Should Gwinnett educators who created slavery word problems lose their jobs?
Update 10:14 p.m. Monday: The AJC has a good story on the creation of this controversial assignment,which was not vetted by the school.
Gwinnett Schools human resources officials are investigating the Beaver Ridge incident to decide whether punitive action is necessary. District officials said they would work with math teachers to come up with more appropriate questions. “These particular questions were an attempt at incorporating some of what students had been discussing in social studies with their math activity,” said Sloan Roach, Gwinnett Schools spokeswoman. ”One teacher developed the questions, another made the copies and it was used in four classes.”
One of the teachers involved in the incident is Hispanic, Braxton said. The district would not release the teachers’ names or races. All involved are being questioned about their role and are still employed with the district, Roach said. School officials said the questions were not intended to be offensive and that copies of the assignment were being pulled so they wouldn’t be circulated.
Back to the original post:
The AJC is reporting that state NAACP president Ed DuBose wants all Gwinnett teachers and staff involved in creating a worksheet for third graders that contained math word problems on slavery to be fired.
In a clumsy attempt to integrate a social studies unit on slavery into math, third grade teachers at Beaver Ridge Elementary created problems that asked students to figure out, “If Frederick got two beatings each day, how many beatings did he get in one week?” Parents were outraged when they saw the word problems.
But do these teachers deserve to be fired for their poor decision?
According to the AJC:
He said he would be calling Gwinnett School Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks today to ask that he deal with the issue at Beaver Ridge Elementary School in Norcross.
“The group responsible for allowing it to go forward should be fired not just reprimanded, but fired,” DuBose said. “I refuse to believe the teacher or teachers responsible for allowing it to go forward did not understand fully what they were doing. We need to understand how deep this is. Who all knew? What did they know?’’
Last Friday, in what has become a national story, several parents complained about a math assignment their children had gotten that contained questions about beatings and slavery. One of the math problems read, “Each tree has 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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614 comments Add your comment
Devil's Advocate
January 10th, 2012
12:14 am
What about zero tolerance? Why are teachers allowed to make up math questions about fictional violence and get away with it but a kid being responsible and turning in a knife gets 4 days suspension?
teabag
January 10th, 2012
12:20 am
Georgia has become too passive, NAACP is involved go figure. When the white people become the minority (which will be soon) are we going to have our own group that gets involved in EVERYTHING. Grow up, its a part of history you cant overlook it. i understand its a math class and if they are integrating history with it, i do not see a problem at all. They should keep their jobs. If Atl school teachers can keep theirs for cheating (bet the NAACP is involved in this mess as well) then those teachers should be able to keep theirs.
sldkfjslk
January 10th, 2012
12:21 am
The main thing I get from this is the teachers apparently had no sense of understanding or empathy for the plight of slavery. The questions mention beatings like they were some sort of harmless slap on the wrist. For everyone who downplays the significance of the insensitivity or claims slavery existed in other cultures and continues to exist and therefor this situation is no big deal, you too need to understand the reality of what slavery did in this country and the immense sacrifices made by many people through many generations to overcome it. These teachers were clueless. They were obviously asleep at the wheel during their own education and now they are showing their own ignorance.
Devil's Advocate
January 10th, 2012
12:24 am
Those who complain the loudest about political correctness and oversensitivity are simply those who want all -isms to be ok.
No to PC
January 10th, 2012
12:25 am
While the questions showed a general lack of good judgement this has no bearing on whether or not these individuals can teach math to students. Enough with trying to cross-teach subjects, being politically correct, and trying to appease the NAACP. This incident is very mild compared to the cheating that occurred in Atlanta.
Gforce
January 10th, 2012
12:36 am
How convenient…one thing is to teach history and another is to use it for mathematical examples. If these questions were about Jews and their experiences in concentration camps during the Nazi regime, this would be a whole different story. These idiots need to be fired and stripped of their teaching licenses.
Megan
January 10th, 2012
12:38 am
The people on here screaming racism are a joke. All curriculum should be cross referenced. Chemistry is a class that is one half math. How do you teach map scale without going over proportions in math? These questions are cheesy but harmless.
teabag
January 10th, 2012
12:39 am
Gforce your too passive as well…
Black Ivy League Alum
January 10th, 2012
12:42 am
The responsible parties need to be reprimanded. Given the history of the south, this is just another stereotypical example of how far the south remains linked to its shameful past. The teachers should be ashamed to allow such a thing to happen to young minds. Absolutely ridiculous. Stories like these make me want to return back to Palo Alto and the Bay Area where I can raise my children in a more welcoming, diverse, and intellectually stimulating environment. Not a place that cannot discern what is offensive.
jimbob
January 10th, 2012
12:44 am
There is no a) lying about blacks going on, b) demonization of blacks going on, or c) inciting non-blacks to attack and harm blacks.
