I’m pretty big on education. So much so, that like most minorities, in the context of race, I see education as the great equalizer. So quite naturally, when news of a teacher issuing a quiz to her students that any rational mind can determine to be racist as one Alabama teacher has, then, of course, I’m pissed. But then again, I imagine that for some of you this would be somewhat of a prank or a harmless joke.
This from FOX 10:
MOBILE, AL (WALA) – A Burns Middle school teacher has been placed on administrative leave over a controversial test given to some 8th grade students.
Some parents say the test includes questionable language and subject matter that just doesn’t belong in the classroom. The parents say they can’t believe it was actually given to students.
It’s a 10-question math quiz that highlights prostitution, drugs, and drive-by shootings.
While some of the kids thought it was kind of funny, their parents aren’t laughing.
Click here to see the complete test.
“My son, he took a picture of it in class and he texted it to me. I couldn’t believe it,” Erica Hall said.
Hall said her son sent her a text photo of the quiz his eighth-grade language arts teacher passed out Friday.
Hall said even the kids thought it was some kind of joke.
“They took it as a joke, and she told them that it wasn’t it a joke, and they had to complete it, and turn it in,” Hall said.
Erica Hall and her husband headed to the school Tuesday for some answers.
After outlining the math for a problem involving an AK-47, question 1 on the quiz asks: “How many drive-by shootings can Ramon attempt before he has to steal enough ammunition and reload?”
Question 2: “Leroy has 2 ounces of cocaine. If he sells an 8 ball to Antonio for $320 and 2 grams to Juan for $85 per gram, what is the street value of the rest of his hold?”
Question 8 reads: “Tyrone knocked up 4 girls in the gang. There are 20 girls in his gang. What is the exact percentage of girls Tyrone knocked up?”
Listen, I’m all for “thinking outside the box” and utilizing unique and creative tools in education. Yes, especially when said methods have been proven successful. However, as a parent, I’m totally opposed to the use of negative racial stereotypes meant to denigrate any ethnic group of any kind as a tool when it comes to educating kids. More insulting to me is the assumption that this sort of test isn’t problematic. What it says and reinforces is the notion that black children – or more specifically, black people – are not that important. Why? Because I imagine that the supposition here is that this is the only thing children of color would understand. That in itself is racist and entirely unacceptable.
You may think that this is just yet another one of those things endemic to the state of Alabama. Interestingly enough, however, as the news report explains, this racist math test isn’t something new and has been the source of controversy in many states across the country since the nineteen-nineties. At this point there’s no word on the race of the teacher involved. But as the report below explains, the teacher in question was in her last year of teaching and had plans to retire this year. I could only guess that the teacher knew exactly what she was doing and was ready to go out with a bang by letting the world know what she thinks of certain people in society. If his doesn’t upset you, you might be a racist.
Watch the video below:
