OT: Racist Math questions for 3rd graders in Georgia

[tallglassofwater007]

Freaking Hilarious. It is fucked up... But then again... what do you expect of our educational system. Its run by brain dead tards , funded by government tards and is little more than brainwashing to be a good little sheeple than actually teaching anyone how to succeed in life. Here in Nevada you graduate if you do nothing more than manage to miss less that 25 school days.

I missed far more and still graduated in NV. But I'm smart as fuck.

 

[TheNinerMind]

You guys don't even know the half of this story. Read the question that caused the inquery to begin with:

"If Tim Tebow requires two prayers to Jesus per pass completion, how much prayer will it take for Tebow to become less-than-competent?"

 

[I_am_1z]

I agree with Imac, how stupid is it that people would assume these questions are racist.
Next week's pop quiz will hopefully be on gas chambers and concentration camps because there's no stigma behind such phrases.

 

[threelittleturds]

I'm wondering how much more you know about this specific incident than I do. What were they discussing in social studies at the time? Does the same teacher instruct both math and social studies? You're presenting this as if it is the only discussion of slavery the class had, and I'm wondering where you found that information.

The quote that teachers were working on cross-curricular activities suggests they were discussing slavery in multiple subjects.

I'm wondering what your list of banned books would be to make sure that social studies subjects don't get into English.

Is it wrong to discuss the economic issues of the Great Depression in older grades because economics is math and has no business in history?

What about the renaissance? I hope they don't talk about that Galileo guy because he was a scientist. That belongs in science class.

I don't know any more than you do. I've considered that maybe it isn't as big of a deal if slavery was taught in its appropriate light before it was transferred over to the math class. Although, that still doesn't make it any less inappropriate.

As to your attempts to sidetrack this with absurdity. I don't have a banned book list, and the Great Depression and Renaissance have nothing to do with something in history that was tragic in the sense of human rights.

You laugh it off, and thats fine. But, should we start teaching the Holocaust by asking how many Jews a Nazi disposed of in a weeks time if he put 300 in an oven every day?

Should we now teach kids in Oklahoma about how we dealt with Indians in the past by asking how many Anthrax blankets a soldier passed out in a week?

C'mon man, its pretty obvious why slavery shouldn't be taught in mathematics the way that teacher tried to do it. And, implying that it is the same as mixing economics and history by talking about the Great Depression is just silly.

 

[NinerSickness]

Freaking Hilarious. It is fucked up... But then again... what do you expect of our educational system. Its run by brain dead tards , funded by government tards and is little more than brainwashing to be a good little sheeple than actually teaching anyone how to succeed in life. Here in Nevada you graduate if you do nothing more than manage to miss less that 25 school days.

Again thank you for pointing that out so i didn't have to.

...and it's worse in California.

 

[MW49ers5]

I don't know any more than you do. I've considered that maybe it isn't as big of a deal if slavery was taught in its appropriate light before it was transferred over to the math class. Although, that still doesn't make it any less inappropriate.

As to your attempts to sidetrack this with absurdity. I don't have a banned book list, and the Great Depression and Renaissance have nothing to do with something in history that was tragic.

You laugh it off, and thats fine. But, should we start teaching the Holocaust by asking how many Jews a Nazi disposed of in a weeks time if he put 300 in an oven every day?

Should we now teach kids in Oklahoma about how we dealt with Indians in the past by asking how many Anthrax blankets a soldier passed out in a week?

C'mon man, its pretty obvious why slavery shouldn't be taught in mathematics the way that teacher tried to do it. And, implying that it is the same as mixing economics and history by talking about the Great Depression is just silly.

Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"How many beatings with this slave receive..."...WTF!!??!!

 

[TheNinerMind]

imac, I'm going to say that even if the class was gettin an in-depth overview of social studies, the math questions are not exactly respectful of the subject matter. It definitively trivializes and minimizes what happened. Of course, I'm not sure a 3rd grader can truly comprehend slavery anyway, but incorporating the subject matter into an arbitrary math question creates a connotation that slavery was just as arbitrary.

Or it lends a great deal more of a serious tone to the Math question. I suppose, on the other hand, that these math teachers are really serious about their math.

Either way, I am of the feeling that the story wasn't worthy of national news.

 

[Smart]

It might not be blatant racism, but you don't need to drop derogatory remarks just to be racist.

Obviously, it could just be an oversight by the teacher. Although, I'd find it hard to believe someone with a degree in education would innocently miss how inappropriate it is to mix that subject into mathematics. It's kind of nonchalant, like, don't worry that the slave is picking cotton and getting beat, obviously that is talking about black slaves in the U.S. Which is pretty insensitive since chances are extremely high that students in Georgia will have a lineage that traces back to being slaves.