Thus, no one should lose their jobs. Why is the AJC flogging blacks into a frenzy over such a non-issue?? Has the AJC ever taken umbrage with the institutional eugenic policies and racist policies that have had a net result of keeping blacks at the bottom of the socio economic scale??
No?? Big surprise.
Poor excuse
January 10th, 2012
12:45 am
Some things should be common sense. I don’t think you should have to teach someone who is already teaching how to be sensitive. This is something that should have been learned prior to them stepping foot into the classroom. There were many good teachers in GA who lost there jobs due to cut backs. I say let the teachers who produced and distributed that worksheet go and replace them with the good teachers who lost their jobs.
The New South
January 10th, 2012
12:46 am
If 25 slave owners die, how many will go on to burn in hell for their sins of being a slave owner?
Dixie Queen
January 10th, 2012
12:48 am
If a slave girl was sold away from her family to another plantation, how long would it take for the slave owners to die and burn in hell for their sins?
Rachel Tension
January 10th, 2012
12:50 am
How many years will it take for the south to overcome its sordid racial past and actually be recognized by the rest of the nation as educated and civilized?
Joe
January 10th, 2012
1:10 am
Lots of people on this blog that are just as dumb as the teachers that put together this assignment. Honestly, if the teachers were dumb enough to put together assignments like that, they should go solely for being incompetent and stupid. Not qualified for their jobs. The students would be better off taking online classes from home. And we wonder why Americans are so stupid today. ***FacePalm***
Frankie
January 10th, 2012
2:02 am
HELL YES they should loose there jobs….no be allowed to continue to teach children..If this is no the most blatant RACIST act I do not know what is. How could this be a lapse in judgement. I could see if it was ONE OR TWO QUESTIONS mixed in with OTHER HISTORY QUESTIOnS, but this was ALL Slavery question…about picking cotton, hangings and beatings….
Frankie
January 10th, 2012
2:07 am
And the comments on this blog goes to show just how RACIST GOERGIA is and will always be….
You want to get rid of all black organizations, but keeping the KKK around is ok…
go to hell…..
itpduder
January 10th, 2012
2:26 am
Either these teachers are incredibly hilarious or incredibly stupid.
And either way, they should be canned. Those are ridiculous questions.
How about this for bringing history into the classroom: If Ivan rapes 3 Berlin women a day following the suicide of Hitler in 1945, how many German women does he rape after 12 days?
I like off-color humor. . . . in my private life and know better than to make off-color jokes in my professional life. If these teachers are too stupid to realize those questions are inappropriate, even if they are hilarious, they should be fired. They don’t have the sense to teach children.
How tough is it to write an appropriate math question with history sprinkled in? It’s so tough this non-teacher guy can do it on the spot: If the horse can gallop, on average, at 10 mph over rough terrain, how long does it take a pony express rider to reach a town 50 miles away?
These idiot teachers would have added “provided the rider isn’t killed by Injuns” to the end of that question.
Funny but stupid.
jmaej
January 10th, 2012
2:52 am
First of all, people are too cruel in judgement of others. Most of us don’t know what is in the books used in classrooms. These teachers may have used a sensitive method to get the problem across to the students but they committed years and time to become educators, have families and responsibility just as the rest of us. They shoud not be fired but receive some training and guidance on how to phrase problems. Some of us are just too quick to rush negative judgement of others. How many times have you done something incorrectly and do you want to be fired?
Enough is enough
January 10th, 2012
3:22 am
It’s amazing how some can joke, while others are being insensitive to the matter at hand. A PROPERLY trained teacher would know better than to add such trash in their lessons! Until you are BLACK, and know what the hell OUR people have been through, then shut up because you don’t have a clue. Gwinnett County is still Jim Crow!!!!!
Matthew
January 10th, 2012
4:03 am
No these teachers should not be fired, but I find it funny that you never hear of any complaining from teh Native Americans about how history is taught when in reality we were forced off our land and into so called reservations. I mean for crying out loud we have black history month yet there is only one week out of the year where History is even taught in regards to Native Americans. I think this is just the NAACP sticking its head out when it needs to sit back and let the school correct the issue.
Eugene
January 10th, 2012
4:19 am
No, the teachers should not be fired. From the new reports, the parents statements, and the NAACP consternations, I still do not know what offense the teachers committed with the homework assignment. After I took a close look at the questions, I found them to be based upon historical facts. I for one want my children to learn about slavery and the contributions that were made by them to this nation.
