High School Assignment Sparks Controversy for Asking Students to Answer ‘Is God Real?’
“This is some crazy s--- overall and also on a technical level,” said a Skiatook High School student’s mother
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A stock image of a student doing homeworkA homework assignment ignited uproar online after a concerned parent shared a photo of the questions a teacher wanted her child to answer, including "Is God real?"
Oklahoma mother Olivia Gray posted her sophomore daughter Nettie Gray’s world history assignment from a Skiatook High School teacher on Facebook on Aug. 15, describing it as “some crazy s---.”
The assignment — titled “How did the world start?” — ended with two questions that raised concerns: “Is God real?” and “Is Satan real?”
“It’s being called a research paper,” Olivia wrote of the assignment, which asked students to provide sources using APA Style to support their answers.
“This is some crazy s--- overall and also on a technical level. Literally the kid had been in school ONE WEEK,” she concluded.
Many reacted to the assignment in the comments section of Olivia's Facebook post.
“This assignment is wrong on more than ten levels,” one person commented, while another wrote, “I’m stunned and horrified they are even being allowed to push or preach their own personal religion/religious bias like that onto students in a public school in the United States.”
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In a statement to area news outlet 2 News Oklahoma on Aug. 19, the school district addressed the situation.
“Skiatook Public Schools became aware of the World History assignment in question through a social media post,” the statement read. “Once administration reviewed the assignment, it was determined that the presentation of the material was not conducive to our instructional plan.”
“Administration and staff will continue to collaborate on best practices to meet the Oklahoma Academic Standards,” the statement added.
PEOPLE reached out to Skiatook Public Schools’ Superintendent Rick Loggins and Director of Curriculum Tim Buck for comment about the controversial assignment, but did not immediately hear back.
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