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MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2001

The New York Education Department is apologizing to students, parents and tribal leaders of the Iroquois Confederacy for including offensive questions about Haudenosaunee culture on a statewide test.

A new social studies test taken by 250,000 fifth-graders included a section on "ceremonial objects." The section referred to sacred Haudenosaunee items that are not meant for public display.

The test also referred to Haudenosaunee culture in the past tense. Iroquois leaders said this appeared to say that their culture is dead.

Parents of students at the Onondaga Nation School had voiced complaints about the test when they heard about it.

Get the Story:
State test questions offensive to Iroquois (The Syracuse Newspapers 12/8)