Parents outraged over math problems referring to slaveryI don't usually go far afield of Atlanta Public Schools: There's plenty of stupidity going on there to keep me busy. But this little gem from Gwinnett County just hit the national news -- and the wonder is that it took from Wednesday (when the worksheet was assigned) until Friday to do so.
[wsb] Several Gwinnett parents contacted Channel 2 Action News in outrage after their children brought home a math assignment that referenced slavery and beatings.
...The question was a word problem that said, "Each tree had 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?" Another math problem said, "If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week?"
Nobody at Beaver Ridge Elementary will speak, or even consent to be named, for the report. But a spokeswoman for the Gwinnett district allowed as how, while the question was, er, unquestionably inappropriate, the motivation behind it wasn't unreasonable. It was cross-curricular, part of a current trend for some assignments to be relevant to more than one class, in this case math and social studies. Consider it a built-in answer to the question, "Why do I have to know this?"
Still, I have a feeling this story won't let go until somebody answers the question, who could possibly have thought this wouldn't generate complaints? Who wrote the questions? Is it purely local to Beaver Ridge, or is it on a preprinted handout that came from somewhere else, and might find, or have already found, its way into other classrooms? Who assigned it? How do you get to be a teacher anywhere in Georgia and not know that slavery is a hot-button issue?
LATER: My thoughtful spouse has observed that if this worksheet were obtained from a book (School Box carries plenty of books full of photocopyable elementary school worksheets), Gwinnett would have swiftly named that source to divert attention from itself. The fact that they didn't do so, then, is a strong indicator that the teacher who assigned it created it herself.
On further thought, I realized that it is simply not possible that neither of the parents who complained know which teacher assigned this worksheet. Nor would they have failed to share that name with the reporters to whom they talked. Therefore, Gwinnett has asked the reporters not to name the teacher, and for reasons I cannot fathom, the reporters are respecting that request.
LATER: My thoughtful spouse has observed that if this worksheet were obtained from a book (School Box carries plenty of books full of photocopyable elementary school worksheets), Gwinnett would have swiftly named that source to divert attention from itself. The fact that they didn't do so, then, is a strong indicator that the teacher who assigned it created it herself.
On further thought, I realized that it is simply not possible that neither of the parents who complained know which teacher assigned this worksheet. Nor would they have failed to share that name with the reporters to whom they talked. Therefore, Gwinnett has asked the reporters not to name the teacher, and for reasons I cannot fathom, the reporters are respecting that request.
No comments:
Post a Comment