3 months to suicide and traffic safety.
I'm not in anyway trying to belittle the emotional impact of 9-11, but in terms of "thing[s] that these young people might experience" you'd be better off putting your efforts elsewhere.
The Wave (Score:3, Informative)
It reminds me of a very insightful German movie "The Wave" (original German title "Die Welle") http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1063669/ [imdb.com]
A history teacher proposes to his students an experiment about dictatorship. See what comes out of it.