Like most students, those who graduate from the Binford Middle School in Richmond Virginia receive a diploma-like certificate signed by school officials, and decorated with familiar imagery of apples and notebooks, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
But wait – – – who’s that guy pictured on the certificate? A famous educator like John Dewey or Horace Mann? One of our great American presidents?
Nope. It’s none other than Karl Marx.
Okay, this might be a stretch, but . . . how was the author of The Communist Manifesto chosen to appear on a graduation certificate in Richmond, Virginia?
Richmond school officials offered “profuse apologies” and explained that it was all a big mistake. Apparently one of the teachers was looking for clip art representing Frederick Douglass and “this is what she came up . . . with the beard and the hair.” She had no idea who it was, said Binford principal Juanita Nicholson.
Deborah Lambert writes the Squeaky Chalk column for Accuracy in Academia’s monthly Campus Report newsletter, from which this article is excerpted.
