The Daily Caller sees a lot of really bad assignments in American public schools. There was slave-whipping math homework for New York City fourth-graders, for example. Fifth-graders in Corpus Christi learned that the United States deserved the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In Union Grove, Wis., eighth-graders learned in a crossword puzzle that conservatives are a bunch of oppressive thugs.
TheDC is heartened, then, that 15-year-old biology students in the suburbs of Denver are learning something important and useful: how to make beer.
The assignment occurred at Ralston Valley High School, reports Denver Fox affiliate KDVR. The unidentified biology teacher’s assignment asked students to learn the steps involved in the process of brewing beer.
The larger point was the study of fermentation, the metabolic conversion of sugar to acids, gases and alcohol.
Students who toured the Coors Brewery in nearby Golden, Colo. received extra credit. The brewery is the third-largest in the United States. The fine products created there include Coors, Coors Light, Blue Moon and, of course, Keystone Light.
The assignment and the extra-credit option riled the parents of some students in the class.
One angry parent, Adrienne Maerz, suggested that teenagers don’t need “a how-to guide” explaining the production of alcohol.
“Their judgment isn’t always what it should be at this age, which is the reason we step in and say, ‘You cannot buy alcohol until you’re 21,'” Maerz told KDVR. “I don’t see any reason to teach a 15-year-old the steps in brewing alcohol.”
Maerz also noted that the history of alcoholism in her family.
“Unfortunately, my kids have had to see some of those struggles,” she said.
The local school district responded to Maerz’s concerns earlier this week.
“The teaching of fermentation or, anaerobic respiration, is a Colorado standard taught in biology classes,” the statement reads. “Teachers make choices in designing the lesson plans which help students meet those standards. While we value the efforts our teachers make to inspire learning in our students, we will be reviewing the assignment in question.”
Maerz’s unidentified daughter and others with objections have the option of completing alternate assignments covering fermentation material.
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