"Each tree had 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?"

[MiddleFingerMom]

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THIRD-GRADERS were given this question (among other "slave-related" problems) as
part of a math test.
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&quot "In this one, the teachers were trying to do a cross-curricular activity," Gwinnett
County school district spokeswoman Sloan Roach said.)"
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http://news.yahoo.com/fred-got-two-beatings-per-day-homework-asks-230717586--abc-news.html
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Racism is a thing of the past in America.
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Uh-huh.
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[malaise]

1. Fugg that school

Fugg that principal and fugg the teacher.

I hope the parents sue them all.

[Marnie]

20. Amen. They need the boot.

[hlthe2b]

2. Revolting... I wonder if that teacher considers all farm labor to be such...

that only "slaves" would be engaged in performing? Poor Cesar Chavez must be rolling in his grave. Low wage work that had been the mainstay of migrant workers is without worth? That is one ugly attitude.

[Cleita]

3. Sure racism is still alive and well.

Look which state this happened in. I think we need another civil rights movement in the South, well the whole country really, but especially in the South regarding the African American descendants of slaves. I'm sure any AA child in that school has to be cringing and hurting. This time it should be about educating people about their racism. Many people of all races actually don't realize that they harbor racist feelings towards other groups. I'm Hispanic but I look 100% European, not typically Hispanic. People have no problem airing what they think about Hispanics around me and it makes me cringe. Yet, those same people really think they are broad-minded and accepting of other races.

[KamaAina]

4. FAIL. Slaves pick cotton, not oranges.

[Matariki]

14. Actually, sadly, NO

http://www2.palmbeachpost.com/moderndayslavery/

http://www2.palmbeachpost.com/moderndayslavery/reports/migrant_part1.html

[The Traveler]

5. **facepalm** I live in Gwinnett County

I think I need to move. This is just too embarrassing ...

Trav

[KamaAina]

32. I heard recently Gwinnett had become the most diverse county in GA

What's up with this?!

[rurallib]

6. "Roach said the teachers were attempting to incorporate social studies into math problems."

Wow - they should have put much more thought into it - much more.
I can't even imagine how I would react if my kid brought something like that home

[spanone]

7. from the great state of newt gingrich

reprehensible

[taterguy]

8. 8

[jberryhill]

26. You know...

Anyone dumb enough to use a question like that, might think that's the right answer.

[Quantess]

9. Wow, that's terrible.

I can only imagine what went through the kids' minds as they were supposed to be doing math homework. I think it would be especially humiliating for the black students. But possibly the person who wrote the test figured that and did it anyway?

[iamtechus]

10. Missing data: how many trees?

[itsrobert]

11. I guess you have to answer in an algebraic equation?

n/t

[theAntiRand]

12. *facepalm*

Are they using 200 year old textbooks or something?

[woodsprite]

13. Per hubby, the next test should have this question...

There were two school administrators who designed racist
inappropriate test questions. How many administrators lost
their jobs?

[thelordofhell]

15. The answer is 0

They will fire the teacher

[whatchamacallit]

16. Unbelievable...

[left is right]

17. do oranges even grow in Georgia

[right on maude...]

18. This transcends racism; it's sheer stoopidity.

First of all, attempting to cross social studies with math is DUMB. It would be far better to combine science and math, social studies with English. So whoever came up with this is not the sharpest knife, to say the least...

Dare I say? Homeschool your kids. The kind of conditioning they are getting is dangerous.

[immoderate]

45. I used to combine math and democracy.

During math and democracy, the majority of the students would determine the "right" answer. It led to some interesting cooperative education sessions.

It's something homeschoolers would find had to do.

--imm

[hughee99]

19. There will always be racists, but a better measure of "racism in America"

would be the number of people who don't see a problem with these questions.

[Odin2005]

21. If General Sherman razed 180 towns...

How many houses did he raze if each town has 54 buildings?

Two can play this game.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

23. +1

Great comeback. I bet that would go over just fine in Georgia...

[aquart]

28. First you would have to tell them what "raze" means.

And prove it is spelled differently from "raise." And then what "raise" means.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

22. Douchebags and mouth breathers

Generally speaking I think people are over sensitive about semanics and political correctness when it comes to race relations, but this is way over the line. Thoroughly unacceptable.

[noiretextatique]

24. Each plantation had 1 slaveowner, if eight KKK members are invited over for dinner

how many racists would be on the plantation? not the finest example, but why didn't they mention slaveowners instead of slaves?

