Dumb assignments

This is another post about my nine year old who is in third grade. She often gets take home assignments from her teacher that are not age, grade, or skill appropriate. She has an assignment due Friday that I think is far above her skill level. She has to write a persuasive paragraph. Now, I teach college writing and know for a fact this is a skill some college students have yet to grasp. But back to her assignment...she has to write a persuasive paragraph, in the form of a letter, as though she were a turkey trying to convince folks not to eat her for Thanksgiving. AND it has to be typed. The teacher encourages them to talk about tryptophan and how it makes a person sleepy. Sure all third graders know about tryptophan. They even know how to spell it. Don't get me wrong. I think the idea is cute. I just don't see my daughter doing the work. This is a parent assignment! I don't like parent assignments. I already have enough work to do! There are some high stakes with this assignment too. The authors of the top three persuasive letters get to eat a special pizza lunch with the teacher. You think the real writers will show up?