I do not understand why the parents and the NAACP are condemning these question but have failed to condemn the use of the “N” word and other offensive terms used as Rap lyrics. I also wished they would give me guidance as to how I am suppose to feel and react when I hear young Blacks and Whites use the “N” word as a term of endearment towards each other.
radical anti-racist
January 10th, 2012
4:24 am
more proof that teacher ed is beyond subpar in the USA and that ignorance is defended and celebrated by the ignorant bigots tea partiers conservatives who take their marching orders from faux news (owned by a NON-American born gossip/ tabloid rag criminal hacker briber liar)
LLS
January 10th, 2012
4:40 am
This story tops my BEYOND STUPID list for the year – and its only January!
mike
January 10th, 2012
4:57 am
How about adding more facts for those who state it is factual history. One question could be how many white folks does it take to lynch a black. Another could be how many black women were raped by a white slave owner. How many black people were thrown into the ocean by white folks on the cruise from Africa. If you want history taught try teaching it all.
Willydoit?
January 10th, 2012
5:16 am
I wish I was in the land of cotton,
Old times they are not forgotten;
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
Bob in Gwinnett
January 10th, 2012
5:33 am
Mr. Dubose is an idiot. He is like a little child standing on the side of the road yelling that he is going to tell on the children to their parents. “Mr” Dubose, grow up. Accept this for what it was. A mistake with NO racial intention. And, “Mr” Dubose, do you happen to know the racial makeup of the four teachers? Didn’t think so.
American
January 10th, 2012
5:47 am
Okay ENOUGH. Now they made a HUGE mistake or did they? A lot of you need to think back to when you were in school…did the teachers try to make you feel less than the white students? Now those of you who have children in this school need to be more involved in the school and this would not have happened in the first place. No it wasn’t right but it got your butts to take a look at the school didn’t it! Parents if this was the FIRST time you got involved at that school then SHUT-UP! It is your fault! Get involved in your children’s schools get to know the teachers and then you can judge if things are done with malice, arrogance or ignorance!! GET INVOVLED IN YOUR CHILDRENS SCHOOLS!!!! Peace
North Georgia Teacher
January 10th, 2012
5:54 am
Absolutely not. Give them a written reprimand, or even put them on a PDP for the next year, but to fire them over this, no sir. It was a completely STUPID thing to do and inexcusable for educated people, but I agree with some of the earlier posts; other teachers and certainly some administrators have been allowed to stay on the job for much more serious lapses in judgement
Me
January 10th, 2012
5:56 am
What people do not understand is that principals and superintendents REQUIRE these ridiculous integrated units. I teach English, and last year, they wanted me to take my students over to the welding class and do a lesson with the welding teacher. I know nothing about welding, but I do know that several days out of my class to go over there and “fill my buckets” would cost me hours of class time that would likely be wasted. Although their assignment they created was remarkably foolish, I do know why they did it:because you can’t just teach one class any more.
Unfunded pension
January 10th, 2012
5:58 am
I hope the NAACP is prepared for the precedent they are setting. It seems that this is not a an appropriate issue for the NAACP to engage. If every teacher is fired for lapses in judgement, such a policy will harm a lot of black teachers.
Not that the NAACP really cares. This is about grabbing a headline for a tired old irrelevant organization.
not vetted, nothing ever is
January 10th, 2012
6:12 am
The school board said they questions were not vettted. As a GCPS teacher I can tell you that worksheets never are. I have never asked a co-worker to look over a worksheet. I would like to see were that policy actually is written.
Noneya...
January 10th, 2012
6:33 am
I absolutely think they should be fired! Believe me if there were Jew questions these idiot teachers would be “drawn and quartered”. Georgia already is listed at 45 on the least educated list out of 50…Seriously!
Fun Size
January 10th, 2012
6:43 am
So stupid on so many levels…if they are indeed fired it would be interesting to see how much support they get from the teachers’ union.
Richard
January 10th, 2012
6:46 am
What if the question had been: If 56 illegal aliens are waiting for work by the curb and 8 cars come by and get them equally how many are left?
Stop shouting
January 10th, 2012
6:53 am
@dkt>Is your caps key stuck? Why so angry? Did you even read the article? It was a Gwinnett county school in Norcross. Not a Cobb Co. school. Maybe you should be fired for that!
a
January 10th, 2012
6:54 am
How many teachers were hired in the past 10 years that got their degrees by paying for them in lowly accredited colleges rather than earning them? How many in the past 20 years?
Beverly Fraud
January 10th, 2012
7:07 am
Where exactly was the NAACP when APS was damaging students with THE largest cheating scandal in United States educational history?
