Apologizing For Hitler

Back-to-school season means all sorts of fun. Let's see, there's "What I did on my Summer vacation;" new book bags to buy; and dressing up as Hitler.

I swear, you can't make this stuff up. A Catholic(!) school in Perth, Australia is apologizing to parents, for allowing a grade-schooler to dress-up day as der Fuhrer. It gets better: the school's principal defended the action, reportedly saying the kids were told to come dressed as a famous person, and that Hitler "was a fairly famous person." Well, hard to argue with him on that one. (Complete article in the West Australian newspaper.) Did I mention the kid won? Or that the principal was on the voting committee?

The principal (who, curiously, is not named in the article) appears to have an ear made of tin. He characterized parents' complaints, saying "To me, it's a mountain out of a molehill." He did, however, send the letter, apologizing for the Hitler gaffe. He wrote that in the future, "teachers will ensure that students...are aware of the sensitivities." Oh, good. Now if one of those teachers could just ensure the principal is aware too, it probably wouldn't hurt.