Gurnee parents upset by middle school's Hitler homework

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Some parents of middle schoolers in Gurnee are questioning a school assignment that led to comic strips about Hitler.

Eighth graders at Woodland Middle School were given an assignment called "If You Give Hitler A Country" and asked to create a comic strip that shows Europe's appeasement toward Hitler in the build up to World War II.

The completed assignments mixed swastikas with cartoon characters.

"I was shocked. I really thought he must have totally misunderstood the assignment and wanted to know how he got all these images of swastikas and cartoon characters as Nazis," said Kelly Masterton, whose son attends Woodland Middle School.

Officials at Woodland Middle School said the assignment did not violate school standards, but the school did apologize for the "cartoonish" elements of the activity.