Teacher to Aussie Kids: Plan Massive Terror Hit

A high school teacher in Australia who assigned her class to plan a terrorist attack that would kill as many innocent Australians as possible says she had no intention of promoting terrorism. Students in Western Australia were given the assignment last week in a class on contemporary conflict and terrorism. The school principal withdrew the assignment as soon as he heard of it—but not before outrage spread nationwide, with survivors of terror attacks calling the assignment "extremely offensive."

"The teacher, with every best intention, was attempting to have the students think through someone else's eyes about conflict," says an education department spokesman. "I think there are better ways to do that. ... This is not what we expect of professional educators."