'Beat the Jew' game prompts high schools to increase tolerance education

October 30, 2010 | 8:04 am
LA Now
A high school where some students played the Internet game "Beat the Jew" will receive a new tolerance curriculum, officials said.

The annoucement comes five months after officials a La Quinta High School in Riverside County disciplined students for playing the game.

"Administrators of the La Quinta High School and Desert Sands Unified School District have accepted Jewish Federation of Palm Springs and Desert Area’s offer for Anti-Bias Education, to be delivered by the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) “A World of Difference” Institute," said Bruce Landgarten, chief executive of the federation, in a statement. "We applaud the Unified Districts for their commitment in this issue and appreciate ADL’s partnership in this project."

Other school districts in that region were also to get the training, Landgarten said.

The game, which gathered participants via Facebook, is a complicated contest of tag, in which "Jews" are taken, blindfolded, by car to a place off campus and have to make their way back to base while pursued by "Nazis."

Organizers had put up a Facebook page announcing the game that was "friended" by some 40 students, of which seven participated.

The game took place on the night of May 20 on the grounds of La Quinta High School. No one was hurt.

--Shelby Grad