Parents have angrily protested to the head teacher of a Florida school after their children had yellow stars of David pinned to their clothing so that they could better understand what it was like to be a Jew during the Holocaust, WKMG Local 6 News reported.

Eighth graders with last names beginning with L through Z at Apopka Memorial Middle School were made to empathize with the plight of Jews under Nazi rule in World War Two for Holocaust Remembrance Day.

But the incident upset some parents and children. Father John Tinnelly told WKMG his son, who wore a yellow star, was told to stand at the back of the class and not allowed to sit down. “He was forced to go to the back of the lunch line four times by an administrator,” Mr. Tinnelly said.

When his son came home, he was crying. “I said, ‘What are you crying about?'” said Mr. Tinnelly. “He said, ‘Daddy, I was a Jew today.'”

“They were told that they could not use the water fountains,” Mr. Tinnelly said. “There was even a sign supposedly at one water fountain [saying] if you’re wearing a yellow star, you can’t use this water fountain.”

WKMG aired a statement from the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida, which said, “We applaud Apopka [Memorial] Middle School’s effort to engage in Holocaust education with the hope of a tolerance education component in the classroom… However, we do not encourage nor train teachers to engage in simulation exercises.”