June 1, 2025
Dear parents of our Assassination Exploration elective students,
Before we end the school year, I want to send you a recap of our Assassination Exploration elective.
In my initial pitch during elective signups last summer, I encouraged students to come for the gruesome deaths but stay for the fascinating history. While they ended up being very engaged in the details of each assassination, I was not surprised that they were just as excited to analyze the substantive historical context of these fateful moments.
Our curriculum consisted of nearly 20 assassinations. The first batch were American: presidents (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Kennedy); senators (Huey Long, RFK Sr.); and leaders of social movements (Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Harvey Milk, John Lennon). Then we went international, learning about World War I and the revolutions in Russia with Franz Ferdinand, Rasputin, and Trotsky; tensions between India and Pakistan with three Gandhis and two Bhuttos; and the struggles of the Middle East peace process with Anwar Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin, featuring an eery glimpse into the early career of Israel's current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Groups of students also worked on research presentations about unsuccessful attempts on the lives of U.S. presidents, including the two women in the Bay Area who took shots at Gerald Ford within a few weeks of one another in 1975.
Students took handwritten notes during each class session about the early lives of the assassin and their victim, the controversies that made the victim a target, the moment-by-moment narrative of the assassination, and the short-term and long-term ramifications. In the process, we held frequent “turn-and-talks” followed by meaty class discussions about topics such as governmental corruption, anarchism, conspiracy theories, human rights, misplaced trust, and political extremism.
Each student recently composed an argument on a question of their choice that required them to draw connections between three or more of the assassinations we have studied. Some wrote about the ethics of the death penalty and forgiveness, others about whether there are causes worth dying for, and still others about how best to balance security and freedom in a democratic society.
This mix of true crime narratives and historical analysis has been a fun and meaningful way to close out the year. I hope some of you have enjoyed conversations with your children about what they’ve learned. It's been a great group of kids to work with. Have a restful and nonviolent summer!
Sincerely,
Mike Fishback