Do you really think it is coincidence that they chose the name of the single most famous ex-slave in history? I certainly doubt it, considering Frederick is not your stereotypical name of a slave.

They probably are just building context to talk about the obstacles he overcame in his life. You just assume that this is the entire lesson, when in all liklihood, it wasn't. The rush to judgment by you all is appalling and sort of disgusting.

 

[imac_21]

Because in the above example, that's the stupidest shit a teacher could ever do to teach math. Mathematics application is supposed to show real world problem-solving techniques. Are you suggesting that slave owners calculated beatings a week, exact picking per slave, etc, is accurate social studies teachings with mathematics? The problems in question show even distribution of slave work, which is complete ignorance to the time period.

What were they discussing in social studies?

 

[threelittleturds]

Do you really think it is coincidence that they chose the name of the single most famous ex-slave in history? I certainly doubt it, considering Frederick is not your stereotypical name of a slave.

They probably are just building context to talk about the obstacles he overcame in his life. You just assume that this is the entire lesson, when in all liklihood, it wasn't. The rush to judgment by you all is appalling and sort of disgusting.

I didn't assume this is the entire lesson... but thanks for adding in your worthless opinion.

 

[imac_21]

I don't know any more than you do. I've considered that maybe it isn't as big of a deal if slavery was taught in its appropriate light before it was transferred over to the math class. Although, that still doesn't make it any less inappropriate.

As to your attempts to sidetrack this with absurdity. I don't have a banned book list, and the Great Depression and Renaissance have nothing to do with something in history that was tragic in the sense of human rights.

You laugh it off, and thats fine. But, should we start teaching the Holocaust by asking how many Jews a Nazi disposed of in a weeks time if he put 300 in an oven every day?

Should we now teach kids in Oklahoma about how we dealt with Indians in the past by asking how many Anthrax blankets a soldier passed out in a week?

C'mon man, its pretty obvious why slavery shouldn't be taught in mathematics the way that teacher tried to do it. And, implying that it is the same as mixing economics and history by talking about the Great Depression is just silly.

So you have no idea about the context. That's a problem. What if slavery is the topic for social studies at the same time? With the same teacher?

Is your issue the presence of social studies in math, or the presence of human rights issues in math?

Per your Nazi reference, there was nothing as specific as "putting Jews in ovens." There was no mention of religion, race or belief in any of these questions.

If the social studies class is discussing antisemitism, and has the same teacher for math, is it inappropriate to discuss antisemitism in math as well as social studies?

If you're discussing the treatment of Native Americans (Indian would be racist, unless Americans massacred the people of India with diseased blankets and I missed that part of my history classes) then why not branch it into other subjects? Particularly if it's the same teacher.

And that teacher was "TEACHING slavery in mathematics?" I don't see that. I see that teacher using examples from slavery in math lessons to.presumably, teach multiplication. It is not teaching slavery.

Which brings me back to the question of what are they doing (or have they done for that matter) in social studies?

And can someone please explain to me why it's inappropriate to teach 8 year olds about human rights and equality?

 

[imac_21]

Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"How many beatings with this slave receive..."...WTF!!??!!

So you also know that this was used to teach slavery?

Where is everyone getting this information? The only article I've seen is in the OP of this thread and is incredibly short and gives no context to the class room.

Can you guys link the other article(s) for me?

 

[Smart]

I didn't assume this is the entire lesson... but thanks for adding in your worthless opinion.

What about this is racist, then? They are likely just adding context to an "overcoming adversity" tale. It may not have been the smartest decision in the world, but there is nothing here that implies racism.

 

[imac_21]

imac, I'm going to say that even if the class was gettin an in-depth overview of social studies, the math questions are not exactly respectful of the subject matter. It definitively trivializes and minimizes what happened. Of course, I'm not sure a 3rd grader can truly comprehend slavery anyway, but incorporating the subject matter into an arbitrary math question creates a connotation that slavery was just as arbitrary.

Or it lends a great deal more of a serious tone to the Math question. I suppose, on the other hand, that these math teachers are really serious about their math.

Either way, I am of the feeling that the story wasn't worthy of national news.

I said in my first post that the questions can absolutely been viewed as inappropriate, but not racist. However, the level of inappropriateness can not be determined without the context of the rest of the class (including other subjects). If this is the only exposure to slavery, than it's incredibly inappropriate. However, if there have been discussions, as in depth as possible for 8 year olds, with the class than that level of inappropriateness decreases considerably.

 

[Smart]

I didn't assume this is the entire lesson... but thanks for adding in your worthless opinion.

