You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy.™
Math problems that make people feel uncomfortable for reasons unrelated to arithmetic.
Math is hard enough. Do we really need to make it a course that insults as well as infuriates?
DATELINE: ATLANTA
A school system here is under fire for administering a math test that asked students inappropriate math questions that featured elements of slavery.
Here is a sample: Each tree had 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how many would each slave pick?
The answer is 7 and are you kidding me?
Slaves picking oranges? Why not cotton? Why slaves and not farm workers?
What bothers me is that the kids were upset. When my kid gets upset it upsets me. And some of these parents were understandably upset.
Why?
Because it was a math test.
2 + 2 = 4.
NOT
2 + 2 = beat the slaves and count their oranges.
Here’s another idiotic test question:
“If Fred got two beating per day how many beatings did he get in one week?”
The answer is 14 and someone at that school needs to get their ass beat.
Is Fred a slave? Maybe he’s a victim of domestic violence? Maybe he’s a soldier in an Iraqi prison. Either way, Fred taking an ass whoopin is not cool.
And it’s certainly not a math question for kids. It does make me question the sensibilities and scruples of the teachers however.
One dad interviewed by ABC said; “why is slavery and beatings the focus of a math question?”
The tests were handed out at Beaver Ridge Elementary.
According to school officials, the teacher’s were incorporating history and math lessons.
Hmmmm? History and Math. At the same time.
I suppose that is a laudable goal. I mean the students in this country are dumb. Perhaps forcing as much knowledge into their skulls as possible is a good course of action.
We’ve all heard of killing two birds with one stone right?
But would you teach chemistry in spanish, or crunching algebra with Western Civ, maybe that is too much.
Math questions about beating slaves works like juggling lit torches, fireworks and pumping gas, all at the same time, kind of works.
Sloan Rich with Gwinett County Public Schools says “we understand there are questions and we agree these questions were not appropriate.”
According to published reports, the work sheets were destroyed, but that is not enough for many parents who think teachers need to be counseled or disciplined.
Maybe we should just all learn from this mistake and move on.
Maybe the lesson here is if it feels wrong it probably is wrong.
Keep the math simple and keep the subjects separate.
Kids don’t need to learn two subjects at once. They have enough trouble with one subject at a time.
So don’t count your oranges before they’re hatched, or something crazy like that.
And that is crazy.