[Dead_Parrot]

25. Answer: Beat them all.

There's no way they would all pick the exact same number of oranges throughout the whole orchard. They are clearly working as a collective in an attempt to stop me weeding out the sick and lame - and I won't have that sort of Marxist nonsense on my plantation, dammit.

[MiddleFingerMom]

29. Thanks so much for pointing out more perspectives. Allow me to return the favor... if the dots...

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... irritate you, the Ignore button is your friend.
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In case you weren't aware of it. Otherwise, why would you subject yourself
to that? I know I have MORE than enough irritation in MY life. I'm assuming
the same is true of you.
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Hope this helps.
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[pacalo]

35. I've seen you mention this before about the dots.

What made you click onto this OP of MFM's if all you seem to notice are the dots?

[A Simple Game]

31. NO DOTS?

Then it didn't have as much character, did it?

Couldn't have been as much fun to read. So I won't bother.

[jmowreader]

34. My turn

An up-to-date math book with no questions about slaves in it costs $25. If the Gwinnett County School District gets sued for $250,000 for racial discrimination, how many of those new math books could we have purchased?

[joshcryer]

36. I saw one of the administrators for that school talking about this as if it was no big deal.

The teachers or other workers involved to actually thought that up, read it to themselves, and still went with it need to be fired. Full stop. Fire them.

[Liquorice]

40. I live in the Atlanta area, and I've heard that the teacher who wrote

the actual questions is black. Beaver Ridge is a diverse elementary school and many of the teachers there are black and Hispanic. I believe (although I'm not positive) that the teacher in question is a minority and is not in any way racist. Of the third grade teachers at the school, I was told by a friend with a kid in that school that only one is white.

The teacher made some very poor choices in trying to tie social studies lessons in with the math quiz. There were also sexist math questions on the same quiz about women being fined for voting--she included those questions because they were studying Susan B. Anthony. The teacher made an error in judgment, but she shouldn't be fired. IMO

[joshcryer]

41. If that's the case then I apologize and clearly am not informed about the situation.

To me it seems like something a white person might sign off on without considering the overall implications of the act. If the teachers involved were just not thinking it through fully, then I do not believe they should be fired.

edit: the administrator I saw was a very southern white woman who was dismissing it so cavalierly that it really bothered me. I want to know the racial breakdown of the board that signs off on this sort of stuff because while you imply no racism was involved, I feel that, given that administrators attitude, it existed somewhere along the line. I could be wrong though and, again, I apologize for jumping to conclusions.

[Umbral]

39. Uhh, None?

[maggiesfarmer]

43. I don't understand the outrage here.

The GA school system is at acknowledging that slavery existed, which is much better than history books that ignore it. The questions do not advocate for slavery. Actually, the question about beatings implies that the author of the test wanted to make sure the audience was aware of the uglier sides of slavery.

Sure, the questions seem out of place. They raise eyebrows because the refer to controversial topics closely tied to racism, but I don't see how those questions make the test itself.

I'm not trying to be naive here, I just don't see explicit or even implied endorsement of slavery with these questions.
Unusual? -- you bet!
Racist? -- I just don't see it

[Quantess]

44. I would like ro teach kids about the Donner Party's cannibalistic turn of events,

and tie it to the math lesson.

Obediah Jenkins weighed about 180 pounds and was almost dead. If there were 20 hungry pioneers eyeing him hungrily, how many pounds of human meat would each pioneer eat?

How about this one for health class, drugs & alcohol lesson: "A generous guy who just won some money playing poker just bought an 8-ball of cocaine. If there are 3.5 grams in a 8-ball, how many lines can he give away if each line is...." You get the picture.

[maggiesfarmer]

46. I get the picture, but still don't see anything racist in either the OP or your comments

[Quantess]

48. My point was that all of the examples are WILDLY inappropriate for schoolkids.

I was an educator for a couple of years, and although my mind sometimes came up with similar ideas, anybody with decent judgment and self-critique would stop themselves before actually using those in a lesson.

I think the examples in the article are racist, you aren't so sure, but I hope we can agree that those are really insensitive and inappropriate.

[immoderate]

47. A former student, seated on his Harley, bragged to me about the money he made selling drugs.

So I asked him, "Can you convert ounces to grams in your head?"

"Sure!"

"Well maybe if you'd learned the math while you were in my class, you wouldn't have to sell drugs now."

It's funny, because I know if I had made up drug-themed problems, my kids would have loved them. And when I actually came to the topic where I had to have them convert ounces to grams, it was all I could do... Discretion took over though.

--imm

[Quantess]

49. LOL, perfect!

Another thought...don't let anyone tell you algebra has no place in the real world. I bet he used algebraic ideas to make sure he got the correct amount of money for drugs.