Slavery + Math Homework Add Up to a Dumb Lesson for Georgia Kids

on January 9, 2012 at 9:33 PM

Slavery, math Think quick: If a tree has 56 oranges and eight slaves pick them equally, how many would each slave pick?

I couldn’t tell you. I’m more focused on the absurdity of the question. But I betcha the third grade students at Beaver Ridge Elementary School in Norcross, Ga. might be able to fire off the answer. After all, it was one of the word problems they had to do for homework last week.

Ah, nothing says repressed racism like a little revisit to the good ol’ days when slaves did their manual labor like they were supposed to.

The school says the teacher was taking a stab at a cross-instructional lesson by infusing social studies into the math questioning. Great idea! Let me give it a go: How many doofuses does it take to create one math worksheet?

Apparently just one.

The sad part is, the educator responsible for the assignment couldn’t sense that something was wrong with a word problem about slavery. Because they just kept on coming: “If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in 1 week?”

Oh, and another stumper: “Frederick had 6 baskets filled with cotton….” You know what? The rest doesn’t even matter.

Parents were rightfully outraged and hightailed it the next day to report the insults to the principal, who immediately went into damage control mode to admit the inappropriateness of the mistake. But, she offered, it was an innocent mistake. It doesn’t help that this whole debacle went down in Gwinnett County, Ga., where slavery — but not necessarily oranges — was big business.

There were questions on the worksheet about Susan B. Anthony. She, unlike poor Frederick the anonymous slave, made it out without insult, proving that the teacher did have some sort of social studies-meets-mathematics agenda in mind.

But here’s my problem, aside from the stupidity of the questions in the first place: why oh why oh why does the only connection to the black experience have to be about slavery? You know, our greatest contribution, much to the shock and surprise of some folks, wasn’t baled in a cotton field or wrought from servitude. Our history is more than that. I know it’s the highlight of our story reel as far as some people are concerned, but African-Americans have done more than till the soil and pluck the harvest.

How about some questions like: How many everyday items did black inventors create in fifty years? Or how many songs were inspired by traditional African music? Or how many black men and women bolstered the armed forces and war efforts? Or how many everyday, average black folks have had a hand in shaping this country? And the sum of those contributions didn’t have anything to do with what went on before the Emancipation Proclamation.

The put-out parents of these students were appalled by the ridiculousness of their kids’ homework assignment, but it’s also a chance to remind them that black folks’ part in social studies — all of American history — is bigger than just slavery, Jim Crow, and the civil rights movement.

In the meantime, keep an eye on your child’s homework. Who knows what they’ll try to slip in when they get to mixing in science.

Was the teacher wrong for including these socially awkward homework questions?

Image via { pranav }/Flickr

Filed Under: education, elementary school, in the news, racial issues

Comments (33)

Nonmember comment from Cort

on Jan 9, 2012 at 9:54 PM

I'm a former high school and middle school teacher. And yes, I do find the questions ill-timed and not posed in good context. Cross-curriculum intruction is important. Making boring subjects interesting is also a must. But there is a line, and this teacher has foolishly crossed it. Don't get me wrong; I am far from being politically correct. But I am also not blantantly rude, either. This teacher used poor judgment and displayed a certain degree of ignorance.

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suziejax

on Jan 9, 2012 at 10:33 PM

wow

xdaniellemarie

on Jan 9, 2012 at 11:16 PM

wow...that's just appalling...and the worst part...this person who thinks that that's okay is who is teaching those poor children every day =/

PRIMA487

on Jan 10, 2012 at 12:33 AM

Whhaat

countrygirl670

on Jan 10, 2012 at 2:09 AM

This is sad, but not surprising. I remember the good old days (admittedly a pretty short period during my youth) when it was considered beyond the pale for most right thinking people to do such things. Of course, you expected this sort of thing from a certain segment of society, but not from the presumably educated middle class set. But then you-know-who became President. Then it was emails and postcards with watermelons on the White House lawn and the President depicted as a chimp.

I have noticed that certain groups are feeling more free as of late to denigrate Blacks. Perhaps that's to be expected when public officials do so openly. After all, these types of officials always seem to have a chorus of their constituents to back them up, defending their character and insisting that "you misheard" or that "you took it all wrong" or "It was just a harmless joke."

I have noted (not without dismay) that certain groups suddenly feel more free to tell me "jokes" and make such comments that they should know better than to say aloud. And I'm a white coat wearing professional. Its hard to put someone like me in their "place". These lessons are best learned when you're young.

Nonmember comment from Niko

on Jan 10, 2012 at 7:10 AM

Im surprised to hear that as I live right next to this school and this area is not racist at all. I am dominincan and most people in this area are latino, mostly carribean born,or black. All of gwinnett is majority latin or black .

PonyChaser

on Jan 10, 2012 at 10:05 AM

I agree with you that questions like "how many beatings did Frederick receive" are ridiculous and completely out of line. But mentioning slavery - even in a word problem - shouldn't be a problem. After all, slavery still exists today. The "slavery era" in the United States was not, and is not, the only incidence of slavery in history. And if they were working on a unit that focused on slavery, then I don't see a problem with asking how many oranges the slaves picked, in total. It doesn't mean that they should be picking them today. But it was a fact of life two hundred years ago, and to not acknowledge it does a great disservice to all involved.

Further... you ask the question, "why oh why does the only connection to the Black Experience have to be about Slavery?"

Because people keep making it about Slavery. For example, people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton drag up the idea of Reparations every now and again.

You cannot have it both ways. Either the black population is completely over slavery or they're not. And that is not to suggest that we shouldn't teach about or remember that period in our history. All history - good and bad - is important.

But you cannot say that blacks are here because of slavery, and that is the basis of the entire American Black Experience, and then say that the experience should be mentioned when it might be negative. Either take it or leave it.

on Jan 10, 2012 at 11:05 AM

Yes, razzledazzle. Are you for real?

on Jan 10, 2012 at 11:59 AM

What is ignorant? The fact that I think people should be taught ALL of history, and not have it whitewashed to make others feel better? The fact that slavery still exists today in other parts of the world, and I recognize that America did not corner the market and abolished it with the Civil War? The fact that I don't think it's "racist" else to teach "across curriculum"? The fact that I recognize how ridiculous it is for black people to demand that we consider Reparations (money paid to families that can trace their history back to slavery), and then call others racist when they bring up slavery?

What, exactly, do you find "ignorant" and "arrogant"? Or does it just make you feel better to call names?

billsfan1104

on Jan 10, 2012 at 12:24 PM

Love the people who call names, but don't argue or debate the questions or thoughts Ponychaser brought up. Which was very good points. But instead she is called ignorant, by someone who couldn't spell at all. And I usually never mention peoples spelling or crammed, because lord knows I am not perfect. But before you call people ignorant, I would suggest that your post would be free of errors.