Also, you yourself called it a "nonchalant dismissal" of the slave's situation. If you thought that there was more to the lesson, how does this statement make any sense? You are being absolutely incoherent.

 

[Epic Voidfield]

What were they discussing in social studies?

In the United States, social studies in grammar school (K-6th grade) is history.

 

[imac_21]

In the United States, social studies in grammar school (K-6th grade) is history.

Sorry. I should have been more specific. What was this 3rd grade class discussing in social studies when these math questions came up?

If it was history, there's a chance it was 18th century America. If that were the case, how do you suggest they discuss that without discussing slavery. Particularly in the south.

 

[Smart]

Sorry. I should have been more specific. What was this 3rd grade class discussing in social studies when these math questions came up?

If it was history, there's a chance it was 18th century America. If that were the case, how do you suggest they discuss that without discussing slavery. Particularly in the south.

Again, the slave's name was Frederick. If anybody thinks it is coincidence that the most famous abolitionist just happens to share the name with this guy, they have no business reproducing. The functional equivalent would be a question about a Jewish girl hiding from Nazis named Anne Frank. If that were the case, I think people would realize that maybe the teacher was trying to teach about the holocaust. Again, you can say the teacher was stupid, but racist? Give me a break.

 

[Arete Tzu]

I never said that they were talking about ancient slavery. I said slavery is not restricted to the American south. I also never said racism is dead.

I didn't say we are conditioned to see blacks as slaves. I said Americans are conditioned to associate slavery with that of the American south rather than Ancient Rome, First Nations (that's American Indians for those of you still living in the 1930s).

Ok and this case is coming from the American South, Georgia is as south as it gets. So when you consider what you are saying about this conditioning, and their long history with racism and slavery, what form of slavery do you think is most likely to have inspired this question? Do you honestly expect Georgians to come to any other conclusion? Their families are only a few generations removed from slavery. it's not over sensitivity, it's the condition they are still dealing with. That's where their consciousness is.

Ancient slaves where men with debts, prisoners of war, war criminals etc... it didn't come with a systematic eradication of their people's identity, and other racial implications of our slavery. Thanks to that eradication many blacks still identify with slavery as the start of their history. Their family history goes back to the day they landed on the plantation, and had their name changed to Fredrick, and where forced to pick cotton. Of course racial connections will be made in this case.

I asked what's the appropriate age to teach them. You didn't answer it though.


As for the right place to teach them, EVERYWHERE. I don't know how it works in Georgia, but here when you're in grade 3 you have the same teacher for all subjects. That would mean that this math teacher would also be the social studies and history teacher. If they're discussing slavery in social studies with the same teacher, why not incorporate it into math as well?

Is 8 years old too young to learn about proper and improper ways to treat others? You don't have to go into great detail and study the intricacies of the slavery and the slave trade in 18th and 19th Century America, but it's plenty old enough to start discussions on how people have been treated throughout history.

If human rights atrocities are not okay to investigate with 8, 9 and 10 year olds (as the parent implies in the article), what should they study in social studies? Should we gloss over the way people have been treated by those who, at the time, had more power?

When teaching about the conquest of North America, should we advertise it as a discovery of a new land and ignore those that were already here and the way they were treated?

Should we not mention any conflict in human history?

I don't have a problem with most of what you are saying here. The only problem I have is the idea that a math class is the place to teach it, as well as the manner the teacher chose to do it.

An issue like slavery especially in the south, needs more context given to it than "how many times was the slave beaten?" Social studies class where the main focus will cover it, is a better place for it. How far does that question really go to inform kids? The teacher couldn't come up with any other way of counting to 7 than involving slave beatings? In my school we had "jim put _ oranges in a basket" type of questions, and our minds stayed on math, it didn't venture off into slavery and shift our focus in anyway, we discussed slavery in depth, and did it in the proper setting.

I disagree with the idea that slavery and racism should work their way into EVERY field. The interjection of it into everything kids think about, creates what social psychologists describe as "Sterotype threat" when people hear about how they where slaves over and over in every field they study, it creates a complex. The kids who are most likely to be effected by this type of interjection are the black descendants of slaves, who have had their true historic identity eradicated. There is no reason to force it into everything, it should be taught as a specific focus, with more respect given to it, than counting slave beatings.

 

[threelittleturds]

What about this is racist, then? They are likely just adding context to an "overcoming adversity" tale. It may not have been the smartest decision in the world, but there is nothing here that implies racism.

Ha ha. Everything you post is based off of YOUR assumptions... yet you come in here and say we're assuming this and that.

You're just ridiculous. Your ENTIRE argument in this is based on what YOU THINK was taught away from the math class.