Perhaps they DID take a strong stand against the leaders, if so, can ANYBODY reference it for us?
That’s said, let’s make no mistake; the assignment was MIND BOGGLINGLY insensitive and CERTIFIABLY stupid.
Coondog
January 10th, 2012
7:08 am
Wow, I hope none of you perfect people never make a mistake, or have a lapse in judgement.
GCPS Teacher
January 10th, 2012
7:14 am
What this article fails to mention is that Gwinnett County Schools pushes (forces?) teachers to incorporate cross-curriculum lessons into their plans. It is quite possible that the teachers HAD to do some sort of a lesson that tied Social Studies and Math into a lesson. Well they were learning about slavery, so that was what they had to incorporate into their math lessons.
Was it racist? Did they say black people, or just slaves and the word Frederick (since they were learning about Frederick Douglass)? If they just said slaves, there have been many slaves around the world of many different ethnicities. The parents at this school are being ridiculous – they have blown this out of proportion, when the students probably didn’t think anything of it.
The teachers absolutely should not lose their jobs. They were doing what is required of them. Maybe Gwinnett County, and other districts as well, should think twice before they force teachers to make cross curriculum lessons.
Master
January 10th, 2012
7:27 am
Chris I see you have a problem with blacks in this country and your one that would like to tell us what to do.We are more active on twitter and facebook ect. The AJC should find these teachers who would post thier names and pictures. We will press on and find the truth.If this was a jewish students they would be fired on the spot.We need these kind of teachers out of the school system.There also need to be a full investigation into Gwinnett scholl board.
Keeping It Real
January 10th, 2012
7:29 am
N A A C P members should lose their jobs…
if any of them had one.
Carol callocchio
January 10th, 2012
7:33 am
In my opinion, the teachers were trying to include a history lesson with a math lesson
1. Teachers are encouraged to use relevance from one subject to another.
2. They teach that slavery was cruel and inhumane. This math lesson helps to backup the history of slavery.
3 Instead of attacking those teachers, they should be commended for their efforts for trying to teach across the curriculum.
A. Anderson
January 10th, 2012
7:56 am
New math Question: How many lawsuits will be filed against the Gwinnett County School sytem for the actions of these teachers?
PR
January 10th, 2012
7:57 am
NO….but they definately need to have some serious counseling about the types of questions that are appropriate. It sounds to me like they suffered for a temporary case of stupid. As for the NAACP, they need to wake up and investigate real issues…like why blacks are losing jobs to illegals, and the massive increase of black-on-black crime. The NAACP is a bunch of cry-babies who really don’t have a job and know what to do with their time.
Longarm
January 10th, 2012
7:58 am
No to firing or any action other than don’t do it without proof reading first. To start with I think that all this is getting way to far overboard. This so called race issue if some call it that , and those that do are the racially motivated one, need to step back and think of how it would be if this country had not of had a civil war to end slavery. We are all Americans, be it white, black, yellow or red. Why is something as trivial as a history lesson in a math question so offensive? Grow up and teach your children to not be a bigot as you display by your verbal action in this matter. I spent 28 years serving in this nations military to preserve the God Given right to speak out and to enjoy the labors off all my ancestors, some good some bad, but that’s life and it happens. NOW IT’S HISTORY. You need to do the same and grow up, all this racial talk is BS and everyone is getting really tired of it. The bottom line is you never see anyone that is not of color complaining about it. Go to the welfare off and count all the Caucasians there. One in twenty, because we choose to do what is right and not be an ignorant individual.
sloboffthestreet
January 10th, 2012
7:59 am
The question I have is when did slaves in this country ever pick oranges? The edible sweet orange is not native to this country and seeds were not introduced into Florida until @ 1876 well after the Emancipation Proclamation was delivered. It takes orange trees @ 7 years in today’s modern groves to start producing fruit in the numbers stated in the question. So all racism aside, is the question teaching anything that is historically correct?
pxxw
January 10th, 2012
7:59 am
When you are responsible for teaching children you don’t get to have a “lapse in judgement”. How do you make the leap from teaching about Frederick Douglass to how many beatings does Frederick get. Absolutely outrageous and every teacher who didn’t have the good sense to say this is not the right thing to do needs to be fired.
pxxw
January 10th, 2012
8:01 am
Longarm – you’re ridiculous and if you think the only people in the welfare and foodstamp office are people of color you’ve obviously never been to one.
To GCPSTeacher
January 10th, 2012
8:06 am
I am a teacher as well in GCPS and I too must teach cross curr. However, I would never have taught using questions in this manner. I often use science and ss AKS while creating math word problems. You should not stick up for him/her it makes all of us look uneducated. He or she made a huge mistake.